The sense I had from the start - through all the trials and tests to finally get a working rig - was that I was radically changing my entire approach to live performance in this process. Now, of course there is the very real possibility that the sense of epic change I felt was mostly self imposed and perhaps this is all no big deal, but for me it has been very real - self-imposed or not - and what that has meant is that I have had to delay and delay and delay doing actual shows.
This has been disappointing on a number of levels, but on the other hand there doesn't seem to be any point in presenting what could be an amazing musical moment to anyone until it's actually ready to be amazing.
As a songwriter I tend to think in the moment of the song. Everything moves outward from there. Get the song itself in place and the rest will come. But translating that song to an audience requires practice. And that practice can require a lot of patience - something I am generally not always that good at. Plus my entire performance technique has had to change and - I'd like to think - evolve, as I have developed the new rig.
This has meant that every time I make a change for the betterment of the bigger picture concept I have had to reteach myself how to operate the rig. Then as I go through that process if something is not doing what I need it to do, I have to stop the entire process and look for a solution before I can move on. Many times this takes additional weeks of tinkering until I can get everything running right. Till there is another bump in the road and then it starts over again. To be fair I should admit that part of me enjoys the tinkering - even if it seem endless. Anyway...
In a way all this "practicing" has been a bit disconcerting, but recently something has happened that took me out of my now "Songwriting" mentality and back to more fundamental musical experiences of my youth. The rig now makes sense to me intuitively. Perhaps this is an effect of my doing so much with it that my brain moves faster than it did before through the process, but whatever the reason I find that I "see" the rig differently now. It feels more like an instrument unto itself rather than just a way to facilitate song performances.
It reminds me a lot of when I was first learning to, for example, play basic grooves on a drum kit. At some point I did not have to consciously think any longer about the groove. It just flowed out of me. At that point I was able to just play. In the moment. Intuitively. Musically. It was very freeing and it set a kind of benchmark for all my future musical experiences.
Of course there is always more to learn and add to one's toolbox, but the concept of musical intuition as a part of performance (in all parts of the process: writing, recording, performing, producing) has always intrigued me. The idea "Nothing Forced Endures" (thank you, Richard Beal!) comes to mind.
All that in mind, as you might expect, I cannot at this point say "it's done." Funny, if not predictably, enough, as the rig has reached this point of ease-of-use, I am still awaiting the release of some new gear from a few companies to complete my current vision of how it will all work. In fact in the photo you can kinda see a "blank" area that is reserved for this very reason. Most significantly I am looking forward to the Keith McMillen QuNexus and the Electro Harmonix 8 Step Program. Both are due this month. And then let the fun begin!
I did create a very raw video on the concept a few weeks ago, for anyone interested. It's more of a prototype here, as since filming I have swapped out the SL-20 for an Adrenalinn 3 and reworked the actual placement and wiring to be more cooperative, and numerous other changes, but the idea behind the rig should be clear regardless.
It's an exciting time. Lots more coming! Gotta go practice now...
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