A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday September 28, 2009 – Rehearsal at My Place
Yom Kippur, so we were Wilson-less and rehearsing at my place.
For the first hour, worked primarily with circulating in C Major, in time at brisk tempos. We were seven in the circle, and worked entirely in eighth note triplets and eighth notes, and it was a bit of a challenge. This is surprisingly difficult, even after all of these years.
We did several run-throughs of “Cultivating the Beat”, beginning at a modest tempo and working up to performance tempo. Very useful, and something Ian has probably not had a lot of opportunity to do with the group, since he is plugging into a piece of repertoire we were already up and running on. Also good for Travis, I suspect, since though he has played the piece for a long time he is just getting up and running on a new part.
Most of the repertoire-oriented work in the last hour was on pieces not currently in the setlist: “Onyx”, “Where Is The Nurse?” and even “Not My Sharona”. “Bicycling to Afghanistan” even made an appearance; a tragically limping appearance, but an appearance nonetheless. With Chris sitting to my right, I suddenly remembered sitting in this very room 10 years ago with the Spevvy’s, a trio that Chris was a part of, teaching the intro to them and telling them I would not take it further until they could count it.
A little “Brasil” review and we called it a night.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Rehearsal in the Great Hall
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday September 26, 2009 – Rehearsal in the Great Hall
Sitting at my place, and then we migrated over to Fremont Abbey for rehearsal.
Reflecting on Thursday’s performance, my overall sense was that while there were certainly pieces and bits of pieces that needed attention (there are always pieces and bits of pieces that need attention), what we primarily need is to simply put in time playing in this remarkable, but unfamiliar, acoustical environment, and from that standpoint it kind of doesn’t matter what we play just so long as we play together.
Bob was out today, so we were eight in the circle, but left a space where Bob would have been sitting. Bill audited from outside the circle. Warmed up for about 10 minutes with the 6-note pattern we are working with in the Division of Attention exercise, and then ran the exercise itself.
Next I called “Eye of the Needle”. This room is the closest in temperament to the room in which this piece was born, and it sounds amazing. Following on from the work last week, I then called for everyone to pass their part to the right. Interestingly, a number of people could not play the new part and so had to sit out, and no one who is not already playing bass knew the bass part. So, we learned the bass part together. We then played through the whole piece several times, with and without the metronome, with me on the main melody accompanied by 7 bass players. Kind of fun. Armed with fresh information, we all reverted to our original parts and played the piece one more time.
Moving to practicalities, before the break we touched on a section of the Zeppelin medley that had seriously slowed down in the performance, with Bill providing feedback and guidance.
A break. Bill departed.
Back from the break, more practicalities, including auditioning and ultimately adopting a hilarious wrinkle in “Brasil”. Worked with “My Precious Dream”, “Cultivating the Beat” and “King for a Day”.
For the last half hour we brought “Thrak” into the room. This is a room that is just screaming to be thrakked. Put together a working arrangement. Chris’ observation (completely paraphrased by me, so don’t hold him to it) was that this was like the reward for having had to play the piece for so many years with so many [not so talented (my edit)] groups. It really is something. Not quite ready for primetime, especially without having run it with Bob, but it is firmly in my back pocket, with a certain encore potential should the spirit move.
Home to a short meeting of the team organizing the Raft Island course. Now showered and resting before I head out to this evening’s gig with the blues band.
Saturday September 26, 2009 – Rehearsal in the Great Hall
Sitting at my place, and then we migrated over to Fremont Abbey for rehearsal.
Reflecting on Thursday’s performance, my overall sense was that while there were certainly pieces and bits of pieces that needed attention (there are always pieces and bits of pieces that need attention), what we primarily need is to simply put in time playing in this remarkable, but unfamiliar, acoustical environment, and from that standpoint it kind of doesn’t matter what we play just so long as we play together.
Bob was out today, so we were eight in the circle, but left a space where Bob would have been sitting. Bill audited from outside the circle. Warmed up for about 10 minutes with the 6-note pattern we are working with in the Division of Attention exercise, and then ran the exercise itself.
Next I called “Eye of the Needle”. This room is the closest in temperament to the room in which this piece was born, and it sounds amazing. Following on from the work last week, I then called for everyone to pass their part to the right. Interestingly, a number of people could not play the new part and so had to sit out, and no one who is not already playing bass knew the bass part. So, we learned the bass part together. We then played through the whole piece several times, with and without the metronome, with me on the main melody accompanied by 7 bass players. Kind of fun. Armed with fresh information, we all reverted to our original parts and played the piece one more time.
Moving to practicalities, before the break we touched on a section of the Zeppelin medley that had seriously slowed down in the performance, with Bill providing feedback and guidance.
A break. Bill departed.
Back from the break, more practicalities, including auditioning and ultimately adopting a hilarious wrinkle in “Brasil”. Worked with “My Precious Dream”, “Cultivating the Beat” and “King for a Day”.
For the last half hour we brought “Thrak” into the room. This is a room that is just screaming to be thrakked. Put together a working arrangement. Chris’ observation (completely paraphrased by me, so don’t hold him to it) was that this was like the reward for having had to play the piece for so many years with so many [not so talented (my edit)] groups. It really is something. Not quite ready for primetime, especially without having run it with Bob, but it is firmly in my back pocket, with a certain encore potential should the spirit move.
Home to a short meeting of the team organizing the Raft Island course. Now showered and resting before I head out to this evening’s gig with the blues band.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Opening Night – Brief Reflections the Day After
A Tuning the Air Journal
Friday September 25, 2009 – Opening Night – Brief Reflections the Day After
Too much information to try to process in a short time.
Four of us were able to arrive at Fremont Abbey at 4pm, with four more turning up shortly thereafter. A second wave at 5pm, with the working and parenting contingent arriving as soon as they were able.
It was abundantly clear from the outset that there is no need to arrive any earlier than 5pm to set up. Compared to the café space downstairs, this is a total breeze. The risers and lights were completely up and ready to go in less than 45 minutes.
The House took a little longer, but that seemed to mostly be attributable to the fact that they were in the unenviable position of having to figure everything out on the fly, on opening night. Now that primary bugs have been worked out and necessary decisions made, it will be a piece of cake.
Two important lessons learned early: 1) don’t put lighting mixers on music stands, and 2) always have plenty of spare fuses for the lights. Both learned the hard way, but disasters successfully avoided.
