arrrrriba!

Last night I went along to an open practice session of Barulho, a samba band I've often jiggled to as they've beaten their way through town. I know a couple of people in the band and have wanted to try my hands on a drum for a long time. Last time I tried to go I ended up stuck outside the venue in the pissing rain, unable to raise a soul, so I was determined to make it inside this time!

Well, I'm happy to say that make it I did, and I had a fantastic time. It was exhilerating being part of such a big, full sound and helping to create such infectious rhythms. It was also very interesting and refreshing for me as usually all the music I make is solo and entirely computerised. Having something physical to hit and playing with lots of other people, not to mention being directed by a band leader, was a stimulating change.

The drum I played was a repique, a snare-like instrument that hangs infront of you and you whack with sticks. Repique (or a word like it) means 'chatter' in Portuguese, and this is the character of the drum - lots of off-beat shuffles and flourishes. I think it was probably a tricky one to start with given the rhythmic games we had to play, but by the end of the 2 hours session I'd just about got the hang of it. I'd also worked up quite a sweat - it's knackering, but also hypnotic. I can see how, if you do it for long enough, you can enter a trance-like state!

Tonight I've been helping Georgie record her band - we're putting together an EP/album of their songs. I'm on engineer and producer duties which isn't very creative but gives me a chance to hone my studio skills and observe the creative process of a 'proper' band. Tonight was particularly interesting as they intensely focussed on working out a 3-part cello solo.

Before the band session, earlier this evening, I had a go on my own live setup. At the moment I'm trying to reverse engineer a tune I made a while back so I can play it live using my plethora of MIDI kit. This evening though, I wasn't feeling it at all. It felt mechanical and lifeless. I think my session with Barulho has made me crave a bit of hands on, organic musical creativity. And that desire was certainly emphasised during Georgie's band session, too.

So I think I'm going to change tac yet again with regard to my own music. I definitely want to continue sussing how to play live using electronic and acoustic sources. I've gathered a lot of good kit and learnt shit loads about MIDI automation and the looping of electronic / acoustic instruments on the fly. I've done the purely electronic thing, I've tried producing with a mind to playing live, and I've tried reverse engineering my existing tunes for live reproduciton. None bar the former have been quite right. Its time for me to make music from scratch in a more fluid, organic way, holding in mind everything I've learnt - production skills, studio skills and live skills - and seeing what comes out.