The Solo Ensemble; Instrumental

Affordances and Player

Effectivities in Electronically
Enabled Live Music

Music in Context // Cee Haines

What does it mean for live performance to be electronically
enabled?

THE PERFORMANCE INVOLVES AMPLIFICATION

How does amplification change our environment’s musical

affordances* and our effectivities* as instrumentalists?

*more on these terms shortly…

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Scratching the surface…

Even with only covering two basic aspects of electronic enhancement

included in a soloists’ tool box, we can see that there are so many
possibilities - and these electronic innovations are old by this point in time!

DAWs (digital audio workstations) like Ableton allow for an incredible degree
of real time signal processing, and computers are now powerful enough to
facilitate these transformations.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

What does it mean for live performance to be electronically
enabled?

Performance environments for (unamplified) classical music are often medium to large spaces -
including cathedrals, churches, concert halls and theaters.

Much of our instrumental training and design focuses on volume and projection;

- Classical singing cultivates a vocalist’s ability to sing very loudly without damaging the voice. It
is not unusual to expect volume over clear annunciation in some styles of singing - be this due
to the vocalist, the acoustic or both.

- Instrument design has favoured instruments with greater volume and overall dynamic range -
consider the move from harpsichord to piano, from recorder to flute, etc.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

What does it mean for live performance to be electronically
enabled?

In the modern day, however, the ubiquity of amplification in performance environments

has drastically changed the scope of what we can do in live performances, and
subsequent technological developments that use amplification in turn offer numerous
possibilities for musicians - whether performing in a group or as a soloist.

Amplification grants musicians a rich range of musical affordances, if we in turn cultivate

our own complimentary effectivities through training and practise.

What is an affordance? What are effectivities?

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

 Affordances
- James J Gibson (1904 - 1979) was an American
psychologist who is best known for his work regarding
visual perception and pioneering the field of ecological
psychology. He coined and defined the term affordance in
1979, and the idea would be later popularised by…

- ...Donald A Norman (b. 1935) in his book The Design of

Everyday Things (cover art featuring Jacques Carelman’s
‘Cafetière pour masochiste’)
The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines
Affordances
Gibson asserts that organisms, humans included, primarily perceive their
environments through the ways in which they can interact with those
environments. They do not, first and foremost, perceive the qualities, or
the abstract reality, of the environment or objects within it, but instead
the ways in which the physiology of the organism can interact with these
features. These environmental offerings are what Gibson called
affordances. The ground affords standing on and walking over, a door
handle affords grabbing, the air affords breathing.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Affordances
Importantly, Gibson (1979) outlines that “...an affordance is neither an
objective property nor a subjective property; or it is both if you like…It is
equally a fact of the environment and a fact of behaviour. It is both physical
and psychical, yet neither” (p.129, my emphasis).

As such, an affordance is not a property in and of itself, but describes a

relationship between organism and environment; a small branch affords
support to a bird like a robin or blue tit, but it does not offer the same
affordance to an elephant.
The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines
Affordances
In his book The Design of Everyday Things, Norman (an engineer who became
cognitive psychologist) applies the idea of affordances to the world of design - for
example, a flat panel on a door does not afford being grabbed by a hand and
being pulled, but it does afford pressing, leaning and pushing. As such, the fact that
the affordance is visible and obvious also communicates how the object should be
used.

“The door illustrates one of the most important principles of design: visibility. The
correct parts must be visible, and they must convey the correct message. With
doors that push, the designer must provide signals that naturally indicate where to
push… Put a vertical plate on the side to be pushed, nothing on the other.” (p. 4)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Affordances

In the book’s most recent edition, Norman does point out that a lot of
designers use the term affordance when they actually mean signifier. The flat
panel on the door happens to both afford pushing and signify pushing, but
affordances are not always signified.