We were able to get a good long warmup for almost everyone, which had its good and bad points. On the good side, the more we play the better we play, and for those not as fortunate as me, this may be the only time they have in the day to get their hands on their guitars. On the bad side, it gave us lots of time to get scared of the room’s acoustics. All in all, that is going to be the biggest challenge as we adjust to the room; to learn what works and what doesn’t, and how to negotiate the difficulties and challenges, not to mention how to fully capitalize on the room’s qualities.
Sitting in our new green room, we felt good. Someone (Igor K, perhaps?) showed up with chocolate, and one can never go wrong with chocolate. The basic feel and rhythm of the preshow process felt a little alien in our new surroundings, but went smoothly. I suggested that, in addition to having some fun, we “hold a feeling of good will and love for the room as we learn to make friends with it, hold a feeling of goodwill and love for one another as we individually and collectively struggle with making friends with the room, and acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to the House Team for their heroics in making this performance possible.” We made a strong entrance.
What happened in the set is still rolling around in my mind and experience. A few practical issues arose, and a surprise or two. Tomorrow we will rehearse in the space and there will be opportunities to address technical and mechanical musical issues. Bigger picture issues we will look at over time, but last night was bursting with useful information.
A very good audience and appreciative, including many friends. One definite loonie, possibly psychotic, in the audience, but thankfully he was not manifesting outwardly very strongly. I only learned over a beer after the show just how nuts the guy was, so I can only imagine that his simple presence was a distraction for the House Team. Ick.
All in all, an at least honorable opening night, with a few truly transcendent moments. Can’t ask for more than that.
Friday September 25, 2009 – Opening Night – Brief Reflections the Day After
Too much information to try to process in a short time.
Four of us were able to arrive at Fremont Abbey at 4pm, with four more turning up shortly thereafter. A second wave at 5pm, with the working and parenting contingent arriving as soon as they were able.
It was abundantly clear from the outset that there is no need to arrive any earlier than 5pm to set up. Compared to the café space downstairs, this is a total breeze. The risers and lights were completely up and ready to go in less than 45 minutes.
The House took a little longer, but that seemed to mostly be attributable to the fact that they were in the unenviable position of having to figure everything out on the fly, on opening night. Now that primary bugs have been worked out and necessary decisions made, it will be a piece of cake.
Two important lessons learned early: 1) don’t put lighting mixers on music stands, and 2) always have plenty of spare fuses for the lights. Both learned the hard way, but disasters successfully avoided.
We were able to get a good long warmup for almost everyone, which had its good and bad points. On the good side, the more we play the better we play, and for those not as fortunate as me, this may be the only time they have in the day to get their hands on their guitars. On the bad side, it gave us lots of time to get scared of the room’s acoustics. All in all, that is going to be the biggest challenge as we adjust to the room; to learn what works and what doesn’t, and how to negotiate the difficulties and challenges, not to mention how to fully capitalize on the room’s qualities.
Sitting in our new green room, we felt good. Someone (Igor K, perhaps?) showed up with chocolate, and one can never go wrong with chocolate. The basic feel and rhythm of the preshow process felt a little alien in our new surroundings, but went smoothly. I suggested that, in addition to having some fun, we “hold a feeling of good will and love for the room as we learn to make friends with it, hold a feeling of goodwill and love for one another as we individually and collectively struggle with making friends with the room, and acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to the House Team for their heroics in making this performance possible.” We made a strong entrance.
What happened in the set is still rolling around in my mind and experience. A few practical issues arose, and a surprise or two. Tomorrow we will rehearse in the space and there will be opportunities to address technical and mechanical musical issues. Bigger picture issues we will look at over time, but last night was bursting with useful information.
A very good audience and appreciative, including many friends. One definite loonie, possibly psychotic, in the audience, but thankfully he was not manifesting outwardly very strongly. I only learned over a beer after the show just how nuts the guy was, so I can only imagine that his simple presence was a distraction for the House Team. Ick.
All in all, an at least honorable opening night, with a few truly transcendent moments. Can’t ask for more than that.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Day of Tuning the Air’s Opening Night
A Tuning the Air Journal
Thursday September 24, 2009 – The Day of Tuning the Air’s Opening Night
Travis, Mary Beth and Christina were over here at 7pm last evening. We spent an hour consolidating all of the House materials and the lighting equipment, making sure we have everything necessary for tonight’s opening, and loaded it all into my car. Fortunately, it looks like we will have ample storage space at the Abbey, so I won’t need to be carting this stuff around all season.
Up this morning at 6:30am. Took some time to send out the rest of the announcements to our emailing list about the Tuning the Air Season Pass. Just 2 of us for the sitting at 7am. After something of an attendance spike in the first weeks, it is back to being a bit sparse. Once I had completed the regular morning exercises, I took a few moments to visualize the setlist for tonight. Shortly after 7:30 I was out the door to Fremont Abbey Arts Center, to hang the banner and set out the sandwich boards. Home by 8am for some tea and some clerical work relating to the upcoming Guitar Craft course before my first student arrived at 9am.
One more lesson today, and a number of details to attend to before heading to Fremont Abbey at 4pm to begin setting the stage. Right now, practice.
On the menu for tonight’s opening:
Tuning the Air 163
Thursday September 24, 2009
Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle, WA
Fall Season Show #1
Thursday September 24, 2009 – The Day of Tuning the Air’s Opening Night
Travis, Mary Beth and Christina were over here at 7pm last evening. We spent an hour consolidating all of the House materials and the lighting equipment, making sure we have everything necessary for tonight’s opening, and loaded it all into my car. Fortunately, it looks like we will have ample storage space at the Abbey, so I won’t need to be carting this stuff around all season.
Up this morning at 6:30am. Took some time to send out the rest of the announcements to our emailing list about the Tuning the Air Season Pass. Just 2 of us for the sitting at 7am. After something of an attendance spike in the first weeks, it is back to being a bit sparse. Once I had completed the regular morning exercises, I took a few moments to visualize the setlist for tonight. Shortly after 7:30 I was out the door to Fremont Abbey Arts Center, to hang the banner and set out the sandwich boards. Home by 8am for some tea and some clerical work relating to the upcoming Guitar Craft course before my first student arrived at 9am.
One more lesson today, and a number of details to attend to before heading to Fremont Abbey at 4pm to begin setting the stage. Right now, practice.
