Steve Ball

Seattle Guitar Circle: 1998 Circulation Project Notes

Over the past few months, a small team of Seattle guitarists have been meeting on Saturday mornings to explore what might come next for us as individuals and as a community of aspiring musicians.

As we meet to explore new ways to work together, a number of the variables in the air include some ground that was explored (initially) almost seventeen years ago, so I thought it may be useful to dig out some notes from our work back in those days as reference.  One of the emerging ‘containers for group  improvisation’ included a group practice known as “Follow the Leader” – a sort of analog delay. 

Here are my notes from the first meeting of a five week Circulation Project that I initiated years ago during another transition in Seattle Guitar Circle history.

       

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Seattle Guitar Circle
1998 Circulation Project
Meeting #1: Transmission of Quantity
Saturday September 5^th, 1998
1416 Evergreen Point Road, Medina

Agenda
9:00 - 9:30 Sitting
9:30-10:00 Coffee and free warm-up
10:00-12:00 Circulation Meeting #1

Present for the Meeting:

• JT Milhoan
• Scott Adams
• Steven Rhodes
• John Henning
• Jaxie Binder
• Brock Pytel
• Heather Pytel
• Curt Golden
• Steve Ball
• Frank Sheldon

* * *

SECTION ONE: "Classic Circulation" - single note, single direction, free or with harmonic constraints

• We began with a classic "free" circulation (no rules, no constraints), left to right
• Added a harmonic constraint: only notes in the key of C (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)
  • Principle: if in doubt about where these notes are, play any open string or any string fretted on the 12th fret
  • Principle: if you don't know that you are in doubt, play any open string
• We then changed the constraint: only notes in the key of G (C, D, E, F#, G, A, B)
  • same principles apply
• We changed the constraint again: only notes in the key of D (C#, D, E, F#, G, A, B)
  • same principles, except the 6th string (C)
• A new constraint: only the notes of the C Whole Tone scale (C, D, E, F#, G#, A#)
  • if in doubt, play C, D, or E (6th, 4th, or 2nd open string)
• One final constraint: "Octaves" - play the same note (any octave) as the person to your left. Use only your ears to determine what this note is.

* * *

SECTION 2: "Mobile Circulations" - rule-based key or harmonic changes

First Mobile Circulation: we changed modes whenever there was an intentional pause, cycling through the following modes:

1. C Major (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)

2. G Major (C, D, E, F#, G, A, B)

3. D Major (C#, D, E, F#, G, A, B)

4. Whole (C, D, E, F#, G#, A#)

5. Free (any note)

6. Octaves (same note as the person to your left, any octave)

Second Mobile Circulation: we changed modes only after the circulation went around the circle five times, cycling through the following modes:

1. C Major (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)

2. G Major (C, D, E, F#, G, A, B)

3. D Major (C#, D, E, F#, G, A, B)

4. Whole (C, D, E, F#, G#, A#)

5. Free (any note)

6. Octaves (same note as the person to your left, any octave)

The circulation completes only after everyone is playing octaves of the same note.

* * *

SECTION 3: Transmission of Quantity

Principle: play the same note played by person to your left

• First Variation: "Direct Transmission" - If the person to your left plays a different note than the person to her left, then still play only what the person to your left played, even if it is the "wrong" note.
• Second Variation: Play only what the "leader" played; If the person to your left plays something different than the leader played, ignore this and play only what the leader played.
• Third Variation: Constrained to notes in the key of C.
• Fourth Variation: each person plays two notes - an open-A reference, and then the second note of choice.
• Fifth Variation: Constrained to the notes A, B, C, D, and E with an open A reference
• Sixth Variation: Constrained to the notes A, B, C, D, and E, no reference note.

* * *

SECTION 4: Group Loops

Principles:

1. One person begins playing a very simple part, improvised in the moment.
2. Before playing, each person listens to what the group is playing and contributes a part which:
   • complements what is already being played
   • is simple enough that you could play your part for an hour without resting
3. If in doubt, play a slow pulse on a single note
4. Each person adds a new part in turn only when receiving a clear nod from the person to their left.

