A Tuning the Air Journal
Sunday January 31, 2010 – Third Meeting of the Vancouver Open Circle
I was up early and on the road for British Columbia by 8am. It was rather rainy, but no traffic to speak of. No one at all at the border. The Olympics begin in a couple of weeks, so I suspect that will change markedly. Had Patti Smith’s Horses on the stereo most of the way, which is how I account for missing a key turnoff on a route I know pretty well.
Arrive at Pablo and Melina’s place at 10:30. Spent a little time with the boys, and had a cup of coffee. Pablo and I went off to grab some breakfast and to take care of an errand, and then headed for the circle. Arrived at about 12:30. The facility was in a sprawling neighborhood center, much of which is currently surrounded by double fences and heavy security for the athletes who are using it as an Olympic training facility. The room we used was a corner kitchen/dining area at the end of an elementary school.
Small group today. Pablo and Sotirios were there, plus two folks who had attended earlier circles. Since it was not going to be a circle for absolute beginners, and due to the small size, I elected to sit down in the circle. At 1pm we began with a bit of freeform circulation. Then, for the first half of the meeting we worked on a 4-octave pentatonic scale circulation, which by the end of the hour was modulating successfully from C to Eb to F# to A and back to C – or, more technically, from C Major to C Minor, which has the same notes as Eb Major, and so from Eb Major to Eb Minor, which has the same notes as F# Major, and so from F# Major to F# Minor, which has the same notes as A Major. The next modulation brought us back to A Minor which has the same notes as C Major. At this point we would reset to our original notes and repeated. Taken to its full potential, we would have actually continued the sequence from there but with everyone playing different notes than the first time around. This was a much more ambitious exercise than I generally introduce at these circles, but there was substantial interest in upping the challenge, and the team rose to the occasion.
A short break, and then we returned to the circle, where I presented all of the parts of One of a Thousand Regrets. The precise arrangement of the piece was not presented, but all of the elements, including some in-depth looks at the counting of the piece and the rhythmic elements. Got much further than I had anticipated in the available hour. A very good afternoon of work. A sense that if the team can manage some work together between my visits, some real forward movement is possible.
Pablo and his son had an afternoon birthday party to go to, so we were prompt to close down the room at 3pm, return the key, and hit the road. I dropped him off and headed home. The rain had abated. I missed no turns this time, and the border crossing, though intrusive as always, was easy with only a short wait.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Full Company Rehearsal at Fremont Abbey
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 30, 2010 – Full Company Rehearsal at Fremont Abbey
Nearly all-hands this week. Chris had a small emergency at home that necessitated a slightly late arrival, and Bob was home with the children. Pablo was visiting from Vancouver and joined us.
Finally able to get back into Fremont Abbey for a Saturday rehearsal. For scheduling reasons we have had to use the Phinney Neighborhood Center the past two weeks. Phinney is a great facility, in many ways more practical than Fremont for the particular work we have been doing, particularly the Alexander work which involves a certain amount of talking. But playing guitar in the Great Hall is something we need to do as much as possible so that we can begin to adjust to its demands. And the sound really is glorious.
For the first part of the rehearsal, Frank worked with us on the Alexander Technique in a slightly more traditional format. We sat in a semicircle facing him, and he talked about the practice of releasing habits. He asked for volunteers to demonstrate. Greg went first, and presented something he had noticed about tension in the right arm, as it relates to releasing tension in the right wrist. At one point Frank worked directly with his head and neck, of course, his back, as well as his right shoulder and upper arm. Someone (Jaxie, I think) observed that while the upper part of the right arm was being addressed, something happened to the right hand: “he had a new hand”. I was the next volunteer. My question had to do the transition from not playing guitar to playing guitar. My observation had been that when it “comes time to play” I go through a great deal of adjustment in my body, in preparation. My thought/wish was that it is possible to let go of the unnecessary intermediate steps and simply move from being in a state of active rest to applying myself to this particular activity. Frank talked at length about this. It has been, in some ways, the topic of his presentations since we began this season. He offered me a number of opportunities to chose to begin or not to begin, remembering that not to begin is a real option. Eventually we applied this to the first few bars of a piece of music that I know very well. I noticed that in letting go of a number of habitual quirks and ticks I was also letting go of my ability to play the piece with reliability. I rely on my habits for my competence.
Bill was next up. We continued the exercise of bringing some intention to the notes we chose. He began by asking if anyone knew the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Most of us raised our hands. He then asked for someone to briefly recapitulate the story. No one raised their hand. Jaxie, being a parent, was prevailed upon. The exercise, then, was for the group to tell the story, in circulation, one word at a time. Simultaneously we circulated notes from the A Minor Pentatonic scale. Much hilarity ensued. We repeated the exercise, this time with the circulation of notes doing the exercise of “play the note the person to your left played”, moving to one single note played the entire circle. Further hilarity. There was a lot of information in this exercise, but the acoustics of the Great Hall make discussion very difficult, and I observed that during the break there was a great deal of ad hoc discussion in small clusters of people.
For the final 30 minutes we returned to experiments for Taylor’s benefit of various ways or arranging and playing the “Neptune” movement of Holst’s The Planets. More to follow on this.
I am off to Vancouver (BC) in the morning for the Vancouver Guitar Circle.
Saturday January 30, 2010 – Full Company Rehearsal at Fremont Abbey
Nearly all-hands this week. Chris had a small emergency at home that necessitated a slightly late arrival, and Bob was home with the children. Pablo was visiting from Vancouver and joined us.