On the menu for tonight’s opening:
Tuning the Air 163
Thursday September 24, 2009
Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle, WA
Fall Season Show #1
Preshow: Boombox Extravaganza
Entrance and Zither - F Harmonic Minor
Tuning The Air - F Harmonic Minor
Zither - F Harmonic Minor: double reverse
The Wig Maker (Gibson)
Sigh and a Kiss (Williams)
Cultivating the Beat (Williams)
Prelude XXII in G Minor (Shostakovich)
Circulation in C Harmonic Minor
Voices of Ancient Children (Kabusacki/Nunez)
Batrachomyomachy (Geballe)
Aquarela do Brasil (Barrosa)
Circulation in C Major
In My Room (Wilson)
Tuning The Air - KfaD scale
Mevlevi Greeting - KfaD scale
King for a Day (Jensen)
My Precious Dream (Binder)
The Bus Artist (Abuladze/Metcalf)
Kashmir (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham)
Twilight (Williams)
TOTAL 53:15
Encore Potential
49 Notes (Golden)
Eye of the Needle (Fripp)
Lament (Geballe)
Little Gangsters (Little Gangsters) (Abuladze)
Music for a Found Harmonium (Jeffes)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Final Rehearsal Before Opening Night
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday September 21, 2009 – Final Rehearsal Before Opening Night
Full performance team at Bob and Jaxie’s.
We ran the set cold. Kind of cruel thing to do to ourselves, but that is more or less what will happen on Thursday, so it was necessary to jump directly into the deep end. We took it relatively easily, but did not stop to fix anything either, other than one very necessary tuning break. The running time was within 3 minutes of my estimate, so we are good to go. Everything flowed pretty well. It will take a bit of getting used to, but it works well.
Break for chocolate cake, in slightly belated honor of Bob’s birthday.
In the last hour (we actually ran about 30 minutes over) we walked and talked through the set and identified some of the things we need to hold in our attention and intention during the show. We ran a couple of technical issues, and then played the pieces currently listed as “in the pocket” and available for encore, Insha'Allah.
Wednesday evening there will be some practicalities dealt with, and then on Thursday it is on.
Monday September 21, 2009 – Final Rehearsal Before Opening Night
Full performance team at Bob and Jaxie’s.
We ran the set cold. Kind of cruel thing to do to ourselves, but that is more or less what will happen on Thursday, so it was necessary to jump directly into the deep end. We took it relatively easily, but did not stop to fix anything either, other than one very necessary tuning break. The running time was within 3 minutes of my estimate, so we are good to go. Everything flowed pretty well. It will take a bit of getting used to, but it works well.
Break for chocolate cake, in slightly belated honor of Bob’s birthday.
In the last hour (we actually ran about 30 minutes over) we walked and talked through the set and identified some of the things we need to hold in our attention and intention during the show. We ran a couple of technical issues, and then played the pieces currently listed as “in the pocket” and available for encore, Insha'Allah.
Wednesday evening there will be some practicalities dealt with, and then on Thursday it is on.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Other Band
Setlist
- Dust My Broom – Robert Johnson (Curt – D)
- Sound the Bell – Johnny Winter (Igor - G)
- Born Under A Bad Sign – Booker T (Igor – D)
- How Blue Can You Get? – Leonard Feather (Curt – C)
- Messin’ With The Kid – Junior Wells (Igor – E)
- Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker (Curt – E)
- You Don’t Love Me – Willie Cobbs (Igor/Curt – A)
- Two Trains Running – Muddy Waters (Curt – E)
- Yonder Wall – Elmore James (Curt - A)
- Rollin’ And Tumblin’ – Muddy Waters (Curt – E)
- Built for Comfort – Willie Dixon (Curt – A)
- First Train Home – Peter Green (Igor – Bb minor)
- Going Down Slow – James Burke Oden (Curt - A)
- It Hurts Me Too – Elmore James (Igor – C)
- Mean Town Blues – Johnny Winter (Curt – A)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Sitting, Rehearsal, Practical Work and House Circle
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday September 19, 2009 – Sitting, Rehearsal, Practical Work and House Circle
Modest turnout for the Saturday sitting.
Eight here for the rehearsal, with Jaxie AAD. I unveiled the setlist I had worked out. It includes 15 pieces plus an assortment of circulations and zithers. I had conceived it in 5 distinct mini-sets of 2-4 pieces. The opening and closing “sets” were pretty straightforward but I was still rearranging the other 3 at 8am. There was no immediate objection to the set as proposed, so we worked through it to see if the flow worked. Except for a couple of train wrecks and one tune in need of serious review (somehow we hadn’t played “Brazil” since we began the preseason rehearsals) we didn’t stop to work on anything, staying focused on the big picture. Overall, the set and flow felt very good. Tempos were a little brisk across the board for some reason, but nothing heinous.
After a short break, Bill gave us a couple of notes before departing. The set was formally adopted, of course pending any revisions that come up on Monday. We worked on circulations, which is something that is too easy to overlook when we are otherwise under pressure. Ran a few pieces from the set with the metronome to get them back in line, and then hit the pieces that will be “in the pocket” for encores, should they be demanded.
During the rehearsal, Mary Beth was in the back room assembling the a-frames. After rehearsal she, Travis and Taylor headed over to Fremont Abbey to drop them off and do a check on the location and condition of the risers. But before everyone left I popped in the remastered mono “Please Please Me” to demonstrate. The look on Igor’s face, who was halfway out the door until he heard the opening of “I Saw Her Standing There”, was priceless, as though he was hearing the piece for the first time.
Short break. I grabbed a piece of fruit and sent the setlist out to the team, to make it official.
Greg, Andrew, Charles and Christina in the House Circle. Mary Beth needed the afternoon to take care of some chores related to her upcoming move. We focused for the entire 90 minutes on C Minor. Began and ended with free circulations. In between, explored the scale through 4 octaves, expressed as a simple scale, thirds, triads, and seventh chords. Ended by learning the arpeggio part to Tony’s “Lament”.
Met with Andrew afterward to lay out a plan for an interesting future potential.
A bit of work on email updates to promote next Thursday’s opening night before calling it a day.
Saturday September 19, 2009 – Sitting, Rehearsal, Practical Work and House Circle
Modest turnout for the Saturday sitting.
Eight here for the rehearsal, with Jaxie AAD. I unveiled the setlist I had worked out. It includes 15 pieces plus an assortment of circulations and zithers. I had conceived it in 5 distinct mini-sets of 2-4 pieces. The opening and closing “sets” were pretty straightforward but I was still rearranging the other 3 at 8am. There was no immediate objection to the set as proposed, so we worked through it to see if the flow worked. Except for a couple of train wrecks and one tune in need of serious review (somehow we hadn’t played “Brazil” since we began the preseason rehearsals) we didn’t stop to work on anything, staying focused on the big picture. Overall, the set and flow felt very good. Tempos were a little brisk across the board for some reason, but nothing heinous.
