Structure

Contrast – Similarity The Glass The Haiku The Indian The Jarrett

Part of my work with SlowBass is finding ways of performing music that isn’t just about playing compositions. I have nothing against playing songs but I feel it’s more exiting when there is room for improvisation and spontaneity.
So for this reason I found different musical structures that makes it possible for me to improvise and create on the spot but also makes a concert easier to prepare both before and on the stage. Instead of playing 10 songs I now have the option of mixing in these structures to give a feeling of something different.

Here is a short improvisation made in December 2011.
My ambition was to not decide on what to play until the moment where I’m actually about to start. This proved to be a lot harder than I thought because ideas kept coming, especially hours before the concert, and I kept trying to ignore them. I knew I had a short time frame so I couldn’t really play that long and I remember deciding straight away to focus on A# to B (playing in E lydian) and then adding loud bangs as a contrast to playing soft. On one hand I consider it a failure because I fell into a comfort zone at some points. The biggest surprise for me was the ending because I wasn’t thinking of ending like that but in the moment it just felt right so I stopped!