Full Circle at Fremont Abbey and Practical Work

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday February 27, 2010 – Full Circle at Fremont Abbey and Practical Work

Full team in for the morning circle, minus Bob who was with the kids, Joel who had another obligation today, and Christina who was out of town.

We arrived early in order to load out the 8 risers we have stored there into various cars. We were doing maintenance and paint touch-up on them in the afternoon. Another group needed to get into the Great Hall immediately at 12:30 (and experience told us that meant they would be arriving around 12:15), so we wanted to get all the heavy lifting done first, and then be able to depart with a minimum of fuss.

Frank again led us for the first hour or so, continuing on work with the “critical moment”. Focus again was on breathing, and we worked with a circulation in a steady pulse, which gave us room to choose to play or not to play a note while maintaining the flow. Several times I noticed that I was altering my breathing in order to align with my place in the circulation. Very interesting.

Frank remained for the second segment, working with us individually as Chris presented the more of A Day In The Life, testing the viability of the arrangement he is working on. This was the piano part through the first half of the piece (John’s contribution), with Chris playing the vocal melody and me on the bass. Any day I get to play a Paul McCartney bass line is a good day, in my book.

For the final 30 minutes, I presented the next variation on the double circulation exercise we began last week. This time the two circulations were in the opposite direction. An open D on a quarter-note pulse moving counterclockwise, and an assigned-note pentatonic melody in an eighth-note pulse moving clockwise. On several occasions I found that I was able to actually grasp the two “melodies” simultaneously. Afterward, the 12-player bi-directional circulation of a Bach two-part invention came back to mind. Some interest expressed.

As predicted, the folks scheduled for 12:30 began peeking in the front door right at noon. We wrapped things up and invited them in, and then we moved on to the practical work for the afternoon.

To Igor’s place. I had picked the 3 new risers and one older one from the storage space yesterday, and already had them in my car. Greg was in charge of the project and had paint and brushes and drop cloths in his car, as well as 3 risers from the Arts Center. Mary Beth and Taylor were on the team, carrying 2 risers in their car. Igor K delivered the final 3 risers, but was not on the work crew. Charles and Ian filled out the team. Igor A and I took on the task of installing additional braces on the remaining 3 that needed them, while painting commenced outside in the carport. After the braces were installed, we joined I joined the paint crew and Igor made coffee for everyone. The 3 new risers needed 2 coats of white on the top, and black on the sides. The old risers all needed a new coat of white on top, and just some touch up of the black on the sides.

We were done in about 2 hours. The new risers still need a second coat of white, but that will have to wait until the first has dried. We left all 12 standing in the carport to dry.