After a short break, Bill gave us a couple of notes before departing. The set was formally adopted, of course pending any revisions that come up on Monday. We worked on circulations, which is something that is too easy to overlook when we are otherwise under pressure. Ran a few pieces from the set with the metronome to get them back in line, and then hit the pieces that will be “in the pocket” for encores, should they be demanded.
During the rehearsal, Mary Beth was in the back room assembling the a-frames. After rehearsal she, Travis and Taylor headed over to Fremont Abbey to drop them off and do a check on the location and condition of the risers. But before everyone left I popped in the remastered mono “Please Please Me” to demonstrate. The look on Igor’s face, who was halfway out the door until he heard the opening of “I Saw Her Standing There”, was priceless, as though he was hearing the piece for the first time.
Short break. I grabbed a piece of fruit and sent the setlist out to the team, to make it official.
Greg, Andrew, Charles and Christina in the House Circle. Mary Beth needed the afternoon to take care of some chores related to her upcoming move. We focused for the entire 90 minutes on C Minor. Began and ended with free circulations. In between, explored the scale through 4 octaves, expressed as a simple scale, thirds, triads, and seventh chords. Ended by learning the arpeggio part to Tony’s “Lament”.
Met with Andrew afterward to lay out a plan for an interesting future potential.
A bit of work on email updates to promote next Thursday’s opening night before calling it a day.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Rehearsal, with one week to go
A Tuning the Air Journal
Thursday September 17, 2009 – Rehearsal, with one week to go
Along 65th Street between my apartment and the Wilson’s house, there are very few coffee shops, and none open at 7:30 in the evening. There are no Starbucks. Not one, which is very strange since the damned things are almost everywhere, and occasionally two per block. I have been doing this drive on a regular basis since about 1999, and this fact had never quite registered for me. Tonight, however, I was very aware of it. Having begun with lessons shortly after the morning sitting, and done a rather intensive 3-hour rehearsal with the blues band in the late afternoon, I really needed a cup of coffee before the evening rehearsal. Ended up making a bit of a detour to satisfy this need.
Chris out tonight due to work. We began with 7 in the circle, as a miscommunication had Taylor arriving 30 minutes late. We began with a bit of pretty astonishing news I had learned earlier in the day, and then moved on to the Performance Team’s division of attention exercise.
Once fully assembled, we played a couple of pieces to get ourselves up and running, and then jumped into the serious work of getting the clockwise and bidirectional circulations from “Scorched Air” up and running. This was rather labor intensive. After more than an hour, it was solid at tempo, with the rhythm section in lockstep. When it is tight, it kills. Right now, though, every time we begin work on it, it has the feel of being remembered, rather than being played. Not sure we will cross that threshold before opening night, and I am not inclined to push the matter. But soon, I am confident. Next Thursday will be plenty exciting without it.
Short break. The rest of the evening running through the available repertoire at tempo with the metronome. Paused to tighten up a couple of transitions, but for the most part things are sounding and feeling very good. I have an internal short list of pieces that will be strong and ready for next Thursday. My next task is to formalize that and put together a working setlist for the Saturday rehearsal, so that it can be run and any necessary revisions worked out. By Monday, all things being equal, I would like to be able to run the set that we will play and focus on the flow of the evening in its entirety.
Thursday September 17, 2009 – Rehearsal, with one week to go
Along 65th Street between my apartment and the Wilson’s house, there are very few coffee shops, and none open at 7:30 in the evening. There are no Starbucks. Not one, which is very strange since the damned things are almost everywhere, and occasionally two per block. I have been doing this drive on a regular basis since about 1999, and this fact had never quite registered for me. Tonight, however, I was very aware of it. Having begun with lessons shortly after the morning sitting, and done a rather intensive 3-hour rehearsal with the blues band in the late afternoon, I really needed a cup of coffee before the evening rehearsal. Ended up making a bit of a detour to satisfy this need.
Chris out tonight due to work. We began with 7 in the circle, as a miscommunication had Taylor arriving 30 minutes late. We began with a bit of pretty astonishing news I had learned earlier in the day, and then moved on to the Performance Team’s division of attention exercise.
Once fully assembled, we played a couple of pieces to get ourselves up and running, and then jumped into the serious work of getting the clockwise and bidirectional circulations from “Scorched Air” up and running. This was rather labor intensive. After more than an hour, it was solid at tempo, with the rhythm section in lockstep. When it is tight, it kills. Right now, though, every time we begin work on it, it has the feel of being remembered, rather than being played. Not sure we will cross that threshold before opening night, and I am not inclined to push the matter. But soon, I am confident. Next Thursday will be plenty exciting without it.
Short break. The rest of the evening running through the available repertoire at tempo with the metronome. Paused to tighten up a couple of transitions, but for the most part things are sounding and feeling very good. I have an internal short list of pieces that will be strong and ready for next Thursday. My next task is to formalize that and put together a working setlist for the Saturday rehearsal, so that it can be run and any necessary revisions worked out. By Monday, all things being equal, I would like to be able to run the set that we will play and focus on the flow of the evening in its entirety.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Rehearsal at the Wilsons
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday September 14, 2009 – Rehearsal at the Wilsons
Five in the living room for the morning sitting today. I’ve had Saturday sittings less well attended. Very nice. The AAD began today, and I concluded by sending good wishes. My own participation I am describing as “doing the AAD, AAD.” I have several small commitments that I will use to work in parallel.
Evening rehearsal at the Wilsons. Members of the House Circle were on board as well, plus Pablo who was in town for work.
We began by meeting all together, and began to take a fresh look at “Eye of the Needle”. This is a group task we are taking on to prepare for the course in October. The idea was to go back, literally, to the drawing board and get inside this piece.
First we simply played the piece. Jaxie put a piece of paper up on the wall, and we began to sketch out the form of the piece using descriptions. I provided the broadest “broad form” of the composition: there’s an Intro, then the main body of the piece, then an Interlude that brings back the theme from the Intro, then a short restatement of the main body, then the Coda. From there we went on to filling in a kind of first level detail: key signatures, time signatures, number of bars, and some general descriptions of what is happening, such as entrances of the various parts. From time to time, one or more players would be called upon to demonstrate something under discussion. For myself, and I dare say a number of members of the performance team who took themselves through this process some years ago, the biggest challenge of the evening was to resist simply pouring out pat answers. For me that was largely accomplished by keeping my mouth shut (with only marginal success, I fear) and listening to the less experienced folks in the room reason it out. We came to a first level map of the entire piece, and then played the composition once again before moving on to the rest of the rehearsal.