Finally able to get back into Fremont Abbey for a Saturday rehearsal. For scheduling reasons we have had to use the Phinney Neighborhood Center the past two weeks. Phinney is a great facility, in many ways more practical than Fremont for the particular work we have been doing, particularly the Alexander work which involves a certain amount of talking. But playing guitar in the Great Hall is something we need to do as much as possible so that we can begin to adjust to its demands. And the sound really is glorious.
For the first part of the rehearsal, Frank worked with us on the Alexander Technique in a slightly more traditional format. We sat in a semicircle facing him, and he talked about the practice of releasing habits. He asked for volunteers to demonstrate. Greg went first, and presented something he had noticed about tension in the right arm, as it relates to releasing tension in the right wrist. At one point Frank worked directly with his head and neck, of course, his back, as well as his right shoulder and upper arm. Someone (Jaxie, I think) observed that while the upper part of the right arm was being addressed, something happened to the right hand: “he had a new hand”. I was the next volunteer. My question had to do the transition from not playing guitar to playing guitar. My observation had been that when it “comes time to play” I go through a great deal of adjustment in my body, in preparation. My thought/wish was that it is possible to let go of the unnecessary intermediate steps and simply move from being in a state of active rest to applying myself to this particular activity. Frank talked at length about this. It has been, in some ways, the topic of his presentations since we began this season. He offered me a number of opportunities to chose to begin or not to begin, remembering that not to begin is a real option. Eventually we applied this to the first few bars of a piece of music that I know very well. I noticed that in letting go of a number of habitual quirks and ticks I was also letting go of my ability to play the piece with reliability. I rely on my habits for my competence.
Bill was next up. We continued the exercise of bringing some intention to the notes we chose. He began by asking if anyone knew the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Most of us raised our hands. He then asked for someone to briefly recapitulate the story. No one raised their hand. Jaxie, being a parent, was prevailed upon. The exercise, then, was for the group to tell the story, in circulation, one word at a time. Simultaneously we circulated notes from the A Minor Pentatonic scale. Much hilarity ensued. We repeated the exercise, this time with the circulation of notes doing the exercise of “play the note the person to your left played”, moving to one single note played the entire circle. Further hilarity. There was a lot of information in this exercise, but the acoustics of the Great Hall make discussion very difficult, and I observed that during the break there was a great deal of ad hoc discussion in small clusters of people.
For the final 30 minutes we returned to experiments for Taylor’s benefit of various ways or arranging and playing the “Neptune” movement of Holst’s The Planets. More to follow on this.
I am off to Vancouver (BC) in the morning for the Vancouver Guitar Circle.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday January 25, 2010 – Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
We were 10 in the circle tonight. Chris and Meleah still out of town. Greg and Joel were conducting a Games for Democracy event.
We had no firm agenda. I began the rehearsal by initiating a bit of circulation, clockwise using the note of your choice.
Taylor stepped forward with an arrangement he is working on of the “Neptune” movement from The Planets. This was more or less a “proof of concept” exploration, so we simply learned a few bars from various sections of the piece, so that he could determine if the approach he is taking with the arrangement is going to work, and where other strategies might be employed. Very beautiful stuff, and I suggested that we do this again on Saturday, when we will be rehearsing in the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey.
After a short break, we came back and worked on a variation on Bob’s work with improvised circulations through chord changes. For this we used a little 4-bar standard jazz progression: basically I-VI7-II-V7, in the form of C maj7-C#º7-D min7-Db7. After reviewing the notes in each of these chords, we moved to 1 bar on each chord, in a 7-note/1 rest pattern (“Tyger, tyger…”). This took us to nearly the end of the rehearsal. One more free circulation, this one counterclockwise.
After rehearsal, a short respite with glasses of wine raised to toast Bob and Jaxie’s 14th wedding anniversary.
Monday January 25, 2010 – Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
We were 10 in the circle tonight. Chris and Meleah still out of town. Greg and Joel were conducting a Games for Democracy event.
We had no firm agenda. I began the rehearsal by initiating a bit of circulation, clockwise using the note of your choice.
Taylor stepped forward with an arrangement he is working on of the “Neptune” movement from The Planets. This was more or less a “proof of concept” exploration, so we simply learned a few bars from various sections of the piece, so that he could determine if the approach he is taking with the arrangement is going to work, and where other strategies might be employed. Very beautiful stuff, and I suggested that we do this again on Saturday, when we will be rehearsing in the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey.
After a short break, we came back and worked on a variation on Bob’s work with improvised circulations through chord changes. For this we used a little 4-bar standard jazz progression: basically I-VI7-II-V7, in the form of C maj7-C#º7-D min7-Db7. After reviewing the notes in each of these chords, we moved to 1 bar on each chord, in a 7-note/1 rest pattern (“Tyger, tyger…”). This took us to nearly the end of the rehearsal. One more free circulation, this one counterclockwise.
After rehearsal, a short respite with glasses of wine raised to toast Bob and Jaxie’s 14th wedding anniversary.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Full Company Rehearsal at Phinney Neighborhood Center
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 23, 2010 – Full Company Rehearsal at Phinney Neighborhood Center
Fremont Abbey again booked this week, so we worked at our old stomping grounds. Any and everyone with a guitar invited to take part. Jaxie was away for family obligations. Chris and Meleah are out of town this week.
The first hour was over to Frank again. And once again he brought us back to the root basics of the Alexander Technique. This week focused on what it means to leave the head and neck free, to notice the movement in the torso, particularly the ribs and the diaphragm, as we breathe, while engaging in a circulation exercise. For the second week in a row, I had the very strong sense that although the “information” was new to no one, we are, individually and as a group, in a place to receive and assimilate this understanding in a new and much deeper way.