This is how we "circulate in" to a Group Loop.

1. The piece begins to end when the new part that someone adds in is silence. This silence is then circulated until there is only one person left playing their part. When this person adds their silence, the Group Loop is completed.

This is how we "circulate out" of a Group Loop.

Variations after the Loop is "cooking':

1. Round - small sub groups continue playing their parts while others rest. Pockets of Silence are circulated.
2. Trading - groups trade 4-bar chunks of silence and playing their parts (directed by one person by naming names during the piece)

* * *

SECTION 5: "Follow the Leader"

Rule 1: there is one designated leader who comes up with an improvised looping part on the fly which is:

• simple enough that everyone in the particular group will be able to learn to play the part within 10-15 seconds
• simple enough that every instrument in the group will be able to emulate the part

Rule 2: The person to the right of the leader acts as an "analog delay" to the leader's part. The group "delay time" is determined by the person to the leaders immediate right. After an appropriate delay time, the person to the right begins to play (as best they can) exactly the part which the leader is playing.

Rule 3: Always play exactly what the person to your left is playing after waiting for the group "delay time." If the person to your left changes their part, continue to play your current part for the duration of the group delay time, and then change to the new part. If the person to your left plays "silence" wait the delay time, and then begin to play "silence."

Rule 4: The leader does not change their part until at least three other people are playing the same part. There are always at least 3 people playing each part.

* * *

Throughout the meeting, Frank provided Alexander work and made adjustments to the group.

* * *

On Wednesday night we will begin new work with the "Transmission of Quality."

Next Saturday, we will pick up where we left off with the work we did today.

* * *

Everything Means Something to Me

This video, just in. From the 2011 Steve Ball Sketch Box, CD 1: Song Sketches.

A tribute to a person who left early and unnecessarily.

 

* * *

everything means something to me  (backward)

I won't fight the candlelight
kettle's on but all's not right
hear your voice but heard you're gone
that can't be your voice is on
wait a sec -- I know that song
ben affleck or matt damon?
unknown guys with knowing script
voice seems strong but ill-equipped
I could swear I know these lines
gentle singer's northwest whines
songs with shadows stains and signs

is it possible to blame
slim's ironic label name
who thought you'd be built then spilled
hunting's darling rockstar's killed
hard to blame your circumstance
at least celine was trained to dance 
margaret said you’re pre-disposed
heart wide open, case is closed

I won't shed a drunken tear
drown my loss in corporate beer
though you're gone  it's like you're here
there's your voice, it's on the air
in that soundtrack everywhere

keep your needle, keep your hay
nothing left to sing or say
none could hold a light to you
courtney, kurt, or mary lou
you'll join heaven's greatest band or
play hell's endless one night stand
trade in all your songs for knives
and empty words of wasted lives

everything means something to me

* * *

Music and Lyrics by Steve Ball
Published by Blue Orb Music Publishing

© 2004-2015 Ballistic Music

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Calisthenics for Improvisation

From: Steve Ball 
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2015 11:11 PM
To: 'Travis Metcalf'; 'Tony Geballe'; 'Tobin Buttram'; 'Taylor Sherman'; 'Sandra Prow'; 'Rob Taylor-Manning'; 'Paul O'Rear'; 'Meleah Gibson'; 'Mary Beth Abel'; 'Julia Zenteno'; 'Jim Breslin'; 'Jacqueline Binder'; 'Igor Abuladze'; 'Howard Snyder'; 'Greg Meredith'; 'Frank Sheldon'; 'Erin Wigger'; 'Emily Geballe'; 'Diana Garcia'; 'Deborah Gunn'; 'Dean Jensen'; 'David Lavallee'; 'Darlene Franz'; 'Curt Golden'; 'Christina Florkowski'; 'Chris Gibson'; 'Carl Germain'; 'Bob Williams'; 'Bill Van Buren'; 'Bill Rieflin'
Cc: 'Leonardo Requejo'; 'Dev Ray'; 'Patrick Grant'; 'Sandra Bain Cushman'; 'Pablo Mandel'

Subject: Raising the bar: Calisthenics for Improvisation

 

Greetings Extended Seattle Team -

For anyone who wishes to intensify your personal and group work during this next period, I am re-initiating a recurring Tuesday evening Calisthenics for Improvisation session through the summer, similar to the Saturday morning work I’ve been hosting for the past few years.