A short break. The House Circle moved to Jaxie’s office to continue their work, and the Performance Team to the living room. With only about 45 minutes left, we focused on a number of zither and circulation issues that need the full team present. Began with the closing zither from “Scorched Air”. The circulation, now vectorized, at the end of the Zeppelin medley has been a sore spot, so we dug in and dealt with the timing and flow. We did the same with the timing of the opening zither in “In My Room”, and then went on to play the entire piece. Also touched on the flow of the F Harmonic Minor zither when it has the returns and reverses.
Ended the evening with one more runthrough of “Eye of the Needle.”
Monday September 14, 2009 – Rehearsal at the Wilsons
Five in the living room for the morning sitting today. I’ve had Saturday sittings less well attended. Very nice. The AAD began today, and I concluded by sending good wishes. My own participation I am describing as “doing the AAD, AAD.” I have several small commitments that I will use to work in parallel.
Evening rehearsal at the Wilsons. Members of the House Circle were on board as well, plus Pablo who was in town for work.
We began by meeting all together, and began to take a fresh look at “Eye of the Needle”. This is a group task we are taking on to prepare for the course in October. The idea was to go back, literally, to the drawing board and get inside this piece.
First we simply played the piece. Jaxie put a piece of paper up on the wall, and we began to sketch out the form of the piece using descriptions. I provided the broadest “broad form” of the composition: there’s an Intro, then the main body of the piece, then an Interlude that brings back the theme from the Intro, then a short restatement of the main body, then the Coda. From there we went on to filling in a kind of first level detail: key signatures, time signatures, number of bars, and some general descriptions of what is happening, such as entrances of the various parts. From time to time, one or more players would be called upon to demonstrate something under discussion. For myself, and I dare say a number of members of the performance team who took themselves through this process some years ago, the biggest challenge of the evening was to resist simply pouring out pat answers. For me that was largely accomplished by keeping my mouth shut (with only marginal success, I fear) and listening to the less experienced folks in the room reason it out. We came to a first level map of the entire piece, and then played the composition once again before moving on to the rest of the rehearsal.
A short break. The House Circle moved to Jaxie’s office to continue their work, and the Performance Team to the living room. With only about 45 minutes left, we focused on a number of zither and circulation issues that need the full team present. Began with the closing zither from “Scorched Air”. The circulation, now vectorized, at the end of the Zeppelin medley has been a sore spot, so we dug in and dealt with the timing and flow. We did the same with the timing of the opening zither in “In My Room”, and then went on to play the entire piece. Also touched on the flow of the F Harmonic Minor zither when it has the returns and reverses.
Ended the evening with one more runthrough of “Eye of the Needle.”
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sitting, Rehearsal and House Circle
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday September 12, 2009 – Sitting, Rehearsal and House Circle
All of today’s activities took place at my apartment, since Fremont Abbey was otherwise booked. Folks arrived for the 8:30 sitting. After that and a coffee break, rehearsal commenced. We began by sending good wishes to the group gathered with Tony in NJ, who were meeting more or less concurrently. We went on to examine three things we can take on in an ongoing way in order to be in the best possible condition to work with Robert when he joins us in October.
The first is “Eye of the Needle”. This piece is pivotal in the history of Tuning the Air. At a feast at the Trinity space in December 2004, the five of us who were providing music for the event acted on an impulse, fanned out and surrounded the assembled feasters for this piece. It was a very moving experience, and was the singular spark that got us exploring the potential of performance in a circle, and eventually to the creation of Tuning the Air. We have not performed it as part of our repertoire for some time, but it is never far away, and it has recently reappeared. The idea here is that we can go back to the basics with this piece, not only the performance team, but the house circle as well, and bring our understanding and command of the piece up to a level that might make it possible to work with Robert to take it much further.
The second thing we can do is to recommit to the morning sitting, and in particular an exercise that was presented last June.
And the third is to push as far as we are able on a specific division of attention exercise that the performance team was presented with, also last June. Putting some work on this into our daily practice, as well as working a bit on it together when possible, should make it possible to begin our work with Robert further down the road. We then used this exercise as a beginning for our rehearsal.
Jaxie needed to depart at 10:45, so we did not have a lot of time. In the Great Hall the other night, we had again noted that the room responds very well to music that rocks. The middle section of “Sigh and a Kiss” and the Bonham inspired Whiz in the Zeppelin medley are just stunning, and the thought was that some kind of thrakking ought to be looked at. Though “Thrak” itself may not ultimately be the right choice, it seemed like a good place to begin, so we reviewed it a bit and then determined to do the necessary personal work so that we can put it together at the next rehearsal. Howard noted that Robert had been accompanying the League on “Thrak” in recent performances in Europe, and so having it available within this group seems to be a good idea.
We reviewed some circulation and zither parts of various pieces, and then took a pretty serious look at the rhythm section for “Scorched Air,” and worked on the “balalaika part” for “The Bus Artist.”
Jaxie departed, and while we had a bit of time before Bob would arrive, I asked Howard to present Luciano’s piece, which he brought back from Barcelona. It involves two parts, each to be played in circulation; one 3-person part that is pretty fast, and a 6-person part that is very fast. Without all 9 of us present we couldn’t really work out or commit to a full arrangement, but we were able to test the feasibility of each part, and brainstorm on some circulation schemes. We got the first section up and running very quickly, and so when Bob arrived we were able to demonstrate it at tempo. Even I was impressed. We will look at this again when we are all together, and should be able to consider it for inclusion in the repertoire in fairly short order.
With Bob we continued detail work on existing repertoire. We ran “Cultivating the Beat” – Ian is fully up to speed and will be performing that part right away. Travis is about 75% on his new part, and it will likely still be a couple of weeks before he feels solid enough with it to consider performing it. It will sound great with a third cello player on this piece. We also did some very detailed work on the flow and timing of the intro to the Zeppelin medley. We ran the entire piece with the metronome as well.
I grabbed a quick snack after rehearsal, and then Greg, Andrew, Mary Beth and Christina arrived for the House Circle meeting. We dedicated then entire meeting to dissecting and reassembling C Minor. Began with an open improvisation in that key, and then moved on to circulating the scale through 4 octaves. From there to a circulation of the diatonic triads of C Minor, and finally a scale/triad combination exercise. When there was about 30 minutes left, I began to introduce the first melody line of Tony’s “Lament”, which is also in C Minor. One more open improvisation in C Minor, and the meeting came to a close.