A short break, and Bill took over, continuing his work with circulating and intention. We revisited the challenge of duplicating the note passed, until the entire circle is playing the same note. Just this took most of the allotted time. From there on to working with a minor pentatonic scale, playing notes with the same kind of intention that the previous exercise demanded.
Another short break, and it was over to Bob. He reintroduced the chord progression from last week, but in a slightly different form. It was played in a waltz using a series of written arpeggios, three notes each. The first player had the first two chords, six notes. The next player the next two chords, etc. So 8 players circulated the chord progression, while the remaining three players improvised (we took that to mean circulating, although that was not what Bob had said) using notes from the chords. After a time, all of the parts moved one seat to the right, and we did it again. One more seat to the right, and then another, until the time came for us to vacate the room.
The Monday evening rehearsal will be at the Wilsons, and open to all.
Saturday January 23, 2010 – Full Company Rehearsal at Phinney Neighborhood Center
Fremont Abbey again booked this week, so we worked at our old stomping grounds. Any and everyone with a guitar invited to take part. Jaxie was away for family obligations. Chris and Meleah are out of town this week.
The first hour was over to Frank again. And once again he brought us back to the root basics of the Alexander Technique. This week focused on what it means to leave the head and neck free, to notice the movement in the torso, particularly the ribs and the diaphragm, as we breathe, while engaging in a circulation exercise. For the second week in a row, I had the very strong sense that although the “information” was new to no one, we are, individually and as a group, in a place to receive and assimilate this understanding in a new and much deeper way.
A short break, and Bill took over, continuing his work with circulating and intention. We revisited the challenge of duplicating the note passed, until the entire circle is playing the same note. Just this took most of the allotted time. From there on to working with a minor pentatonic scale, playing notes with the same kind of intention that the previous exercise demanded.
Another short break, and it was over to Bob. He reintroduced the chord progression from last week, but in a slightly different form. It was played in a waltz using a series of written arpeggios, three notes each. The first player had the first two chords, six notes. The next player the next two chords, etc. So 8 players circulated the chord progression, while the remaining three players improvised (we took that to mean circulating, although that was not what Bob had said) using notes from the chords. After a time, all of the parts moved one seat to the right, and we did it again. One more seat to the right, and then another, until the time came for us to vacate the room.
The Monday evening rehearsal will be at the Wilsons, and open to all.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday January 18, 2010 – Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
Our first weekday meeting of the season. There was some confusion early in the day about whether this would be a rehearsal for strictly the performance team or continued work for the guitar-playing members of the company at large. A poll in the form of a flurry of email quickly determined that working with the full group was the consensus.
We were 11 in the circle in Bob and Jaxie’s living room, which is no mean feat. I had imagined that at some point we would break up into smaller groups in separate rooms, but in the end we stuck it out together.
We began with a lovely zither circulation. Then, most of the evening was dedicated to continuing the work with Bill on the exercise we began on Saturday. First, the basic exercise of moving from “any note of your choice” to unison, pausing from time to time to share observations about how we perceive what is happening, and our strategies for tracking what is being played in the circle. From here we moved on to working with a limited number of available notes, beginning with 3, D-E-F on the second string at frets 10-12-13, and eventually expanding this to 7 notes, a full D Minor scale from C at the 8th fret of the second string up to Bb at the 15th on the first string. An exercise in canon was introduced that rather stumped us, and we reverted to the original 3 notes in an attempt to simplify. About the time the meeting had moved into more discussion about the mechanics of the exercise and less actual guitar playing, a cell phone went off and this was taken as a sign that a break was in order.
Miles Davis made an appearance during the break, in the form of an impromptu small group experiment, driven by Ian, with the “groove” from It’s About That Time. After the break, Chris presented a small segment of an arrangement he has been working on as a possibility for performance in the show. Parts were quickly demonstrated and disbursed. The sense in the room was that this is a piece worth pursuing further.
A bit of free circulation.
Before departing, we broke to speak a bit about the schedule. Rehearsals for the next two weeks will be on Saturday and Monday, and will continue to be full-company circles. We spoke at some length about the pivotal moment we seem to be at as a team, and it was noted that after 5 (or 10, or 25, depending on your point of view) years, we are finally at a point where what Frank is presenting is able to sink in, in a very real way. Frank, Bob and Bill with again be leading the work on Saturday morning. Beyond that, we will see. I mentioned the need to put together a practical work day to build 3 more risers. Chris also mentioned that the search for interns needs to begin, and suggested that the team who volunteered to follow up on that get together in a week, after he returns from vacation.
Monday January 18, 2010 – Evening Rehearsal at the Wilsons
Our first weekday meeting of the season. There was some confusion early in the day about whether this would be a rehearsal for strictly the performance team or continued work for the guitar-playing members of the company at large. A poll in the form of a flurry of email quickly determined that working with the full group was the consensus.
We were 11 in the circle in Bob and Jaxie’s living room, which is no mean feat. I had imagined that at some point we would break up into smaller groups in separate rooms, but in the end we stuck it out together.