TL;DL Exec Summary for Busy Skimmers
Beginning this week through early-September, please RSVP only if you wish to show up Tuesday evening(s) 9pm - 10ish with your guitar for an hour of gently guided group improvisation.

Note: location may vary. See below for details if interested.

With best wishes,

-Steve

 

* * *

The Long Version

The aim of this work is as follows:

a) To empirically develop and exercise a shared, known body of improvisation calisthenics so that what we play – even when we don’t know what we’re about to play – is reliably indistinguishable from Music.

This involves intentional work focused on collectively working on one thing at a time, for example: tone, timbre, volume, variations, vamping, leading, following, soloing, key awareness, he and she awareness, comping, copying, chords, clusters, circulation, rotation, integration, patterns, patter, pulse division, polyrhythm, passing, speed, pace, space, silence, slapping, swinging, clapping, tapping, quoting, fading, waiting, whizzing, tinkling, thraking, texturing, talking, and taking turns tweaking what we do together to get out of the way, that we may (more) reliably become one musical instrument, capable of speaking / singing with one voice.

b) To push just into the edge of our personal capacity, and then go just beyond – in a safe, guided and accepting environment.

c) To develop a simple, shared body of named improvisation-based ‘repertoire’ designed so that we are each able to contribute confidently and musically to whatever is unfolding in the moment – regardless of whether this is day one or year forty with the guitar. Mostly, this means practicing feeling the feeling that it is okay to play simply, slowly and gently -- and often not at all.  It also means constructing and socializing an intentional set of diverse, improvised ‘repertoire’ that might one day even function reliably in front of an audience. Ideally, the audience will not know or notice which bits were ‘composed’ or which flew by in the moment.  

d) To practice harmonizing with each other, in what we do, what we say, and how we listen, work and play together.

e) To continue quietly working on the guitarist inside each of us, together.

Special Historical Note: this is not a café. And it is not a secret.  Anyone who wishes to listen or simply sit are also encouraged to show up and be present. And there might occasionally be snacks, slightly unlike other (formerly) secret cafes from past eras. 

As always, please observe a “necessary talking only” approach. However, this is not a solemn rehearsal or performance. Rather, in this environment, I encourage an open and easy flow of necessary talking about what, why and how we’re doing together.   

* * *

Logistics

The default location will be my living room -- but I’d like to also encourage voluntary rotation so that we may share and spread the inconvenience of travel evenly for those investing in this work together.

The first session will be this Tuesday, May 19^th from 9pm sharp to 10-ish PM (we’ll wrap-up when the work is complete rather than obey an arbitrary clock.)  Please be prompt – but we will still love you if you are late, or even absent.

You never ever need to explain or apologize.

Please RSVP so the host has a rough idea of who is coming each week.  If no one responds, I’ll simply be practicing happily in my living room, available for anyone who wishes to join me at this time in raising the bar together.

The location for this first week will be at my place (address below), unless Rob or David wish to invite everyone over to Mercer Island?  Also, those without vehicles, please reach out and ask for transportation help if your desire to participate exceeds your fear of asking for help.

As usual, please bring stools and/or anything else you need to be comfortable with the inevitable dis-comfort of working together. 

* * *

Douglas Baldwin: The Airport Exercise Score

A few years back, my dear old friend and long-time Crafty Guitarist, Douglas Baldwin reached out to help notate the Airport Exercise during a fleeting first wave of interest in the piece. He provided some valuable feedback on my original, quick score – and then he started notating his own version.

