Final Rehearsal of the Season

A Tuning the Air Journal

Monday June 28, 2010 – Final Rehearsal of the Season

All present and accounted for at the Wilsons tonight.

We began with another look at Neptune, reviewing the opening section we have been working with in recent weeks. We then took a look at some examples of the arrangement strategies Taylor is contemplating for the next few sections, as a kind of “proof of concept”. A lot of energy from this, and he was encouraged (nagged? harangued?) to move forward with this swiftly. If time allows, we will run the first section at Thursday’s soundcheck in order to hear it amplified and in the performance space.

This was followed by a serious look at the scales employed in the Voodoo Situation. We talked through each, and then freely circulated, giving us a bit of room to explore the tonalities and begin to discover their qualities. Ian brought out a harmonic figure that he thinks will work well in the second section, and this livened things up quickly, and eventually the free circulation/improv morphed into the form of the piece, so though we never ran it formally there was still a good sense of how it could/will unfold. The Music Director did not comment on whether or not it will be in The Hat on Thursday.

After a break, we touched on a number of pieces of repertoire that will be in the closing night set. For the most part, these were run without a lot of comment, simply to keep them sharp. Pieces that are not “problematic” rarely get played in our limited available rehearsal time, and Chris wanted to touch on as many as possible: The Children’s Hour, Cultivating the Beat, A Day In The Life, Space Zombies! From Outer Space!, Twilight, My Precious Dream, Ikada-Jima-Hoedown, and Eye of the Needle. The last piece was the only time the metronome came out, as we continued our commitment to readdressing it, as if it was new material.

Thursday night is closing night. On Saturday we will have the final Open Circle until September, and the completion meeting for the season.