Drome3 has come and gone, there were a few people who could not make it but in all it was a good turn out with excellent results. Many times through the afternoon the Drome concept as a platform for ensemble improvisation was working extremely well. Listen carefully to the recordings and you will hear intuitive and responsive performances, where individual ideas merge as one (oneness).
I think Drome4 will need be tightened up in some respects and loosened in others, the start and end time of each ensemble and exactly who plays with whom I feel should be more flexible, within reason of course we don't want gross over-indulgence and the goal of experimentation is hardly served by allowing mates to play the same tired stuff.
The distinction between the roles of the ensemble and the atmos orchestra and the duration of the whole event I feel should be defined to give a clear style break between sessions and to allow people involved to plan their afternoon. I should emphasise at this point that the involvement in both the ensemble and atmos orchestra sections of this project by all performers is vital for the success of Drome as a unique event.
Also more attention will have to paid to ensuring that quiet instruments can be heard, which means that there are louder instruments which must have their wings clipped, if you think you fall into this category talk to me about it before the next Drome. There are a number of solutions to this problem; the instrument can play less as in accents or sporadic events, or the instrument can be muted in varying ways, or the musician can take on another quieter instrument during their time in the atmos orchestra section. Of course there will be other solutions and often they can add to the overall distinctive sound of the project, a little lateral thinking and experimentation can produce wonderful results.
To the right of this text posting you can play four excerpts from the four Drome3 sessions. Please leave comments, suggestions or questions below.
