Solitude

2014, Till Bovermann

I imagine instruments for moments of solitude. Their concept is a paradigm rather than a concrete outline of a field or class of musical instruments.

Amelie playing for herself

I realised (after sessions of music-making with my personal setup) that there are some facets of playing for myself that I’d like to set as a basis for further investigations:

• What does it mean to play alone? Do I play for my pleasure? Do I perform for myself? Do I practice for a future performance in front of an audience? Do I use the play-time to reflect on the past? Do I react on the site I am playing at?
• What is needed t play for myself? In what environment is the instrument supposed to be played? Is there a minimal setup?

Some of these questions can only be answered in the form of a decision, maybe a personal or artistic expression. Answers to other questions decide on how mimos are recognised.

• A musical instrument for moments of solitude is liberating. It creates sound immediately and has an easy-to-understand interface.
• Having some kind of a counterpart to play with (or against) can be beneficial, it might even possess its own will.
• Playing an instrument is about exploring possibilities and less about performing. Recording the sound for the sake of archival is of little interest.