On Monday night we will be at Bob and Jaxie’s, and will begin in a full group with the House Circle, looking at how we will approach “Eye of the Needle” together, and then break off into separate rooms so the performance team can rehearse and the house circle can continue their work together.
Saturday September 12, 2009 – Sitting, Rehearsal and House Circle
All of today’s activities took place at my apartment, since Fremont Abbey was otherwise booked. Folks arrived for the 8:30 sitting. After that and a coffee break, rehearsal commenced. We began by sending good wishes to the group gathered with Tony in NJ, who were meeting more or less concurrently. We went on to examine three things we can take on in an ongoing way in order to be in the best possible condition to work with Robert when he joins us in October.
The first is “Eye of the Needle”. This piece is pivotal in the history of Tuning the Air. At a feast at the Trinity space in December 2004, the five of us who were providing music for the event acted on an impulse, fanned out and surrounded the assembled feasters for this piece. It was a very moving experience, and was the singular spark that got us exploring the potential of performance in a circle, and eventually to the creation of Tuning the Air. We have not performed it as part of our repertoire for some time, but it is never far away, and it has recently reappeared. The idea here is that we can go back to the basics with this piece, not only the performance team, but the house circle as well, and bring our understanding and command of the piece up to a level that might make it possible to work with Robert to take it much further.
The second thing we can do is to recommit to the morning sitting, and in particular an exercise that was presented last June.
And the third is to push as far as we are able on a specific division of attention exercise that the performance team was presented with, also last June. Putting some work on this into our daily practice, as well as working a bit on it together when possible, should make it possible to begin our work with Robert further down the road. We then used this exercise as a beginning for our rehearsal.
Jaxie needed to depart at 10:45, so we did not have a lot of time. In the Great Hall the other night, we had again noted that the room responds very well to music that rocks. The middle section of “Sigh and a Kiss” and the Bonham inspired Whiz in the Zeppelin medley are just stunning, and the thought was that some kind of thrakking ought to be looked at. Though “Thrak” itself may not ultimately be the right choice, it seemed like a good place to begin, so we reviewed it a bit and then determined to do the necessary personal work so that we can put it together at the next rehearsal. Howard noted that Robert had been accompanying the League on “Thrak” in recent performances in Europe, and so having it available within this group seems to be a good idea.
We reviewed some circulation and zither parts of various pieces, and then took a pretty serious look at the rhythm section for “Scorched Air,” and worked on the “balalaika part” for “The Bus Artist.”
Jaxie departed, and while we had a bit of time before Bob would arrive, I asked Howard to present Luciano’s piece, which he brought back from Barcelona. It involves two parts, each to be played in circulation; one 3-person part that is pretty fast, and a 6-person part that is very fast. Without all 9 of us present we couldn’t really work out or commit to a full arrangement, but we were able to test the feasibility of each part, and brainstorm on some circulation schemes. We got the first section up and running very quickly, and so when Bob arrived we were able to demonstrate it at tempo. Even I was impressed. We will look at this again when we are all together, and should be able to consider it for inclusion in the repertoire in fairly short order.
With Bob we continued detail work on existing repertoire. We ran “Cultivating the Beat” – Ian is fully up to speed and will be performing that part right away. Travis is about 75% on his new part, and it will likely still be a couple of weeks before he feels solid enough with it to consider performing it. It will sound great with a third cello player on this piece. We also did some very detailed work on the flow and timing of the intro to the Zeppelin medley. We ran the entire piece with the metronome as well.
I grabbed a quick snack after rehearsal, and then Greg, Andrew, Mary Beth and Christina arrived for the House Circle meeting. We dedicated then entire meeting to dissecting and reassembling C Minor. Began with an open improvisation in that key, and then moved on to circulating the scale through 4 octaves. From there to a circulation of the diatonic triads of C Minor, and finally a scale/triad combination exercise. When there was about 30 minutes left, I began to introduce the first melody line of Tony’s “Lament”, which is also in C Minor. One more open improvisation in C Minor, and the meeting came to a close.
On Monday night we will be at Bob and Jaxie’s, and will begin in a full group with the House Circle, looking at how we will approach “Eye of the Needle” together, and then break off into separate rooms so the performance team can rehearse and the house circle can continue their work together.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Rehearsal in the Great Hall
A Tuning the Air Journal
Thursday September 10, 2009 – Rehearsal in the Great Hall
As many as were able arrived 30 minutes early in order to set up the lights in the new configuration so that Meleah could work out her strategy while the performance team also worked out some of their strategy. Joel also set up to see how the room would respond to his electric improvs for the house music. Beautifully, is the answer to that one. While the lights were being set I walked through the house with Mary Beth and filled her in on what Jaxie and I had seen as necessary for preparing the space for performance.
We did not set up the risers, which in retrospect may have been a mistake. But I really wanted to play through the entire repertoire tonight, and was feeling the time constraints. We will not have much opportunity to work in the Great Hall between now and opening night, so we needed as much information as possible. No metronome for this rehearsal – play the music and deal with the sound. We also did a little bit of work with blocking for our entrance, including one new inspiration from Jaxie. It was not, strictly speaking, a dress rehearsal, but it served some of that function: to leave the performers in a state of abject terror.
A couple of experiments with the lighting. Meleah was the hardest working person in the room. Learned a lot about the effect of certain combinations, and the intensity of turning the room into a single color. All red is pretty intense.
Much to do between now and September 24. As usual, if feels impossible. As usual, we’ll do it anyway. Rehearsal at my place Saturday, since Fremont Abbey is otherwise booked. For this one, the metronome will definitely be on.
Thursday September 10, 2009 – Rehearsal in the Great Hall
As many as were able arrived 30 minutes early in order to set up the lights in the new configuration so that Meleah could work out her strategy while the performance team also worked out some of their strategy. Joel also set up to see how the room would respond to his electric improvs for the house music. Beautifully, is the answer to that one. While the lights were being set I walked through the house with Mary Beth and filled her in on what Jaxie and I had seen as necessary for preparing the space for performance.
We did not set up the risers, which in retrospect may have been a mistake. But I really wanted to play through the entire repertoire tonight, and was feeling the time constraints. We will not have much opportunity to work in the Great Hall between now and opening night, so we needed as much information as possible. No metronome for this rehearsal – play the music and deal with the sound. We also did a little bit of work with blocking for our entrance, including one new inspiration from Jaxie. It was not, strictly speaking, a dress rehearsal, but it served some of that function: to leave the performers in a state of abject terror.
A couple of experiments with the lighting. Meleah was the hardest working person in the room. Learned a lot about the effect of certain combinations, and the intensity of turning the room into a single color. All red is pretty intense.
