the elucidating gimmick
Published July 15, 2021
I love a good gimmick.
I really do. But the gimmick has to add to the artistic expression for that real amplification of effort to occur, right? I’m talking about gimmicks of all kinds.
Like the opening of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Such a dramatic and gimmicky gesture that pays off so well.
Or OK Go’s continuous-take choreography on treadmills.
Or hocket by the Dirty Projectors. Or the Aka Pygmies. Or Meredith Monk and Bob Een.
Prepared piano could be considered another such gimmick (sorry, John Cage, I mean that in the kindest sense). Or prepared guitar or harp or drums.
But the gift of a gimmick can be to draw in the listener and enliven them with a sense of surprise or wonder, even as you are sharing an otherwise simple or direct song. Take, for example, Patrick Watson’s use of found objects including a bicycle wheel in Beijing.
What’s your favorite musical gimmick?
What gimmick might you add in to support and intensify the storytelling in your latest song?
I can’t wait to hear,
Gary
for golden lotus studio
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