Hang

[James R. Coplin]

OK, I'll bite and be the bad guy.  Am I the only one who questions the
actual utility of this instrument?  I'll readily admit it has a wonderful
tone.  I can see spending a bunch of time messing around with one if I had
it.  However, I couldn't see me making much music with it.  I have to say I
would be bored to tears if I went to concert and this thing came out.  The
first piece I would probably love, the second would hold my interest but I'd
be done after that.  I would be looking at my watch, getting another beer
etc. for the rest of the hour and half. 

Despite having a great tone, the dynamics of that same tone are seem very
limited.  Also, only having 8 tones, all in one key, seems really limiting.
I love the sound of a Steinway but if I only had 8 keys to play, I'd quickly
get bored of it too.  This just seems like the ultimate hippy noise toy and
all the mystic ho ha doesn't help either.  I love this idea that instrument
makers somehow aren't engaged in the market.  They always have been.
Stradivarius made instruments for sale.  The Hang is no different.  Make
them, sell them, move on.  The thing isn't going to change the air I
breathe, enhance world peace, make my neighborhood more understanding or
safer.  It is going to go "PING!!!!!" pleasantly when I hit it and that's
it.  There is no way I can see begging to have one of these created for you,
waiting two years, and then shelling out 1500 euros or whatever these things
cost when and if your name comes up.  

Those of you with the sample library, how is it?

James R. Coplin  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: music-bar-bounces at lists.music-bar.org [mailto:music-bar-
> bounces at lists.music-bar.org] On Behalf Of Tony Hardie-Bick
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 1:55 PM
> To: Music-bar
> Subject: Re: Hang
> 
> On 22/11/10 19:18, K9 Kai Niggemann wrote:
> > Controlling what and where people play it is a classic case of what
> buddhists
> > call "attachment" and work hard to get rid off.
> 
> Their philosophy, ironically, appears to be an attempt to break the
> common
> attachments of musicians to known roles of musical performance. FWIW,
> the
> concepts they describe would have great value for me, as a way of
> thinking about
> music differently, and which would greatly enrich the way I make music
> under
> other circumstances. In fact, their idea might be considered a
> transformation of
> Cage's projection of music as an experience created by the individual -
> in this
> case the performer is the listener, rather than in Cage's case, there
> was
> (nearly?) always a distinction between performer and audience. I think
> the
> democratisation of technology makes this distinction somehow feudal and
> outdated; the Hang being a reflection of the unity of performer and
> audience,
> which only works if the person playing is totally immersed in the
> experience of
> making sound.
> 
> Dogma, OTOH, is always a bit of an odd fish ;)
> 
> Tony (HB)
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