Much to do between now and September 24. As usual, if feels impossible. As usual, we’ll do it anyway. Rehearsal at my place Saturday, since Fremont Abbey is otherwise booked. For this one, the metronome will definitely be on.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A Little Musing on History
A Tuning the Air Journal
Wednesday September 9, 2009 – A Little Musing on History
I put one of Christina’s photos from the lighting tech work the other night up as the desktop on my computer, and it got me thinking about how we got here. It had that “what a long strange trip” feel to it. But in a more serious way I found myself musing on how unlikely all of this is, and yet here we are.
In the summer of 2007 we had just closed our third season around the Fourth of July. It was pretty clear to me and Jaxie, and everyone else for that matter, that we had about outgrown our space at Trinity Church. In some ways it was the best home we ever had, but it was not really a performance space, it was in a bad location, it was too small and we could not grow any further if we stayed in the same space. We had abandoned doing shows in the summertime, because it was brutal for the players and borderline-abusive to our audiences. It was time to move.
We looked at a lot of property for rent, some of it very interesting, but none of it right for us for a variety of reasons. While sitting at my “mobile office” one day doing some work, I got an email from a guy who was working at a newly opened “arts center” in Fremont, wondering if Tuning the Air might like to do a performance in their space. I know the building from the outside, but had not quite realized that it was now an arts center and no longer a church. I responded that we were not really a group that could go from location to location, but needed to occupy a performance space; thanked him, and vaguely talked about my coming by to at least have a look at the facility. Never got around to it.
In the end, we did another 5-week run at Trinity in the Fall, leading up to a 10-week run at the Capital Hill Arts Center. A most educational experience, which opened up our eyes and our thinking in any number of ways. But we were not going to do a long stand there. Too expensive, for one thing. Kind of funky. A working theatre that required a lot of work on the lights every week, not to mention the theatre staff who were forced to strike the set of whatever had a run there so that we could do our show, and then reset the set afterward. Kind of crazy.
So we were back to looking for a new home. We considered several possibilities and came close to committing to a space up on Greenwood that had a lot going for it, but would (in retrospect) probably have been a disaster. With the Christmas/New Year’s holiday behind us, and no definitive plan for the next season, I began to seriously reevaluate our needs. We had found a way to do the show in a space that was not ours, so perhaps this was a paradigm worth including. Going back to CHAC never really entered my mind, but I suddenly remembered the email from the guy at the arts center in Fremont, and dug through my inbox to find it. On a lark I just turned up at the facility, introduced myself and took a tour. This was the Fremont Abbey Arts Center.
It was under heavy construction, including a seismic retrofit. But as soon as I walked into the Great Hall I was struck with the sense that this was the place for us.
Called an impromptu board meeting, which took place after rehearsal the following Saturday, at Besalu Coffee in Ballard. I remember Travis and Jaxie being there for sure. Taylor as well I’m pretty sure. A quorum anyway. I moved that we approach the Abbey with a proposal for a season of performances, plus rehearsals and possibly classes. A number of us visited the space over subsequent weeks. The feeling was not universally or immediately positive. Or maybe just hesitant. But somehow as the days passed it kept coming back. Finally, after the Greenwood deal fell through, we decided to go for it.
For a number of good reasons, we decided to do the show downstairs in the café space. Not an easy space for us, but it was what we felt we could handle. We figured out how to do lighting that could be installed and struck relatively easily. We came up with risers and a staging scheme. Working in a shared space was/is certainly a challenge, but in April 2008 we opened there for a delayed and shorter-than-usual Spring season. Hard, hard work, but we pulled it off. For the Autumn of 2008 we remained downstairs, but moved to Thursday. Better on many levels. For Winter/Spring 2009 we flirted with moving upstairs, but ultimately continued downstairs for one more season. For myself, I think I just needed to sit still a little longer and pay attention to the music instead of constantly attending to practicalities and logistics.
Now that we are moving upstairs, 18 months after our first show there, I have a hard time figuring out why we waited so long. I suppose that is the way it always is.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Staging and Lighting Tech Work at Fremont Abbey
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday September 7, 2009 – Staging and Lighting Tech Work at Fremont Abbey
A holiday, but we needed to finalize staging questions for Tuning the Air. Since it is a holiday, that meant that the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey Arts Center was not otherwise booked, and so this was our best opportunity to get in at the same time of day that performances will take place, to set up the various lighting alternatives and make the necessary choices.
Travis met me at my place at 8pm to go through the lighting gear and other staging materials stored in my spare room. We loaded the necessary equipment and headed over to the Abbey. Naturally, once at the Abbey I realized I had forgotten my guitar and drum stool, necessary so that I could be the dummy in the lighting mock-ups. Chris, Christina, Travis and I loaded the gear out of my car, and then I ran home to get my stuff. Fortunately only about a 3-minute drive. By the time I got back, Jaxie had arrived as well, and work had begun.
While the technical side of laying things out was going on, Jaxie and I looked at several different ways of organizing the lobby area, and came up with a pretty good plan.
A number of different approaches to lights were explored, ranging from the return of the Columns of Awesomeness to hanging reflectors on fishing wire. In the end, simple and elegant won the day. No doubt, once we have inhabited the room for a while we will discover any number of ways to grow, but tonight’s resolution has the virtue of making friends with the space, and leaves a great deal of flexibility for new ideas and inspirations to present themselves. Wonderful.
The big scare came once we had all of the new lights set up and running, Travis and I played a bit of guitar, including some circulating and a couple renditions of “Lament”. The whirring of the fans from the new lights, though not screamingly loud, was clearly audible, and was taking away some of the space in the quiet end of our dynamic range. At this point, after a couple hours of work, I was disheartened. We agreed to set the lights back up next Thursday when the whole team is there to rehearse. Then, as we were experimenting with the last minute idea someone had, which would become the final lighting arrangement, it occurred to us to walk around and listen to individual lights. One seemed quite loud to me, so I unplugged it and Voila!, Silence. Just one light with a bad fan, and not an inherent flaw in the light model.
So, beautiful new working lights and just one unit to return for a quieter one. Joy!
Adding Thursday rehearsals to the calendar for the final two weeks leading up to opening night. This week we will be back in Fremont Abbey, with lights set up for Meleah to work with, and Joel in the house to begin discovering how his preshow music will work in the space. Next Thursday the Abbey is booked, so rehearsal will be at either my place or the Wilsons. On the final Saturday before we open we will do a full tech runthrough.