For instance, you could (probably) hold a violin by the neck and use it to
return a tennis serve, but nothing about the design of the instrument (the
strings under your hand awkwardly, the fine wood and quality craftsmanship,
the price) implies that you should - the instrument’s design does not lead you
to use the instrument in this manner, even if it works well.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Affordances
In a musical context, we can consider what is afforded to us by our performance
environments, the instruments we play and the electronic enhancements we may be using.

-Buildings (as opposed to outside spaces) afford singers the ability to more easily heard by
an audience, as well as the musical and practical benefits of a reverberant acoustic
(sustain and more efficient use of the breath)
-Microphones and amplification afford vocalists the ability to be heard when singing and
speaking at low volumes; crooners in the 20/30s, MCs over sound systems pioneered in
Jamaican dancehall, etc etc…
-Keywork (on wind instruments) affords instrumentalists the ability to play chromatic
material in equal temperament across a range of octaves quickly and accurately

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Effectivities

The concept of effectivities was coined by Shaw, Turvey and Mace in 1982 in
their paper ‘Ecological psychology. The consequence of a commitment to
realism’.

The term ‘effectivity’ refers to capabilities possessed by the organism

interacting with its environment, dictated by the organism’s form - “…size,
shape, muscular structure, movement capabilities, needs and sensitivities…”
(Windsor and de Bezenac, 2012, p. 104).

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Effectivities
An organism’s effectivities will change over time, due to various factors; age,
injury, etc. In the case of musicians, our effectivities are deliberately
cultivated in the form of regular practice (Windsor and de Bezenac, 2012, p.
109).

The relationship we have with our environment is not one way - we can shape
our environments and make tools to use, but in turn those environments and
tools shape us. Your instrument, and the consistent practise over years and
years that you have done, have changed your body and your brain.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

The affordances electronics grant soloists

Gaelynn Lea: NPR

Music Tiny Desk
Concert//NPR
Music
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=n6oSeODGmoQ

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Gaelynn Lea
Even before we consider the electronic component of her performance, it is evident that Gaelynn Lea has
exploited the affordances of the violin in an atypical fashion;

“Born with a congenital disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle bone syndrome, she couldn’t prop
a violin on her shoulder or wield a cello. A teacher named Susan Sommerfeld helped her adapt. They found a
half-size violin and oriented it upright, like a cello. Thus began a journey of problem solving and modifications.
Decades later, Lea still rests her violin in front of her on her wheelchair. She holds her specially made bow
differently—more like the French grip for double bass, she’s been told—to achieve the correct angle…

Lea says Sommerfeld’s support was pivotal. “You look back and you realize how big a deal that was. She really
easily could’ve been like, ‘You should do choir, because I don’t think this is going to work for you.’” …She
stresses that players with disabilities can play at a concert level—but it helps at first to not compare them to
other students.

(https://stringsmagazine.com/fiddler-gaelynn-lea-on-teaching-touring-life-after-her-tiny-desk-win/)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Gaelynn Lea
Even if the student is really struggling, I never, ever, ever, ever suggest that they quit,
because that’s wrong,” Lea says. “I have limitations with how much I can do with my bow
because it’s smaller but I don’t think it’s for teachers to decide how good the students
have to be. My job is to facilitate them playing.”...

As she advanced, Lea adapted her fingerings and embraced shifting, unable to use her left
pinky. She rotates the instrument to accommodate her shorter arms. Her feet help her
pivot… Over the years she’s tried different hacks to keep her violin stable, first
experimenting with foam. Eventually, Lea improvised an endpin with a pen cap and string,
which she holds between her toes to keep the violin from slipping.”

