Rehearsal

A Tuning the Air Journal

Monday August 24, 2009 - Rehearsal

We were two down for rehearsal this evening. Chris called in to work at the ballpark and Howard on a deadline with a client.

Began by sitting in silence for some time, and then circulated in F Harmonic Minor. We are not totally comfortable with this one yet (I kept losing track of the Db-to-E augmented 2nd), and so there were clams aplenty, but it remains a remarkable ambience. Haven’t yet seen exactly why it appeared, but I trust that will reveal itself eventually. We also reviewed the associated zither from Saturday. Seven is not quite enough players to reach escape velocity on a zither like this, but work on the mechanics was good.

We spent some time on a couple of pieces that have not been in the working repertoire for the past couple of seasons, but have reasserted themselves as we work in the Great Hall. “49 Notes” seems a natural, and so we ran it several times. We also did several takes of “Eye of the Needle”. Both within our grasp, though parts are rusty and need real attention before we attempt them again.

From there to “Cultivating the Beat”, where Ian has managed to learn his entire part. A couple of tweaks and adjustments needed, probably just a matter of section work. But he is more or less ready to roll on this piece. The bad news for Travis is that now that Ian can cover his part, he needs to get up to speed on the cello part. I know from experience how much work that is.

A break, and then we reconvened to address the circulations from “Scorched Air”. It did not look good as we began, but somehow by the time the rehearsal drew to a close (only a little bit late) we had the double circulation up and running and even managed to get through it at tempo once or twice. Considering that learning it the first time took us about 6 months, this was a major leap forward.

Next rehearsal Saturday morning. Meanwhile staging, set design and lighting are taking the greater share of my attention.