Monday September 7, 2009 – Staging and Lighting Tech Work at Fremont Abbey
A holiday, but we needed to finalize staging questions for Tuning the Air. Since it is a holiday, that meant that the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey Arts Center was not otherwise booked, and so this was our best opportunity to get in at the same time of day that performances will take place, to set up the various lighting alternatives and make the necessary choices.
Travis met me at my place at 8pm to go through the lighting gear and other staging materials stored in my spare room. We loaded the necessary equipment and headed over to the Abbey. Naturally, once at the Abbey I realized I had forgotten my guitar and drum stool, necessary so that I could be the dummy in the lighting mock-ups. Chris, Christina, Travis and I loaded the gear out of my car, and then I ran home to get my stuff. Fortunately only about a 3-minute drive. By the time I got back, Jaxie had arrived as well, and work had begun.
While the technical side of laying things out was going on, Jaxie and I looked at several different ways of organizing the lobby area, and came up with a pretty good plan.
A number of different approaches to lights were explored, ranging from the return of the Columns of Awesomeness to hanging reflectors on fishing wire. In the end, simple and elegant won the day. No doubt, once we have inhabited the room for a while we will discover any number of ways to grow, but tonight’s resolution has the virtue of making friends with the space, and leaves a great deal of flexibility for new ideas and inspirations to present themselves. Wonderful.
The big scare came once we had all of the new lights set up and running, Travis and I played a bit of guitar, including some circulating and a couple renditions of “Lament”. The whirring of the fans from the new lights, though not screamingly loud, was clearly audible, and was taking away some of the space in the quiet end of our dynamic range. At this point, after a couple hours of work, I was disheartened. We agreed to set the lights back up next Thursday when the whole team is there to rehearse. Then, as we were experimenting with the last minute idea someone had, which would become the final lighting arrangement, it occurred to us to walk around and listen to individual lights. One seemed quite loud to me, so I unplugged it and Voila!, Silence. Just one light with a bad fan, and not an inherent flaw in the light model.
So, beautiful new working lights and just one unit to return for a quieter one. Joy!
Adding Thursday rehearsals to the calendar for the final two weeks leading up to opening night. This week we will be back in Fremont Abbey, with lights set up for Meleah to work with, and Joel in the house to begin discovering how his preshow music will work in the space. Next Thursday the Abbey is booked, so rehearsal will be at either my place or the Wilsons. On the final Saturday before we open we will do a full tech runthrough.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Monthly Open Circle and Rehearsal
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday September 5, 2009 – Monthly Open Circle and Rehearsal
Rather disappointing turnout for the morning sitting. There is always a reason, and the reason is always reasonable, and completely legitimate. But nevertheless something is irrevocably lost.
A coffee break, and then off to Fremont Abbey Arts Center for the Monthly Open Circle. 14 in the circle today, plus me on my feet. We began with an instruction which launched a group improvisation, and from the very first notes it was magical. Music seemed to walk through the front, sit down in the middle of the circle, and there it remained of 120 minutes. For the majority of the day I worked with gently rhythmic exercises designed to require the players to listen with a level of intention that might not automatically be available. The selfish side of this was that I wanted to learn as much as I could about how this room responds to rhythm. The result was some truly astonishing music. There was a moment when, as I was listening, I heard myself thinking, “to hell with booking shows, to hell with designing sets, to hell with promotion, to hell with business… all I ever want to do in life is THIS. Let someone else deal with all the rest.” We ended the circle as we began it, with an improvisation. Again, stunning moments of Music.
One thought that came to me: we simply have to get David Hykes into this room the next time he is in town.
A quick break and move back to my apartment for the Performance Team rehearsal. Jaxie would be with us for 90 minutes, and then she and Bob would tag-team. We began with the pieces I felt most needed attention, with a slant toward the pieces that Jaxie is key for. “Eye of the Needle”, “49 Notes”, “My Precious Dream”, “Voices of Ancient Children”, “King for a Day” and “The Bus Artist”. Very good work, looking at several details that can be the difference between excellent and superb when performance time comes.
At the break, Jaxie departed and Bob arrived. We began with a bit of Groundhog Day, repeating the pieces we had worked on with Jaxie, getting Bob up to speed on what we had observed. From there to some additional pieces. In particular, looking at a bit more of the revamped arrangement of “Scorched Air”, filling Chris in on the zither assignments we worked out on Monday, and recalibrating the rhythm section for the new seating arrangement. We ended with work on “Lament”.
Monday is a tech night at Fremont Abbey, working out lighting and staging decisions.
Saturday September 5, 2009 – Monthly Open Circle and Rehearsal
Rather disappointing turnout for the morning sitting. There is always a reason, and the reason is always reasonable, and completely legitimate. But nevertheless something is irrevocably lost.
A coffee break, and then off to Fremont Abbey Arts Center for the Monthly Open Circle. 14 in the circle today, plus me on my feet. We began with an instruction which launched a group improvisation, and from the very first notes it was magical. Music seemed to walk through the front, sit down in the middle of the circle, and there it remained of 120 minutes. For the majority of the day I worked with gently rhythmic exercises designed to require the players to listen with a level of intention that might not automatically be available. The selfish side of this was that I wanted to learn as much as I could about how this room responds to rhythm. The result was some truly astonishing music. There was a moment when, as I was listening, I heard myself thinking, “to hell with booking shows, to hell with designing sets, to hell with promotion, to hell with business… all I ever want to do in life is THIS. Let someone else deal with all the rest.” We ended the circle as we began it, with an improvisation. Again, stunning moments of Music.
One thought that came to me: we simply have to get David Hykes into this room the next time he is in town.
A quick break and move back to my apartment for the Performance Team rehearsal. Jaxie would be with us for 90 minutes, and then she and Bob would tag-team. We began with the pieces I felt most needed attention, with a slant toward the pieces that Jaxie is key for. “Eye of the Needle”, “49 Notes”, “My Precious Dream”, “Voices of Ancient Children”, “King for a Day” and “The Bus Artist”. Very good work, looking at several details that can be the difference between excellent and superb when performance time comes.
At the break, Jaxie departed and Bob arrived. We began with a bit of Groundhog Day, repeating the pieces we had worked on with Jaxie, getting Bob up to speed on what we had observed. From there to some additional pieces. In particular, looking at a bit more of the revamped arrangement of “Scorched Air”, filling Chris in on the zither assignments we worked out on Monday, and recalibrating the rhythm section for the new seating arrangement. We ended with work on “Lament”.
Monday is a tech night at Fremont Abbey, working out lighting and staging decisions.
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