We began with a lovely zither circulation. Then, most of the evening was dedicated to continuing the work with Bill on the exercise we began on Saturday. First, the basic exercise of moving from “any note of your choice” to unison, pausing from time to time to share observations about how we perceive what is happening, and our strategies for tracking what is being played in the circle. From here we moved on to working with a limited number of available notes, beginning with 3, D-E-F on the second string at frets 10-12-13, and eventually expanding this to 7 notes, a full D Minor scale from C at the 8th fret of the second string up to Bb at the 15th on the first string. An exercise in canon was introduced that rather stumped us, and we reverted to the original 3 notes in an attempt to simplify. About the time the meeting had moved into more discussion about the mechanics of the exercise and less actual guitar playing, a cell phone went off and this was taken as a sign that a break was in order.
Miles Davis made an appearance during the break, in the form of an impromptu small group experiment, driven by Ian, with the “groove” from It’s About That Time. After the break, Chris presented a small segment of an arrangement he has been working on as a possibility for performance in the show. Parts were quickly demonstrated and disbursed. The sense in the room was that this is a piece worth pursuing further.
A bit of free circulation.
Before departing, we broke to speak a bit about the schedule. Rehearsals for the next two weeks will be on Saturday and Monday, and will continue to be full-company circles. We spoke at some length about the pivotal moment we seem to be at as a team, and it was noted that after 5 (or 10, or 25, depending on your point of view) years, we are finally at a point where what Frank is presenting is able to sink in, in a very real way. Frank, Bob and Bill with again be leading the work on Saturday morning. Beyond that, we will see. I mentioned the need to put together a practical work day to build 3 more risers. Chris also mentioned that the search for interns needs to begin, and suggested that the team who volunteered to follow up on that get together in a week, after he returns from vacation.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
First Full Rehearsal of 2010
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 16, 2010 – First Full Rehearsal of 2010
Fremont Abbey was not available this week (nor will it be next week), so today’s rehearsal was moved to Phinney Neighborhood Center. A powerful sense of déjà vu, as this is where the circle met every Saturday when I first moved to Seattle in 1998, and continued until we formed Seattle Circle NFP and rented the house on 65th Street. For scheduling reasons at the facility, it was a somewhat earlier rehearsal than we generally have, running 9am to noon.
This was an all-company meeting with guitars; that is, every company member with a guitar, regardless of whether or not they are on the “Performance Team”, was invited to sit in the circle, and so we were 13 seated with guitars, plus Frank on his feet. The morning was divided into 3 segments. The first hour was with Frank, focusing on the Alexander Technique. The second hour was led by Bob, and the third by Bill.
Frank worked with us on what Alexander called the “critical moment”; the moment just before we “do something”. The work on exploring this moment was done in the circle, with guitars, in some directed circulations. In an email after the rehearsal, Bill asked if someone might document what we did. Mary Beth responded with the following:
After a break, Bob picked up the baton and ran us through a circulation exercise that involved a series of chord changes played in time, with the instruction to circulate only notes from the particular chord. For the preliminary work, this was limited to 4 chords – G Maj-G7-C Maj-C7 – moving swiftly, with only two beats for each change. Travis and I picked up an accompaniment arpeggio that Bob presented, which helped to hold the pattern. Once the pattern was established, we were invited to drop the accompaniment, so that we could simply hear the chord pattern in the circulation.
From here the pattern was extended, eventually to sequence of 16 chords. At that point, the 4/4-ness of the circulation was dropped, and instead we made the chord change at the beginning of each circulation - Bob was on his feet, so that meant there were 12 circulators. This was a rather advanced version of an exercise I have been doing with the House Circle (in those exercises, we generally stick with I-IV-V7-I patterns, or others similarly familiar sequences), and required the group to hold a very long and somewhat complex harmonic pattern in our collective minds eye. For much of the time, Bob had to call out the changes as they came by, but before we were done we did manage a few cycles without the prompts.
G Maj-G7-C Maj-C7
F Maj-C Maj-G Sus-G Maj
D Min-F Maj-A Min-E Min
D Maj-D Maj-D7-D7
The final segment of the day was led by Bill. This was a preparatory exercise that will move us toward something he has in mind. It involved circulating notes of our choice with eyes closed, and the aim of having everyone eventually playing the same note. The first time around, the strategy emerged of one person sitting on their note and those around the circle moving to match it. This was certainly effective. The person initiating the circulation had misunderstood the instruction and thought that was what they were “supposed” to do. The next time around, Bill amended and clarified the instruction to match whatever note the person to our left passed it to us. This changed the game rather drastically. There were moments when a segment of the circle managed to play the same note – perhaps 4 or 5 players in a row – but if someone played a different note the “letter of the law” stated that we were to follow it, and so we were never in much danger of succeeding. Very interesting stuff, and I am looking forward to where Bill might go with this.
Saturday January 16, 2010 – First Full Rehearsal of 2010
Fremont Abbey was not available this week (nor will it be next week), so today’s rehearsal was moved to Phinney Neighborhood Center. A powerful sense of déjà vu, as this is where the circle met every Saturday when I first moved to Seattle in 1998, and continued until we formed Seattle Circle NFP and rented the house on 65th Street. For scheduling reasons at the facility, it was a somewhat earlier rehearsal than we generally have, running 9am to noon.
This was an all-company meeting with guitars; that is, every company member with a guitar, regardless of whether or not they are on the “Performance Team”, was invited to sit in the circle, and so we were 13 seated with guitars, plus Frank on his feet. The morning was divided into 3 segments. The first hour was with Frank, focusing on the Alexander Technique. The second hour was led by Bob, and the third by Bill.
