Tuning the Air 170

A Tuning the Air Journal

Thursday November 19, 2009 – Tuning the Air 170

Two items from tonight’s performance…

1. The admonition to always “Trust the Hat” was severely tested when, in the final 15 minutes of the show, when my wish was to be “building up” to the end of the show, a call for “two pieces from the repertoire hat” drew 49 Notes and Voices of Ancient Children; two pieces I would never in a million years have put together, and certainly not at that point in the set. Strongly tempted to intervene, but since trusting the hat was a very specific and intentional piece of work in this scheme, I swallowed hard and assumed the virtue. Of course it was awesome, but in a way I had/could never have envisioned. In the end, it set up a gentle ascent to the end of the set that was completely organic and absolutely “right”.
   
   
2. La Rueda is now a viable and performable addition to the repertoire. With a short-staffed and wedding-oriented rehearsal on Saturday, and no rehearsal at all on Monday, I had relegated it to the “not quite yet” list in my head. But we ran it during the warmup before the show, and it seemed hazardous, but completely doable. When we circled up in the green room with the audience applauding and demanding an encore, the question “what shall we play?” was posed, and La Rueda came out of three mouths simultaneously. Right choice. Just stunning. No doubt it will benefit from some solid technical work in rehearsal, but it is on!

We will rehearse tomorrow, and no doubt look at both La Rueda and Children’s Hour as well as touching on lots of our existing repertoire that needs to be touched upon regularly. On Monday we will ditch rehearsal in order to attend Joel’s performance at Good Shepherd. No gig next week, for the Thanksgiving holiday.


Tuning the Air 170
Thursday November 19, 2009
Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle, WA
Fall Season Show #8

Preshow

Joel Palmer Improvisations

The Set (including sources)

Cultivating the Beat: Setlist
The Wig Maker, with double swirling zither: Hat
Beyond here be dragons: Hat
Aquarela do Brasil: Hat
Batrachomyomachy: Hat
Circulation in D Major: Curt
Sigh and a Kiss: Hat
Circulation in F Harmonic Minor: Hat
Follow the Lights: Hat
Address the audience: Jaxie
Kashmir: Setlist
Circulation in D Major #2: Hat
49 Notes: Hat
Voices of Ancient Children: Hat
Long Ago Today: Jaxie
Twilight: Curt/Bob
Thrak: Setlist
Eye of the Needle: Setlist

Encore

La Rueda: Greenroom