Music for those who hate to practice
This evening, while avoiding reruns of crime programs on TV, I learned that I have been living next to a parallel world. There is no intended oxymoron here. My life as a lonely solo musician who hates to practice has not been in vain. There are others, and they’ve found the answer.
The local cable channel is (as I write) broadcasting a competition. Two teams, limit three minutes, bagpipes obligatory. Two teams, three members maximum, topic Russian Thrash. Mixed teams, format choir and cowbell, ninety seconds. And more. What have I found? The obvious: a meeting of the LIMQ (Ligue d’Improvisation Musicale de Quebec). The only place where not having practiced is a virtue.
From the evidence presented (remember, this was an alternative to reruns of crime programs) there are musicians who are confident enough in their own musical identity that they can play anything. Not just style – the choice of instruments approached the experimental rather than the experienced. A warning from the referee that the bagpipes take time to inflate goes hand in hand with the stopwatch.
The range of musical styles is broad, although the term “musique actuelle” showed the youth of the team members; don’t look for a solid grounding in 80’s glam rock or big band smooth. The sonority was in keeping with the thirty seconds of mental preparation given to a team before they took the stage to present (as opposed to perform).
I now have one more reason not to practice; I might have to improvise sometime.