Frank worked with us on what Alexander called the “critical moment”; the moment just before we “do something”. The work on exploring this moment was done in the circle, with guitars, in some directed circulations. In an email after the rehearsal, Bill asked if someone might document what we did. Mary Beth responded with the following:
Work with Frank, Phinney Community CenterFrank posted his description of the class in his own blog: http://www.frankmsheldon.com
Mary Beth’s quick upload of thoughts, 1/16/10
Frank began by quoting Alexander. It was something along the lines of “you can’t do what you want to do unless you do what you don’t know how to do.”
We did an exercise of playing a note. During this, I played an A, I think. I remember feeling pulled by the group movement to play. And then feeling glad that my note seemed to fit.
Then we played another note. During this, I played another note and recognized that I played the same note as someone else.
Something about these exercises had me think about the information available to me and how I could best use it to make music and contribute to the group.
Then, Frank exhorted us to play. But, we all didn’t play because he had told us not to do so? Everyone was pretty good at not playing. I was good at it because I was a bit confused about what we were doing at that time.
Frank mentioned that Alexander’s efforts in developing the technique involved a “yes” or “no” approach to whether or not an action would take place. The approach was an effort to have habits essentially get “bored” with the fact that often the opportunity to manifest was denied. So, that when the “yes” to action did occur the habit was not prepared to appear so to speak.
We did circulations in which we practiced passing the notes, but when the note came to us it was either played or passed by the previous person depending on how they responded in the moment.
Frank noted that on one of our early times around, we played more notes than he had hoped.
It was noted by a few people that tension appeared long before the note arrived because they were anticipating playing.
During one of our circulations, I used a misinterpretation of what Frank said to approach the circulation differently. I thought Frank had said “bare your soul” in playing your note (or not), but he had said “save your soul.” I had also been thinking about habits, the exercise, and where intention fits in the scheme of things. Anyway, I began to see if people were “baring their soul” as they passed the notes. I hoped to see the person more in their essence rather than, perhaps, their collection of gestures. And I was able to see the note move from person to person. I wondered about what I would need to do or be in this exercise. The thought came to me to play the world’s most beautiful note. That led to a surge of energy inside me, a kind of nervous, excited energy. The note came to me and I pass it, rather than played it.
At one point, Frank juggled well. He described the trajectory of learning something.
We concluded after Bill shared a story about the word “po” being an alternative to saying “yes” or no.”
After a break, Bob picked up the baton and ran us through a circulation exercise that involved a series of chord changes played in time, with the instruction to circulate only notes from the particular chord. For the preliminary work, this was limited to 4 chords – G Maj-G7-C Maj-C7 – moving swiftly, with only two beats for each change. Travis and I picked up an accompaniment arpeggio that Bob presented, which helped to hold the pattern. Once the pattern was established, we were invited to drop the accompaniment, so that we could simply hear the chord pattern in the circulation.
From here the pattern was extended, eventually to sequence of 16 chords. At that point, the 4/4-ness of the circulation was dropped, and instead we made the chord change at the beginning of each circulation - Bob was on his feet, so that meant there were 12 circulators. This was a rather advanced version of an exercise I have been doing with the House Circle (in those exercises, we generally stick with I-IV-V7-I patterns, or others similarly familiar sequences), and required the group to hold a very long and somewhat complex harmonic pattern in our collective minds eye. For much of the time, Bob had to call out the changes as they came by, but before we were done we did manage a few cycles without the prompts.
G Maj-G7-C Maj-C7
F Maj-C Maj-G Sus-G Maj
D Min-F Maj-A Min-E Min
D Maj-D Maj-D7-D7
The final segment of the day was led by Bill. This was a preparatory exercise that will move us toward something he has in mind. It involved circulating notes of our choice with eyes closed, and the aim of having everyone eventually playing the same note. The first time around, the strategy emerged of one person sitting on their note and those around the circle moving to match it. This was certainly effective. The person initiating the circulation had misunderstood the instruction and thought that was what they were “supposed” to do. The next time around, Bill amended and clarified the instruction to match whatever note the person to our left passed it to us. This changed the game rather drastically. There were moments when a segment of the circle managed to play the same note – perhaps 4 or 5 players in a row – but if someone played a different note the “letter of the law” stated that we were to follow it, and so we were never in much danger of succeeding. Very interesting stuff, and I am looking forward to where Bill might go with this.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Next Vancouver Open Circle Planned
A Tuning the Air Journal
Vancouver Open Guitar Circle – Sunday January 31
This just out on the wires…
Open Guitar Circle 3
January 31st, 2010
Vancouver, BC
This in an invitation to participate on the third Open Guitar Circle workshop to be held in Vancouver, under the direction of guitarist and music instructor Curt Golden. This workshop is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend, with or without prior experience on the guitar.
The Guitar Circle presents an opportunity for players of any skill level to experience working with music with an emphasis on playfulness and creativity, exploring the various techniques utilized in Tuning the Air performances and Guitar Craft.
The work will be done on acoustic guitars, using the New Standard Tuning. Players without prior Guitar Craft or Guitar Circle experience are encouraged to contact Pablo (workshop01@circularstudio.com) to learn more about the New Standard Tuning.
We are asking participants for donations to help cover the costs of the workshop, this will be greatly appreciated. Without your contribution, these Guitar Circles wouldn't be possible.
Reservations are required: workshop01@circularstudio.com
LOCATION AND TIME:
January, Sunday 31st, 12:30 to 3:00pm
Vancouver, BC (location TBA)
For more information:
Tuning the Air:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZDi1KOIQOM
http://www.tuningtheair.com/
Guitar Craft:
http://www.guitarcraft.com
Please, confirm attendance as soon as possible, as we need to reserve the space and consider other logistics. More information will be given then.