Last week, I received the hard copy of this work in the (snail) mail – a surprise gift from Douglas.

Of course, my first (and predictable) response was: can I share what you sent?

So, please check out a small glimpse of the precise and concise work of guitarist Douglas Baldwin (scores and knotwork) and drop him a nice note, send him a small pile of cash, or (at least!) leave a comment here if you find these of value. 

You might also compare this to Gabe’s version if so interested.

Note: Gabe and I did a Skype call to confirm, play through, and tweak his version as he was notating.  

Douglas Baldwin: Scores and More

      

      

    

      

      

  

* * *

BootlegTV: History

Weekend work: transcription of a 2’ 4” conversation with a small team from the original BootlegTV.

This two hour conversation maps roughly to 22,543 words on ~64 pages. I hope to be ready to share this transcription later week with those who were in the discussion. And perhaps with my 1,000 true fans who lurk here from time to time.

My ongoing need to have an automated, secretarial, auto-hyperlinked, auto-summarized, cloud-based note-taking tool remains still unfulfilled. Perhaps this is my next impossible ten year mission?

Executing this ‘history’ project also makes me think there may be a new, useful practice for those who were directly involved in other significant, unfolding histories.

And I may try this idea out (again) later this week with Patricia Fripp, while she’s visiting in Seattle. 

* * *

The Airport Exercise: New Notation, New Donation

A few weeks ago, I decided to hire some professional help to create an accurate score for those interested in learning The Airport Exercise. The score was transcribed by Gabriel Riccio, and I’m making it available now to interested guitarists for an (optional) donation.

The 450K PDF score is downloadable here, but if you do in fact download this for personal use, archiving, study, or presentation, please use the honor system, and make a donation to my “let Steve Ball keep writing and sharing music” fund.

If you have trouble using this tool, or if you wish to contribute via other means or commission some work, music, coaching or training, you may also contact me directly at steveball at steveball dot com.

Thanks again to everyone who visits this site and shares in this work from a distance.

* * *

Reflections on David Singleton’s Visit to Seattle

Sharing some energy that is still flying around since David visited Seattle

* * *

From: Steve Ball
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2015 10:58 PM
To:  David Singleton
Cc:  Steve Enstad ; Steve Turnidge ; Don Myers; Curt Golden;
Subject: Reflections

Dear David (and extended BTV-brothers) – I’m happy to hear you made it home safely!

Thanks all for sharing quick reflections and follow-up.

I too had a great few days last week connecting the past to this present.

Of course, I’ve also done just a bit of digesting, some summarized here in this odd place where no one goes anymore (online diaries)!

I managed to scan the Saturday lunch sushi sheet(s) and included a potentially useful picture there as well recapping one of my own primary take-aways from studying how we’re operating given our goals: doing better means doing less. 

Now, a few more quick links before I do less and go practice:

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ a San Francisco startup, in the news a bit last year about the art of tour financing. This came up as I’ve been thinking through support models for the Vicar.
• Jo Hamilton: I’m a patron: http://www.johamilton.com/patrons/ - but undecided on whether this is/was a good idea. I checked it out because of the model, but I don’t actually really like her music. Welcome to modern music discovery: I detest your music, but your business model is interesting. 
• Patronage: Finally, a well-known, but worth re-reading Kevin Kelley essay on 1000 True Fans.

One other quick thought for the evening: “success” (whatever that means) seems at least partially-contingent on the idea that someone other than the creator(s) may be interested in our work. But can this be true in an XX-overloaded modern world? (where X = email, movies, music, media, money, management, memories – not to mention families, social engagements, hobby responsibilities…) 

Maybe this is the new reality: with everyone becoming creators (musicians, bloggers, artists) because the democratization and distribution of cheap tools, everyone is now a creator.  Which sort of has this result:  “Who has time to listen to you -- I’m focused on me!” 

