Performance team rehearsal

A Tuning the Air Journal

Saturday, September 24, 2011 – Performance team rehearsal

We met at my apartment, as Fremont Abbey was booked for a memorial service. Bob is out of town this weekend, so we were not quite a full team.

A good, redemptive rehearsal, after Thursday’s sobering experience.

The Music Director walked us through the entire working full-group repertoire, skipping the circulated pieces – holding off on that until we are all together. We played each piece at least 2 or 3 times, generally with the metronome until the final runthrough. We identified areas in need of detail work or clarification and did what we could as we went, setting sections that need personal work or further investigation aside. In the end, a much better sense of where the pieces are, and some very definite arrangement improvements.

Particular attention paid to several pieces. An in-depth look at phrasing of Satie’s “Gnossienne” was very useful. Darlene’s experience with classical music is extremely enlightening to a bunch of guitarists. But it was one particular and simple musical insight into the nature of grace notes that she shared that brought everything together for us. The furry beast of the house showed a singular interest in the oboe, which added some levity to the day.

Chris brought along the first draft of the cello part for “Walrus” to give to Jaxie. The rhythm section plus Carl on Lennon-voice ran the piece with Chris demonstrating the part (with Jaxie on page turning). The potential of the piece is beginning to reveal itself. So is the amount of work in front of us.

Monday night: tech rehearsal at the Abbey.