Vancouver Open Guitar Circle – Sunday January 31
This just out on the wires…
Open Guitar Circle 3
January 31st, 2010
Vancouver, BC
This in an invitation to participate on the third Open Guitar Circle workshop to be held in Vancouver, under the direction of guitarist and music instructor Curt Golden. This workshop is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend, with or without prior experience on the guitar.
The Guitar Circle presents an opportunity for players of any skill level to experience working with music with an emphasis on playfulness and creativity, exploring the various techniques utilized in Tuning the Air performances and Guitar Craft.
The work will be done on acoustic guitars, using the New Standard Tuning. Players without prior Guitar Craft or Guitar Circle experience are encouraged to contact Pablo (workshop01@circularstudio.com) to learn more about the New Standard Tuning.
We are asking participants for donations to help cover the costs of the workshop, this will be greatly appreciated. Without your contribution, these Guitar Circles wouldn't be possible.
Reservations are required: workshop01@circularstudio.com
LOCATION AND TIME:
January, Sunday 31st, 12:30 to 3:00pm
Vancouver, BC (location TBA)
For more information:
Tuning the Air:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZDi1KOIQOM
http://www.tuningtheair.com/
Guitar Craft:
http://www.guitarcraft.com
Please, confirm attendance as soon as possible, as we need to reserve the space and consider other logistics. More information will be given then.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
“Keep the baby, throw out the bath water”*
*Frank’s summarization of the thoughts and wishes expressed in the opening meeting of Tuning the Air 2010 Season.
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 9, 2010
The sitting schedule at my place kicked back in, 8:30am on Saturdays before the day’s TTA activities, and 7am on weekdays.
On to Fremont Abbey Arts Center for the first Monthly Open Circle of the year. Primarily Tuning the Air company members, plus a couple of regulars, one out of town visitor – Tom (the Hellboy) who is in town on business – and Bill who actually showed up with a guitar! No newcomers today. This is something I would like to look into.
Given the mean experience level, I was able to dispense with some of the preliminary exercises we often begin with, and go straight to the good stuff. These are the moments when I suffer for not being able to sit in the circle myself, but the role is necessary. Good improvs, with moments of sheer beauty. Simple circulation challenges that brought out some wonderfully musical moments.
I did make one mistake that I felt got us a bit off track, and took a while to rectify. After the break we came back to some circulation challenges, and for these I imposed a particular tonality, rather than the “notes of your choice” we had been working with prior to that. I had been wrestling with the impulse to add this element for a while, at this point, but encountering some internal resistance. Sometimes that resistance is a signal that the impulse is a bright idea and should be abandoned. Other times, it is the result of an internal conservatism and a momentary loss of trust in my better instincts. The truth is, often I can’t really know which of those it is until I make the call and deal with the repercussions.
In this case, it fell into the “bright idea” category, and pretty immediately I could sense that the concern for the notes was detracting from the listening and connection that had been evidenced earlier. Sometimes, this is a hump that we get past through perseverance. Today didn’t seem to be one of those times. I let it go on a little too long, and began to feel that we needed to move on in order to get back on track. A little rock and roll rhythm work did the trick, and culminated with everyone on their feet.
Back to improvs and circulation, and the circle closed.
After the Open Circle, we migrated to the Wilsons for the 2010 opening company meeting. In addition to the TTA team, we had Frank along as well as Tom. For this meeting we worked primarily with articulating hopes and wishes for the direction the production will take, ranging from the practical and concrete to the far-fetched and (occasionally) metaphorical. The goal of this was to develop and begin to articulate a shared aim for the work this season. Very useful to have Frank’s observations on what we were expressing. He has a unique and valuable capacity to sum up what might appear to be disparate thoughts and views. Of course, having Bill as both our resident audience member and our on-call professional musician provided excellent and necessary insights. And Tom… a little like having an audience for our meeting. A supportive and engaged audience.
Next Saturday we will rehearse with the full company, and Bob will be in charge.
As best I can determine, I met Bob 24 years ago this weekend at Claymont Court.
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 9, 2010
The sitting schedule at my place kicked back in, 8:30am on Saturdays before the day’s TTA activities, and 7am on weekdays.
On to Fremont Abbey Arts Center for the first Monthly Open Circle of the year. Primarily Tuning the Air company members, plus a couple of regulars, one out of town visitor – Tom (the Hellboy) who is in town on business – and Bill who actually showed up with a guitar! No newcomers today. This is something I would like to look into.
Given the mean experience level, I was able to dispense with some of the preliminary exercises we often begin with, and go straight to the good stuff. These are the moments when I suffer for not being able to sit in the circle myself, but the role is necessary. Good improvs, with moments of sheer beauty. Simple circulation challenges that brought out some wonderfully musical moments.
I did make one mistake that I felt got us a bit off track, and took a while to rectify. After the break we came back to some circulation challenges, and for these I imposed a particular tonality, rather than the “notes of your choice” we had been working with prior to that. I had been wrestling with the impulse to add this element for a while, at this point, but encountering some internal resistance. Sometimes that resistance is a signal that the impulse is a bright idea and should be abandoned. Other times, it is the result of an internal conservatism and a momentary loss of trust in my better instincts. The truth is, often I can’t really know which of those it is until I make the call and deal with the repercussions.
In this case, it fell into the “bright idea” category, and pretty immediately I could sense that the concern for the notes was detracting from the listening and connection that had been evidenced earlier. Sometimes, this is a hump that we get past through perseverance. Today didn’t seem to be one of those times. I let it go on a little too long, and began to feel that we needed to move on in order to get back on track. A little rock and roll rhythm work did the trick, and culminated with everyone on their feet.
