D-Day #1 for Gustav, followed by a Music Lab

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday October 23, 2010 – D-Day #1 for Gustav, followed by a Music Lab

Some time ago, Taylor indicated that he had an arrangement in mind for Holst’s Neptune, from “The Planets”. From time to time he would bring bits and pieces in and we would test out the concepts; various zithers, cascades and tremolo-ed chords to simulate the harps, voices and long tones of the orchestral arrangement. Over the summer break he completed his arrangement, and when we began getting together in August to experiment with potential new material, it was among the pieces worked with. It is not a piece that any of us can really practice alone, other than to memorize the sequence of events, the chord voicings called for and perhaps the picking pattern of the arpeggios. It can only be practiced together.

It has been some time since we have taken on a new piece of repertoire that requires this level of rehearsal to realize. Until we can play it with some level of competence, we can’t really even judge whether or not the arrangement works on a musical level, or is right for this group and the production. It is entirely possible that once it is on its feet we will discover that it the arrangement needs rethinking or reworking. It is rare, but not unheard of, that we practice a piece for weeks or months, only to ultimately decided that it isn’t right for us for any number of reasons, and abandon it altogether.

We decided to take advantage of the fact that Fremont Abbey is not available for our regular Saturday rehearsals for the next two weeks, and dedicate those rehearsals to getting the piece on its feet.

So, three hours of Gustav Holst today. The first 22 bars are the most straightforward, and we have been playing them for some time. The challenge here is largely counting. So we began with just a short review of that section.

What follows are 22 more bars, each one different, and each one involving some form of zither or cascade, accompanied often by arpeggiated lines in sixteenth-note triplets. There was nothing to do but to walk through the entire arrangement, one bar at a time, and work out the details. This can be tedious work, only relieved by the ability to finally hear what had only been a concept. We strung bars and sections together as best we could, so that there would be as much context as possible for this string of otherwise disparate bars of music, but the primary aim was to get every bar on its feet. A number of errors in the score were discovered and winnowed out. A handful of general concepts and techniques were identified. Next Saturday we will, presumably, be putting it all together.

After rehearsal, a short break and then there were five onboard for the Music Lab. Today was part one of a couple of Labs that I have in mind to bring our practical connection with the quality and character of intervals, chords and modes up a notch. Two of the players, as well as myself, had just spent three rather intensive hours in critical listening, which either primed us for this work, or had us in a giddy altered state. Today’s exploration was a little on the mathematical side, laying out modes in terms of their base triads and upper structure harmonies, realized through some technically tricky circulation patterns, with theory informing practice. Next week I plan to turn it around and work more from the ear, working back to practice and theory from a more tangible auditory experience. Somewhere between the two approaches is where understanding abides.