(https://stringsmagazine.com/fiddler-gaelynn-lea-on-teaching-touring-life-after-her-tiny-
desk-win/)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Gaelynn Lea

“I was introduced to that by a musician who lives in Duluth named Alan Sparhawk, the lead singer of a band
called Low. He found me improvising one day at a farmer's market with another musician friend of his, and he
said that it would be fun to collaborate sometime. When we did start collaborating he brought over a looping
pedal, and said, "I think this would be really cool for your violin to be layered up." When I was first introduced
to the looping pedal, he was the one that looped it actually. But then eventually he [said], "Hey, now you
should learn to do this for yourself.” So, I did eventually. It took a while to get good at it because learning how
to loop is almost like learning another instrument--it's like playing two things at once.”
(https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2021/disability-diversity-conversation-musician-gaelynn-lea)

“He (Alan Sparhawk) said, ‘You should learn, because someday you’ll play shows by yourself.’ And I said,
‘Haha, yeah right.’”
(https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/14/gaelynn-lea-violin-interview-brittle-bone-disease)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Gaelynn Lea

“Simultaneously operating the pedal and playing the violin requires a good bit of
focus and concentration. Lea laughs and admits that she has to remind herself,
“Well, I’ve got to press the button right now; otherwise this is not going to work!”
But after working with the pedal now for more than 3 years, she says she’s growing
more comfortable with it every day. “It took me 2 ½ years to feel like I could bring it
out in public by myself.” But once she did, it opened up a lot of musical possibilities.
“It gave me an an opportunity to perform solo,” she says.”

(http://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2017/03/31/gaelyn-lea-accessible-looping
/)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Live Digital Looping

Before digital pedals existed, artists used analogue tape to make basic loops on the fly
using two reel to reel tape recorders side by side; Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Robert Fripp
and Brian Eno were making music with this method in the 60s/70s.
(https://codepen.io/teropa/full/WjPEBw)

Click the above link for an interactive webpage demonstrating the Time Lag Accumulator.

“The Time Lag Accumulator was originally a system made out of two reel-to-reel tape
recorders. You would record your music on recorder A, then play it back immediately on
recorder B, feeding the output of B back to A.” (ibid)

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Live Digital Looping
The History of Live Looping,
and how it can be used
today! [Ableton Live
10]//From JASP

Watch from 51 seconds to

see Terry Riley with the Time
Lag Accumulator and
Robert Fripp performing
Frippertronics.

https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=cDTFtl1LZ48&t=51s

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Live Digital Looping

The first loop pedal was the Paradis LOOP delay and came out in 1992
(http://www.livelooping.org/history_concepts/theory/growth-along-the-limi
tations-of-the-tools/), but we don’t really see live looping as a musician’s
mainstay until the early 00s.

Artists who are frequently credited with popularising and pioneering loop
pedal performance include Imogen Heap, KT Tunstall and Ed Sheeran.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Live Digital Looping

KT Tunstall -
Black Horse
& The Cherry
Tree (Later
Archive 2004)

https://www.
youtube.com
/watch?v=FG
T0A2Hz-uk
Live Digital Looping Affordances

Artistic affordances;
-Allows a player on a monophonic instrument to create layers of;
-texture (monophony, polyphony, heterophony etc)
-harmony
-timbral layering
-rhythm
-Affords being used with either the feet or the hands, depending on what an
instrumentalist is already playing
-As a spectacle in and of itself, looping is pleasing to watch when done well
The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines
Live Digital Looping Affordances
Practical affordances;
-Player does not need a band in order to create a full track, which in turn means
-Player does not need to be able to play a harmony instrument to create harmony
-Player can create rhythm without a drummer or drum machine

This has practical knock ons - there is less equipment to ferry around when touring
(potentially), and a gig fee does not need to be split across a number of players (for better
or for worse).

All of this might lead to an artist having more autonomy and earning power.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Effectivities and Skillset Required to Loop Live
Live looping is a skill in and of itself, but in short;

-Player requires a free limb, ideally a hand or foot

-Player needs to have a healthy confidence with their instrument, to a degree that
operating a looper won’t impede their ability to play well
-Player needs to have a good sense of metronomic time keeping and the ability to
reproduce movements and gestures with accuracy
-Player requires a basic knowledge of effects routing, how to use a microphone, practical
issues that might occur (clipping etc), how their loop pedal functions
-Player requires the use of an amplifier/PA
-Player requires some compositional know-how in order for performances to remain
interesting
The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines
Scratching the surface…

Even with only covering two basic aspects of electronic enhancement

included in a soloists’ tool box, we can see that there are so many
possibilities - and these electronic innovations are old by this point in time!