Back to improvs and circulation, and the circle closed.
After the Open Circle, we migrated to the Wilsons for the 2010 opening company meeting. In addition to the TTA team, we had Frank along as well as Tom. For this meeting we worked primarily with articulating hopes and wishes for the direction the production will take, ranging from the practical and concrete to the far-fetched and (occasionally) metaphorical. The goal of this was to develop and begin to articulate a shared aim for the work this season. Very useful to have Frank’s observations on what we were expressing. He has a unique and valuable capacity to sum up what might appear to be disparate thoughts and views. Of course, having Bill as both our resident audience member and our on-call professional musician provided excellent and necessary insights. And Tom… a little like having an audience for our meeting. A supportive and engaged audience.
Next Saturday we will rehearse with the full company, and Bob will be in charge.
As best I can determine, I met Bob 24 years ago this weekend at Claymont Court.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Breaking Up The Tuning the Air Company
A Tuning the Air Journal
Monday January 4, 2010 – Breaking Up The Tuning the Air Company
A practice we followed quite rigorously in the first couple of seasons of Tuning the Air was to “break up the company” at the end of the season. What this means is that as of the close of the season, everyone is released from their obligations and commitments. Then, at the opening meeting of the next season, a new company is created. If you show up, you are making a commitment to the next season. If not, well there you go.
In practice, this is a nightmare. All of the practical matters – committing to the rental for the performance space, promotion, etc – need more lead time than that. But in terms of the commitment of the team, and everything that a fully committed team makes possible, it is irreplaceable. Over the past few seasons, this practice has fallen prey to practicalities and reasonableness.
With the production, the team, the challenges and the potential of this endeavor going through a critical transition right now, Jaxie and I decide to send out the following email this morning:
I honestly am comfortable that there will be a next season. But this practice needs to be taken on in earnest, which means allowing for the possibility that no one, or not enough people, will turn up next Saturday, and allowing that to be an acceptable outcome.
Monday January 4, 2010 – Breaking Up The Tuning the Air Company
A practice we followed quite rigorously in the first couple of seasons of Tuning the Air was to “break up the company” at the end of the season. What this means is that as of the close of the season, everyone is released from their obligations and commitments. Then, at the opening meeting of the next season, a new company is created. If you show up, you are making a commitment to the next season. If not, well there you go.
In practice, this is a nightmare. All of the practical matters – committing to the rental for the performance space, promotion, etc – need more lead time than that. But in terms of the commitment of the team, and everything that a fully committed team makes possible, it is irreplaceable. Over the past few seasons, this practice has fallen prey to practicalities and reasonableness.
With the production, the team, the challenges and the potential of this endeavor going through a critical transition right now, Jaxie and I decide to send out the following email this morning:
Dear Team,On Saturday, there will be a group sitting in the morning, followed by the Monthly Open Circle. For myself, sitting together and playing together are the most important things that we do. After that, we will meet together and see who is onboard for the next season, and take it from there. Bill and Frank will be at the meeting, with Sandra AAD. It will be something.
Before we gather next week to look at what’s next for TTA, something has presented itself that feels necessary; a return to an early practice that was important and useful, but has fallen out of our process in recent seasons. As part of our completion of Season 8, we would like to officially break up the band. This is an opportunity to completely release all obligation and commitment to the group. Free dispersal from the circle! For now and until the outcome of next week’s opening meeting, TTA doesn’t exist.
warm wishes to all,
jaxie and curt
I honestly am comfortable that there will be a next season. But this practice needs to be taken on in earnest, which means allowing for the possibility that no one, or not enough people, will turn up next Saturday, and allowing that to be an acceptable outcome.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Work with House Circle I and II
A Tuning the Air Journal
Saturday January 2, 2010 – Work with House Circle I and II
Hello 2010!
The Tuning the Air company remains on break until next Saturday, when we kick things off with the first Open Circle of the year and then come together to begin the work for the next season.
The House Circle, however, soldiers on. Mary Beth will be joining the Performance Team this season, but has indicated (my paraphrase, with apologies in advance) that she feels that it is important that she continue to be a part of this group. They have organized/evolved into two overlapping project-oriented teams working along slightly different, but complimentary, lines. My approach in working with this group has been to remain available, and supportive, but to resist the temptation to “direct” – 25 years of Guitar Craft experience, much of that engaged in “leading” groups, has established some habits that are a bit of work for me to resist. But it is also very clear to me that while jumping in might, at times, provide a level of short-term efficiency, in the longer view it subverts the larger aims of work in the Guitar Circle.
The first team to meet today, consisted of Igor K, Greg and Mary Beth. This is the performance-oriented group. They work on learning repertoire, and in recent months have put together several “podcasts” recorded late at night in the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey. Today’s work was with 49 Notes. All of the parts are in place. Mary Beth is playing the melody, Greg the bass, and Igor the 49 Notes, so this was primarily about the subtleties of mechanics and phrasing, and how the parts fit together. Good work, and much accomplished in only a little more than an hour. The team is working toward performing at a monthly open mic that takes place at the Triple Door. With a little work, they will get there.
