- Part of 'A topology of musical encounter' (summary) -
Contextualistics are those elements in the surrounding of the musicians that have a strong influence on the musical content. One can think about the context in which the music is applied, the ‘scene’ around the music, aspects of the form of presentation, the place and time a performance takes place, up until the type of audience ones music is attached to. These surrounding elements can be of great interest and value for the musician’s identity and reflect a great influence over the complete range of a musicpractice.
“A tempo, a rhythm, the half and double time of it. Those are the complete essentials for any electronic music style. This unity of atmosphere in the music makes people dance, gives them a surrounding to be free. Too much variation works counterproductive, because it makes people listen too well. This is paradoxical since we want people to listen carefully to our music, but it doesn’t work like that. The music has to carry the listeners in a particular trance, people need to be taken out of their regular patterns. It is really necessary for an audience on the dance floor to be pulled out of their world by force, because they tend to just stand still by nature. In that sense this music foremost exists on behalf of peoples need for such a social surrounding. The trance and the atmosphere is first of all the collectivity of the audience at that moment, and the music is in fact a surrounding that people associate with this experience. It is also interesting to notice how different people enjoy different musical surroundings and ways of communicating. Nowadays I am DJ-ing and developing ideas within the relatively new scene of Dub-step. Looking at the people that attend these parties it has sort of evolved from the Drum-n-bass and Breakbeat scene, people tend to be relaxed and easy-going. A totally different crowd gathers for instance in Minimal-Techno where everybody is hyperactive and enthusiastic. So the musical atmosphere belongs to certain the characters of the people and the way they desire to interact. And remarkably, when styles become less innovative or interesting, it always runs parallel to the decline of contact between the audience, and the whole scene becomes boring. When scenes become too massive and uncharacteristic, there are always the frontrunners of that scene that take a turn to start a new movement, and the social context follows. It is truly an interaction between social and musical. “
– in conversation with WOLFLOW, DJ and producer
To continue reading choose your next page below..
No comments:
Post a Comment