Tuning the Air 171

A Tuning the Air Journal

Thursday December 3, 2009 – Tuning the Air 171

The fastest setup ever; under 20 minutes. Gave us a lot of time to warm up. This is a blessing and a curse. The acoustics of the Great Hall make individual practice and warmup difficult, because it turns into a din and that is very hard for me to bear. On the other hand, group warmups have a habit of turning into rehearsals, and so we risk over-preparing and blowing our freshness. As a compromise, a number of us formed a standing circle, much closer together than we actually sit in the performance circle, and ran a bunch of material that is not in the current repertoire. Where Is The Nurse?, Not My Sharona, Onyx, Bloed Spoed. All challenging pieces that work well as callisthenic warmups. Except for Bloed Spoed, which hasn’t been performed or rehearsed for more than a season, they sounded quite good, and Bloed Spoed was at least fun, and in any case this gave us the requisite adjustment to the sound of the room. Returned to a bit more personal practice before giving Joel a few minutes of silence in which to soundcheck, after which we gathered in the performance circle to formally warm up as a group. Circulated in F and G majors; not wonderful, but they served to shake off some of the rust. Then on to necessary bits of repertoire: the Shostakovich prelude, In My Room, Cultivating, the double reverse swirling zither and the Kashmir circulation.

Full circle with the entire company, talking through the set, and then we were “on”, which meant the Green Room for the performers. Even from backstage it was clear that Joel was on fire. A good omen.

As we entered, we found a good sized audience; the center chairs occupied and a few overflow as well. Also a good omen.

The hat was on as usual. Only two pieces were called by name from the circle. One of them, La Rueda, actually came out of the hat right after it had been called and performed. Trust the hat. On several occasions the call was for more than one piece to be pulled – “two from the Hat of Repertoire”, or “one from each hat” – and this helped to facilitate the flow considerably. We’re beginning to get the hang of it.

Exceptional audience. Attentive and supportive, generally silent, rather than “quiet” in that repressed sort of way that occasionally happens. As we stood after the final piece we received what felt like a genuine and spontaneous standing ovation. This was repeated after the encore.

The setlist, as notated by the House Manager was:

Tuning the Air 171
Thursday December 3, 2009
Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle, WA
Fall Season Show #9

Preshow:

Joel Palmer Improvisations

Set:

Cultivating the Beat – preplanned
In My Room – from the Hat, w/Circulation in C major called by Curt
Tell Me Your Deepest Secret (Improv) – from the Hat
Batrachomyomachy – from the Hat
Brasil – called by Howard
Lament – from the Hat
Bus Artist – from the Hat
Zithers (Improv) – from the Hat

Jaxie talked to the audience

Kashmir – preplanned
D major circulation – called by Howard
La Rueda – called by Howard
Little Gangsters – from the Hat
Sigh and a Kiss – from the Hat
My Precious Dream (for Debbie) – from the Hat
King for a Day – from the Hat
Thrak – preplanned
Eye of the Needle – preplanned

Encore:

Long Ago Today
Twilight

(both called in the Green Room)