A System of Musical Performance Hand Signals

[snyprrr]

Apparently, James Brown had about 1000 hand signals he would use to lead his band. God help you if you missed a cue!

I am looking for a system of hand signals, but I'm not finding anything readily available on the web. Can anyone help here?

Yes, yes, I know that kicking over the bass drum means STOP!, but...

[Brahmsian]

Ask Boulez

[snyprrr]

Ask Boulez

AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!

Are there no professional musicians on this site?!?!?!?!

Abd please, no jokes about THAT hand signal, haha!!

[Mirror Image]

Ask John Zorn.

[snyprrr]

Ask John Zorn.

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!!


Don't you all wish you could dazzle your friends at jam sessions with a few awesome cues that everyone accidently picks up on?

OK, I'll start:



1) Hand 'slash across the throat' = Stop

2) Guitar head 'lift' = get ready to end

3) Head shake = No

4) Head nod = Yes

5) Palm facing down, and lowering = Quieten

6) Moving away from band mates = I'm going to play another round

7) Moving towards band mates = Here we go to the next part


Yea, I know, but, ya gotta start somewhere! I'll try to find something on-line.

[dyn]

ask Peter Wiegold?

Rule of three!

[snyprrr]

ask Peter Wiegold?

Rule of three!

Who?

I guess we have not many performing artists here? Or?... er?...


Hewre's a new one: pelvic thrust = Rock Out!!

[TheGSMoeller]

Hand Signals, you say? 

Any chance I get to post this makes me happy...


http://www.youtube.com/v/BgImv8KjKW8

[Karl Henning]

Do you mean, like the hand jive?

[Karl Henning]

I am not watching this

[Szykneij]

Can't imagine 1,000 things that would require hand signals, but if you do a lot of general business gigs, it's "handy" to have a system for key changes --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKAmiHWaQvU

[Octave]

I got to play COBRA with a renegade amalgam of people led by one guy with a Zorn fixation.  They were apparently all music-school nerds (no offense!), so it ended up being people "letting their hair down", and this really blunts the array of possibilities for that kind of musicmaking.  I am almost certain I was the only person in the room with a love and respect for free improvisation as a form and tradition, so while it's fun donning all the headbands and jockeying to stem the tide or break the circuit or otherwise obey while controlling and trying to keep track of which is which (like the pleasure/pain calculus: it really is musical S-M), I am pretty sure "as music" it was miserable: anyone outside the circle would not have had much fun.  Now if we'd had Joey Baron....or Elliott Sharp...or Zeena Parkins...or Ikue Mori...

[snyprrr]

Hand Signals, you say? 

Any chance I get to post this makes me happy...


http://www.youtube.com/v/BgImv8KjKW8

And Todd's wondering who's on meds, ha! Wow, I can... only ... imagine ...

[snyprrr]

I am not watching this

COFFEE ... ALL ... OVER ... MONITOR ...

[snyprrr]

Can't imagine 1,000 things that would require hand signals, but if you do a lot of general business gigs, it's "handy" to have a system for key changes --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKAmiHWaQvU

I really liked that. They look like the letters... the flats are done upside down... some great sense here, thanks, that helps me in figuring out the common sense gestures.

STOP would be the "talk to the hand" gesture?, and so forth?, hmm.... there's a lot of different ways of STOPping, and really, Transitions are what I'm having issues with the bandmates over.

[snyprrr]

I got to play COBRA with a renegade amalgam of people led by one guy with a Zorn fixation.  They were apparently all music-school nerds (no offense!), so it ended up being people "letting their hair down", and this really blunts the array of possibilities for that kind of musicmaking.  I am almost certain I was the only person in the room with a love and respect for free improvisation as a form and tradition, so while it's fun donning all the headbands and jockeying to stem the tide or break the circuit or otherwise obey while controlling and trying to keep track of which is which (like the pleasure/pain calculus: it really is musical S-M), I am pretty sure "as music" it was miserable: anyone outside the circle would not have had much fun.  Now if we'd had Joey Baron....or Elliott Sharp...or Zeena Parkins...or Ikue Mori...

Right, even though Cage says 'freedom', apparently we're not SUPPOSED to do SOoOoOME things, haha!


As a Willful Lead Player, I have strived for an Unmistakable Style, which, generally, I achieve through a frankly psychotic mix (see Todd?, haha!) of stylistic gestures. I strive for a Gatton-Inclusion Style, but with a grittier tone than his pure bell country Tele sound, and with References somewhat different than his, though, ha, most all of the stuff we play he played. Still, at Blues Jam Night, you could hear me a mile away. The same disrespect I show on GMG is the same disrespect I bring to the language of music! The old blues guys don't probably like me so much haha!

But, seriously, this old guys way singing and playing a standard blues, and singing just the 'oh babys' over it, AND HE SAID, "I WROTE THAT!"

YOU DIDN'T WRITE THAT!

HAHA! whatever, even the blues guys suffer from the same thing as the super elite classical guys, haha!!


ONLY THE FREE ARE FREE!

I make a virtue out of wrong notes, always playing beyond my ability. Sometimes I wonder if my fingers hate me? mmm




btw- you seem to have the most thoughtful responses on the whole site, hmmmm!!!

[jochanaan]

http://www.soundpainting.com/soundpainting/

[Dax]

Butch Morris? Conduction?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/arts/music/butch-morris-dies-at-65-creator-of-conduction.html?_r=0

Some in UK regarded him as a bit of a control freak when he came over some years back. However, large groups of free improvisers have found conduction useful.

[Scion7]

While seriously influenced by Varese, he's not really classical - but Frank Zappa did a piece in Cream magazine of the various hand-signals he used for his band - I may dig that out and scan it one day.