Patricia Fripp has a sort of meme about this; she says something like (my paraphrase): 

“while you’re presenting (performing) and worried that everyone is thinking about you (stage fright), you must recognize that they are not.  They are actually thinking about: Is this chair comfortable? What’s for lunch? Did I lock the door? What should I say next to appear smart? Is she looking at me? How is this thing I’m enduring helping (or hurting) me? and the bottom line $10K question: “what’s in it for me.” 

Realizing that everyone is only ever mostly focused on themselves can be a kind of freeing realization.

With this idea, I have a different kind of stage fright -- if that makes sense? 

So, what determines this little tricky little answer: is what I’m doing excellent enough to engage my audience (student, boss, co-workers, circle members) and pull them up and out of their “what’s in it for me?” hypnosis?

Okay, way more than enough.

Wishing you each well in your whatever is in it for us.

-Steve

* * *

David Singleton, the Vicar: in Seattle

David Singleton was in Seattle with his daughter Iona for the past four days, exploring ideas to reinvigorate his 15-year project, the Vicar. 

Here’s a quick recap of the past four days:

Wednesday Evening: dinner with George Murphy, Don Meyers, Brit (Don’s wife) and Iona (David’s daughter) was a combination of rear-view reflection on BootlegTV combined with a forward looking view at what is possible and practical now for music and media creators. In 1999, when BootlegTV was born, one terabyte of storage cost ~$100K. Today, you can pick up a 1T drive for $59 at Fry’s. At that time, average consumer bandwidth was affectionately described as ‘dial up’. We shared perspectives on how much has changed. And perhaps, more interestingly: how much has not.

Thursday Evening: dinner with Steve Enstad, Curt Golden, David LaVallee, Don Meyers, and David Singleton at what used to be the Ballard Firehouse. In January of 2000, David sat in this very spot in the audience with RF for a Steve Ball Roadshow show that featured Jaxie Binder on Guitar, and Bob Williams on Bass.  Dinner at what is now “Ballard Highlife” was followed by a two hour conversation (recorded) at Curt’s place about the remembered history of BootlegTV. David and I realized a few months ago that we might benefit from revisiting reflections on our shared experience in working to enable new music and media scenarios in 1999-2001. There were a number of emotional and insightful moments as we shared impressions and memories of highs, lows, characters and characteristics of the unlikely band of brothers and sisters who came together to pursue what then was an insane vision. Via conversation, we realized the immense insanity of working to build and ship the scenarios that are today covered by iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud, and Facebook combined.  I’m working to transcribe the conversation for further reflection.

 

Friday Evening: David presented a special evening of DGM and Vicar stories, sponsored by Amy Priore who flew up from LA with her husband to bring a bit of DGMLive to Seattle. There were numerous references to the October 19, 1990 League of Crafty Guitarists show at the Backstage (just a few blocks from this event) where David and I first met, and which set in motion > 25 years of collaborative music and craft work across the DGM family of artists.

It was also a bit surreal to see the legacy of Guitar Craft Services still living and breathing in Amy’s thriving DGM Shop.

Saturday Lunch: David and Iona joined me post-SGC morning work at Seattle Creative Arts Center for a working lunch discussion and coaching session on practical paths to increase David’s ability to focus on next steps for the Vicar.  As many know, I cannot talk without drawing, so here is one of the sheets we used in the landscape analysis of David and his work with the Vicar project:

Yes, that’s soy sauce on the bottom.

Over sushi, among other topics, we discussed viral video memes, Shred videos, caption contests, calendar analysis, Travis Hartnett’s quantum ‘four hour rule’ (see the text next to the improvised Just Passing Through here for one quick explanation) and how the world is full of good and great art and artifacts. Therefore, it’s really only possible to get any significant attention at all if what you’re doing is extraordinary in some way.

* * *

At 3pm, after a 15 minute phone call with Guy Whitmore about the state of interactive music, I dropped David off chez Don Meyers for final packing for his red eye flight back to England.

brothers: in arms

* * *