Monthly Open Circle and Tuning the Air Rehearsal

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday April 4, 2010 – Monthly Open Circle and Tuning the Air Rehearsal

Back in the groove. Morning sitting at my place. We then migrated over to Fremont Abbey for the Monthly Open Circle. Very good turnout. Three players who have been to the Open Circle before, two first-timers, and the Tuning the Air team. Sixteen in all sitting in the circle at the beginning (one of the first-timers arrived somewhat later), with me and Frank on our feet. With newcomers, Frank took a couple of minutes to introduce himself and talk a little about AT before we began, giving the first-timers explicit permission to opt out if they preferred. I then gave the “when ready, begin”, phrased in the more specific “choose one note…” form for the benefit of those who had never been in a circle before. This first improv was nearly blissful, a clear G major chord sounding from around the room, and everything that followed delicately supporting this opening chord. It was a short improv, but afterward I was fully prepared to say “thank you, let’s go home.” The second first-timer arrived during this improv, so when it was complete we made room for him and the circle expanded to seventeen. A second improv, this one with the simple “when ready, please begin” instruction. Somewhat longer and not quite as satisfying as the first, musically, but a bit of playfulness and circulating emerged, and I had the distinct experience that the Circle was instructing the newcomers directly, without my interference.

From there we moved to a bit of directed circulation work, with assigned notes. It was at this point that I realized that the 2 newcomers were still in standard tuning. That explained much to me, in terms of what I had been hearing from them in the improvs – a kind of familiar autopilot noodling.

At the break I had the strong feeling that the group needed to get very deliberately into our bodies. I asked Howard and Travis to talk to the new guys about their tuning, and get that straightened out. I gather this came as something of a surprise to them. I rarely get the opportunity to talk to first-timers after a Circle, so my impressions tend to be from a distance and no doubt largely subjective interpretations.

For the second half I had everyone on their feet, stepping left-right-left-right in a comfortable cadence, as if walking. We began clapping rhythms, as I organized the circle into 5 small groups. Once we were fairly comfortable with this, we moved to playing power chords on our assigned beats, cobbling together a pretty convincing rock and roll groove. It took us about 45 minutes to get there, which is a pretty long time go be walking in place – a little music/aerobic combo. I never stop being surprised and how difficult it is for people to keep a steady and easy walking cadence while playing guitar. I understand that it must be difficult, since so few people seem to be able to do it with ease, but I honestly don’t get why. My failing.

With the energy and physical engagement of the rock and roll exercise still buzzing, we closed the day once again sitting, doing a simple exercise in playing quietly pulsing triads together, modulating in major thirds, from C Maj to Ab Maj back to C Maj to E Major, and repeating. For me this had a kind of meditative effect, gathering in and banking the energy generated from the earlier week.

We closed, and the performance team moved fairly quickly to my apartment for the afternoon rehearsal. Bob joined us there, but Mary Beth and Taylor are still out of town and will be until next Wednesday. Continuing from Thursday evening’s meeting, we looked at the array of staging concepts open to us, and hammered out a plan for how we would begin our tech rehearsal on Thursday, involving amplification, players standing rather than sitting on the risers, and a slight reconfiguration of the audience’s seating. Subject to whatever we discover and changes we decide to make on Thursday, this will be our beginning strategy for the season. Part of the strategy will be to allow this to evolve as the season unfolds, rather than nailing it down.

After a short break, lots of guitar playing. We ran through the readily available repertoire and determined what, if any, tweaks were necessary. I realized that I hadn’t practiced Sigh and a Kiss since about the second day of the course, and that this is not going to get the job done. Other than that, the composed repertoire feels pretty solid – needs to be played in order to shake off the dust and oil some of the moving parts, but nothing severe. The improvs, working Joel’s contribution into the mix, and determining how best to “write” a setlist that isn’t actually written but still flows musically – this remains our primary challenge.

Next rehearsal, Monday evening at the Wilsons.