[NetBehaviour] Gone improvisation on Albanian starki

[Alan Sondheim]

(rough music)

Gone improvisation on Albanian starki

http://www.alansondheim.org/cifteli2.jpg cifteli
http://www.alansondheim.org/gift.mp3 starki
http://www.alansondheim.org/cifteli1.jpg starki

Finally have the identification of the instruments correct;
the starki is 3-string, although 5 seems to be more common.
The cifteli image is of a very small instrment which I've
used in group playing. The music is my own. The starki
should be reset, with a lowered bridge. I love it the way
it is however. The scale is non-standard which makes it a
joy to play. These instruments are played with a plectrum;
I'm using my finger-nails instead. I'm awkward with the
plectrum, but fine with my fingers. Everywhere I search
for consonances. I seem stuck at times with 4/4 rhythm
and its relatives. I keep hearing tunes or snippets of
tunes that then fall into place as I improvise. I can
fail miserably; it's easy to make a mess of things. But
it does improve the memory, of patterns, textures, and
tones. All my instruments resonate with each other, and
all of them speak as if they're within a neighborhood. Of
course they are, commensurate with my abilities or lack
of them. When I'm entering text, as now, I find myself
making mistakes. When I'm entering an improvisation, I
find those mistakes absorbed; as with programming errors,
they become features. I confess: I listen often to what I
have done, and love it. That keeps me going, going, going
and gone. That keeps me gone.

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