Apartment Music

apartment music series of minimalist free improvisational audio art performances, curated by Hal McGee in his apartment in Gainesville, Florida. You can view video and photographic documentation of each performance at every show and download audio files of the performances on these pages:

If you have an interest in free improvisation and live in North Florida, or plan on visiting the area, please consider performing at one of the upcoming Apartment Music shows.

Apartment Music is a series of shows featuring performances of minimalist free improvisation, held in a highly intimate setting in my small apartment in Gainesville, on Saturday afternoons.

The first show was July 26, 2008, and was followed by five more, the seventh being on May 9, 2009.

Once again, 9-minute time limit on performances.

Shows will be held, as before, on Saturday afternoons, at 2:00, and last until about 4:00.

The emphasis will again be on free improvisation (whatever that means to each performer), with use of minimal gear encouraged. Performers may perform in any style or idiom they choose (including beats and melodies). Conceptual and performance art, as well as theatrical and puppet-based performances, and other performance possibilities are welcome as well

In this new, second series of Apartment Music I will allow duo performances. In the first series I allowed only solo minimalist free improvisational performances.

Performers may use their own amplification if they so choose, as long as they keep the volume discreet and suitable to the setting (so as not to disturb the neighbors). Performers may still choose to play through my home stereo if they wish.
In the new, second Apartment Music series the primary means of documentation will be video

As before, I will publish videos of each performance at each Apartment Music show on YouTube. I will also, as before, publish mp3s of each performance on my web site.

I recently bought a new, better video camera, with stereo-audio recording. This will provide not only better sound quality, but will be better suited to recording acoustic-based performances. The little pocket-sized Sony GC1 video camera that I used at five out of six Apartment Music shows in the first series has a charming microcassette-style. But it is clearly insufficient for documentation of nuanced live improvisational performances, not only in terms of questionable picture quality, but because of its dreadful, often-distorted sound.

mp3s will be made from the video recordings, instead of CD recordings made with my stand-alone CD recorder as previously done. It was my experience in the first Apartment Music series that audio recordings of many of the performances would have profited from including the ambient room sound. Since the sound won't be going through my CD recorder and home stereo system any more this will to some extent also prevent feedback problems from microphones being used on acoustic instruments.

If you are interested in performing at one of the future shows, contact me. Preference will be given to those who have not performed at one of the Apartment Music shows before, but certainly veterans will be given spots according to my discretion.

Keywords and tags for the series might include:
minimalism free improvisation fluxus circuit bent minimal electronics turntablism lo fi lo tech collage tape cut-ups no-input mixer feedback loop noise dada electroacoustic laptop prepared guitar drone experimental electronic music