After a short break, Christina and Charles joined us for 90 minutes of group work. We began with a free circulation in C Major, and then moved to C Harmonic Minor. My observation of circulation in a particular key with this group is that there is a randomness about note choices. This often leads to wonderful but entirely accidental combinations, but I am not certain that relying upon accident is really the aim of a group playing together. It is a gift when something unexpected happens, and so a level of trust and openness in necessary, lest we devolve into mere safety. Nevertheless, knowing the function of the notes within the scale is an important skill. It is not necessary to be able to explain or understand this in terms of traditional music theory, although that does certainly make the discussion go a lot faster. It is only necessary that we have an internal understanding of the import of the note we are choosing.
We moved into an exercise of circulating in 7-note phrases, with a pause (“Tyger, tyger burning bright, in the forest of the night.”) using notes of our choice from the C minor triad (C, E♭ and G). From there to notes of our choice from the F minor triad (F, A♭ and C), and then onto notes from the G7 chord (G, B, D and F). We then put it all together in a 4-bar repeating sequence of I-IV-V-I, one phrase on C minor, the next on F minor, the third on G7, and the last one back to C minor, and then repeat. Instant musical structure. A recognizable construction in C Harmonic Minor. Perhaps not the most inventive harmonic sequence ever conceived, but a sensible one that could easily be grasped by anyone listening.
From here we moved onto a circulated study of the sequence of diatonic seventh chords in C Harmonic Minor. This was a variation on an exercise that we worked on several weeks ago, and it was picked up rather quickly. I pushed it, increasing the complexity, as we say, and the team responded. After a short break, some musical adjustments were added to allow the exercise to flow in a musical way. This involved the addition of a coda that spelled out a clear end to the exercise. It also involved putting Mary Beth in the hot seat, breaking out of the established pattern in order to have the arpeggios move from one to the other more musically. After only a few tries, success.
With only a few minutes left in the available time, we returned to the I-IV-V-I circulation, this time with one additional challenge. Rules were added that required the tritone in the G7 chord to be resolved. This one was a little more of a monkey wrench in the works than we could handle in the allotted time, but some progress was made, as was the point.
A final free circulation in C Harmonic Minor, with evidence of new ears, and we called it a day.
Saturday January 2, 2010 – Work with House Circle I and II
Hello 2010!
The Tuning the Air company remains on break until next Saturday, when we kick things off with the first Open Circle of the year and then come together to begin the work for the next season.
The House Circle, however, soldiers on. Mary Beth will be joining the Performance Team this season, but has indicated (my paraphrase, with apologies in advance) that she feels that it is important that she continue to be a part of this group. They have organized/evolved into two overlapping project-oriented teams working along slightly different, but complimentary, lines. My approach in working with this group has been to remain available, and supportive, but to resist the temptation to “direct” – 25 years of Guitar Craft experience, much of that engaged in “leading” groups, has established some habits that are a bit of work for me to resist. But it is also very clear to me that while jumping in might, at times, provide a level of short-term efficiency, in the longer view it subverts the larger aims of work in the Guitar Circle.
The first team to meet today, consisted of Igor K, Greg and Mary Beth. This is the performance-oriented group. They work on learning repertoire, and in recent months have put together several “podcasts” recorded late at night in the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey. Today’s work was with 49 Notes. All of the parts are in place. Mary Beth is playing the melody, Greg the bass, and Igor the 49 Notes, so this was primarily about the subtleties of mechanics and phrasing, and how the parts fit together. Good work, and much accomplished in only a little more than an hour. The team is working toward performing at a monthly open mic that takes place at the Triple Door. With a little work, they will get there.
After a short break, Christina and Charles joined us for 90 minutes of group work. We began with a free circulation in C Major, and then moved to C Harmonic Minor. My observation of circulation in a particular key with this group is that there is a randomness about note choices. This often leads to wonderful but entirely accidental combinations, but I am not certain that relying upon accident is really the aim of a group playing together. It is a gift when something unexpected happens, and so a level of trust and openness in necessary, lest we devolve into mere safety. Nevertheless, knowing the function of the notes within the scale is an important skill. It is not necessary to be able to explain or understand this in terms of traditional music theory, although that does certainly make the discussion go a lot faster. It is only necessary that we have an internal understanding of the import of the note we are choosing.
We moved into an exercise of circulating in 7-note phrases, with a pause (“Tyger, tyger burning bright, in the forest of the night.”) using notes of our choice from the C minor triad (C, E♭ and G). From there to notes of our choice from the F minor triad (F, A♭ and C), and then onto notes from the G7 chord (G, B, D and F). We then put it all together in a 4-bar repeating sequence of I-IV-V-I, one phrase on C minor, the next on F minor, the third on G7, and the last one back to C minor, and then repeat. Instant musical structure. A recognizable construction in C Harmonic Minor. Perhaps not the most inventive harmonic sequence ever conceived, but a sensible one that could easily be grasped by anyone listening.
From here we moved onto a circulated study of the sequence of diatonic seventh chords in C Harmonic Minor. This was a variation on an exercise that we worked on several weeks ago, and it was picked up rather quickly. I pushed it, increasing the complexity, as we say, and the team responded. After a short break, some musical adjustments were added to allow the exercise to flow in a musical way. This involved the addition of a coda that spelled out a clear end to the exercise. It also involved putting Mary Beth in the hot seat, breaking out of the established pattern in order to have the arpeggios move from one to the other more musically. After only a few tries, success.
With only a few minutes left in the available time, we returned to the I-IV-V-I circulation, this time with one additional challenge. Rules were added that required the tritone in the G7 chord to be resolved. This one was a little more of a monkey wrench in the works than we could handle in the allotted time, but some progress was made, as was the point.
A final free circulation in C Harmonic Minor, with evidence of new ears, and we called it a day.
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