mgresham@artsnet.UUCP (Mark Gresham) (05/28/90)
In article <13419@venera.isi.edu> smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) writes: >[...]. How does a string quartet keep themselves coordinated? Each >member has his own "program;" but that program is "clock sensitive." How >do they agree on the ticks of the "reference clock" which keeps them together? >Note that I deliberately chose a string quartet because in such an ensemble >there is not necessarily the single "authority figure" you would find leading >an orchestra. For much chamber music, this responsibility MUST be shared; but >we know very little about HOW it is shared. > >Now we can make the matter even MORE interesting by taking the parts away. Now >we are in the domain of jazz. There is still a good deal of coordination going >on; but that coordination need not necessarily be explained in terms of the >"charts." If we can obtain a better understanding of how such musicians >communicate (strictly on matters of clock synchronization without getting >knee-deep in questions of emotion and "meaning"), we may find some valuable >insights concerned with the coordination of independent problem solving agents. This makes me think of a rehearsal technique I've used with the Atlanta Meistersingers, which is to have them stand in a circle to sing, but facing *out*. And it works. Perhaps it isn't as much of a visual matter (i.e., seeing subtle prepratory movements) as one might imagine, but a matter of anticipation and sampling results of that in an auditory manner for adjustments. (Clock ticks maintained internally (memory and measurement), adjusted by perception and fuzzy logic. (Study the filght of birds in groups, he said, sudden changes in the group pattern all at once (?) to unexpected situations.) Memory. How much does the experience of a specific piece in rehearsal or previous performance affect the ability at synchronizing the "clocks" of the group? Improvization: calling up long-term memories of well-digested riffs, etc. -- playing out of old habits. Jazz example cited above, musical symbols of score replaced by commonly held experiences and methods -- old habits (individual, collective) played out in familiar or newly recombined manners. Memory again. And anticipation: we behave as if the sun will rise tomorrow, that the laws of gravity will not be repealed. Cheers, --Mark ======================================== Mark Gresham ARTSNET Norcross, GA, USA E-mail: ...gatech!artsnet!mgresham or: artsnet!mgresham@gatech.edu ========================================