DAWs (digital audio workstations) like Ableton allow for an incredible degree
of real time signal processing, and computers are now powerful enough to
facilitate these transformations.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Category more than Genre?

We have covered quite a range of artists and musical styles so far - Gaelynn
Lea and KT Tunstall are both artists with roots in folk, Terry Riley and Pauline
Oliveros have classical roots but span minimalism, ambience and
experimental musics, and Robert Fripp’s career sees him spanning ambience,
rock, prog, jazz and more.

Part of what is interesting about studying electronic techniques, like looping,

is seeing how use of it across genres differs, as well as ways in which it is
similar. Is it more popular in some genres of music than others? Why?

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Thank you!

The following is a playlist of performances that involve

live looping/time lag accumulation (more commonly
known these days as delay) that could make interesting
case studies…

Use this as a jumping-off point for your own research!

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Fred again..: Tiny Desk Concert

https://www.you
tube.com/watch
?v=4iQmPv_dTI
0

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Oliver Coates performing 'IMPROVISATION - BUTOH
BABY (live)' | Notes from the Underground
https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=Uucn
mTD6_M4

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Grimes - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=FJ5X
Uw4qHZo

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Hatis Noit - Angelus Novus | A Take Away Show

https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=tmN0
H0V6Oxw

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Zoe Keating Plays"Escape Artist"

https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=yYrcX
X4nWOA

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines

Bibliography (playlist not included)

Baker, A.M. (28/10/2021) Disability as Diversity: A Conversation with Musician Gaelynn Lea. National Endowment for the Arts.
(https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2021/disability-diversity-conversation-musician-gaelynn-lea)

BBC Music (Oct 18, 2016) KT Tunstall - Black Horse & The Cherry Tree (Later Archive 2004) [Video]. Youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGT0A2Hz-uk)

FROMJASP (Aug 25, 2018) The History of Live Looping, and how it can be used today! [Ableton Live 10] [Video]. Youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTFtl1LZ48)

Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
Norman, D. A. (1988) The Design of Everyday Things. The MIT Press.

Grob, Matthias (2009) Matthias Grob: Growth due to limitations (2009) [Webpage]. (http://www.livelooping.org/history_concepts/theory/growth-along-the-limitations-of-the-tools/)

John, E. (14/12/2018) 'It's a cool time to be alive!' – fiddle sensation Gaelynn Lea on changing perceptions of disability. The Guardian.
(https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/14/gaelynn-lea-violin-interview-brittle-bone-disease)

Kopp, B. (31/03/2017) Gaelynn Lea: Accessible Looping. Musoscribe. (http://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2017/03/31/gaelyn-lea-accessible-looping/)

NPR Music (Mar 11, 2016) Gaelynn Lea: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert [Video]. Youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6oSeODGmoQ)

Schreil, C. (5/10/2017) Fiddler Gaelynn Lea on Teaching, Touring, & Life After Her Tiny Desk Win. Strings Magazine
(https://stringsmagazine.com/fiddler-gaelynn-lea-on-teaching-touring-life-after-her-tiny-desk-win/)

Shaw, R. E., Turvey, M. T. & Mace, W. M. (1982). Ecological psychology. The consequence of a commitment to realism. In W. Weimer & D. Palermo (Eds.) Cognition and the symbolic processes. Vol. 2 Pages 159 – 226.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Tero Parviainen (?) The Time Lag Accumulator. [Webpage and code example]. (https://codepen.io/teropa/full/WjPEBw)

Windsor, W. & De bezenac, Christophe (2012). Music and Affordances. Musicae Scientiae. 10.1177/1029864911435734.

The Solo Ensemble//Cee Haines