Vancouver Open Circle

A Tuning the Air Journal

Sunday October 18, 2009 – Vancouver Open Circle

Managed to sleep in just a little. Once up, I hung out with the boys for a while. About 10am Pablo and I headed out for a little sight seeing and some breakfast. As best I can work out the math, it has been more than 7 years since I’ve been up here. How did that happen?

At 11am we went to the studio space where the Circle would take place; a combination graphic design office, artist loft and recording studio in an industrial neighborhood along the port. Very workable space. Our host, a friend of Pablo’s, is a jazz guitarist of long standing. NST is new to him, and he has borrowed a funky acoustic guitar for the day. Sotirios arrived, and they began arranging the room we would use, moving furniture out and setting up chairs. I practiced.

A few of the attendees began drifting in. Pablo and Sotirios were in charge of working out the tuning issues. Plenty of extra strings on hand. As 1pm approached, Pablo began to look a little nervous that people would not show. He needn’t have been concerned; at 1pm there was a deluge. All but one or two of those who had signed up were there. The circle would be 11, plus me on my feet. Tuning continued for some time. One nylon string guitar needed to be tuned down to A, and then capoed at the 3rd fret in order to accommodate NST. By 1:30 we were able to begin in earnest.

It was a pretty straightforward beginner’s circle. We began by bringing some attention and awareness to the body and then moved on to a graduated series of circulation exercises. Largely noise and chaos at the beginning. The presence of a can of beer that accompanied one of the players was a first. But after an hour of work together, a good sense of group began to emerge.

We took a short break. In the second half we worked with more rhythmic exercises, culminating in a bit of thrakkishness. I noticed a very discernable change in the group as soon as this combination of counting and visceral music was introduced. Given what I had seen at the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised at how far we were able to take this. At about 3:30, I sensed that we were where we were going to be able to get, and drew the circle to a close with a circulation. A lot of energy in the room.

After restoring the space, back to Pablo’s place to pick up my overnight bag and wish the family farewell. Uneventful drive back to Seattle, other than a slightly slow border crossing. Stopped off for supper at the local pub, where I ran into Andy and Crystal. Then home to a rather miffed cat.