GCNE Meeting, "The Loft", 02-21-2010

In attendance, tonight: Alex Lahoski, Glenn Hughes, Brad Hogg, Chris Paquette. Victor is in California, Rick is experiencing some un-wellness, and Dev is in the middle of a tour of the Northeast.

Everyone arrives at roughly the same time tonight, and is suited up and ready to go in a fairly short amount of time. After bringing the PA up, Glenn asks if there's any calisthenic exercises that we'd like to address. Chris explains an extrapolation of the 16-Bar exercise that he's been doing, using the middle descending section of 3rd Relation as source material. This ends up being a little confusing, so we instead use a modification that Glenn used on his Level 3: instead of playing 4 bars of each form, we cut them down to 1 bar, so the changes come much faster. We then go over some extensions of the 1st primary, including the Hammerhead exercise from Tony G. and a couple of modifications from Bill Rieflin. All interesting exercises.

We then bring up the subject of the potential gig at the end of March. Brad has put forward the suggestion of playing in Boston on March 25th to mark the anniversary, as most of the circle will not be going to Italy for the completion course. This is still up in the air, as we need to secure a venue first, before we make an official gig announcement. We run a list of songs that we'd be able to reliably play the gig with, without having to worry about missing someone for a part. A couple of old faces have also offered their availability for the gig, so even with Dev and Victor gone, this might still be a large group.

Moving on from logistics, we tackle Where's the Nurse? There's been a bit of rhythmic shifting the past couple of times that we've played it, so we move in to address those. Chris brings up a small but notable matter of ringing D strings, which is adjusted. Once more through, and we go on to Flying Home. This is played once, and fast, around 88 bpm. It is a little sloppy, but not a trainwreck (though close to it at one point), so we elect to keep that one on the "maybe" list, resolving to work on it privately.

With Victor gone, the lead section of Opening will have to be assisted by Alex. The lead team tests this out with the first chord, and it seems like it might be a viable option. File that one away, as well.

At this point, Glenn re-presents Morning is Broken, the Cat Stevens song. Working through it in sections, it's some distance from being ready, but might come together a little faster than we think. We take a break.

Back in the (abridged) circle, we play through 3rd Relation. We are still speeding up, but it's not as bad as it has been; however, there's little dynamic movement. Another runthrough, with return to the last descending section, and then on to Askesis. This falls apart in the middle, but we keep going, and end (mostly) together. Chris asks about a timing/transition issue in the bass section, and Glenn points out that there really isn't an easy way to pull off the jump up the neck. We run the piece again, and also decide to keep this one available for the moment.

For the last piece, we take on IBE. Chris and Glenn on bass, and Alex and Brad on lead. This falls apart entirely, but more due to some confusion about who is jumping where. Ending the meeting in silence at 10 p.m., we all take our leave for the night.

GCNE Performance (!), 02-11-2009, Thacher Montessori School, Milton, MA

Dev and Brad arrive a little late, due to a bit of a late start (the previous day's weather wreaked havoc on poor Dev's schedule, the day before), at about 10 a.m. The gym/hall is already set, with risers set up and Victor sound-checking Alex and Chris. A few minutes later, Dev and Brad are getting levels set, with Glenn walking in then. Some circulation work for checking levels, as well as getting ourselves warmed up.

We run a couple of bits to get used to the sound of the room; it's very live, like most gyms are, and it's a little washy. This will change once the kids arrive.

At 10:40, we head off to the "green room". At 10:50, we're on.

Setlist:

Growing Circle
3rd Relation
Victor talks, and into Batrachomyomachy (the audience loves the Toady Gerbil joke)
Opening
Where is the Nurse?
Love is Green (not played)
Thrak
When ready, please begin ==> Asturias
Prelude Circulation (moved from earlier in the set)

The kids are eating it up, but they are also squirming all over the place; with the excitement of having a show put on for them, as well as the unnecessary snow day on Wednesday, they're going nuts. With respect to a progressively rowdier audience, Victor chooses to skip the Prelude after Batrachomyomachy and go straight into Thrak, with a note to let the kids know that it's alright to cover their ears, if it gets too loud. A couple of them do, but for the most part, the audience rocks out. To the scribe's ears, this might be the tightest we've played this.

Thrak ends, and Victor attempts to calm the kids so that we can move on. This doesn't really happen, so Victor gives us the instruction, "When ready, please begin," and jumps straight in, which does a much better job of getting the kids to focus. Dmin establishes itself fairly quickly, and it turns out to be one of the better improvs we've played--a very good springboard for Victor to begin play Asturias, which has all the shape it needed the other night.

Asturias ends to applause, and we decide to play one more piece for them, the Prelude. And with that, the show is over--we stand, unplug, and walk off. A good performance.

Back in the green room, a moment of collection. Then, a few minutes later, we head back into the gym, for a question and answer session that is markedly less formal. Some good questions all around ("How much do you practice?" "What kind of guitar is that?" "What's your favorite music?" "What kind of music do you play?"*). At twelve, we bid them adieu, and free dispersal. There is a short photo session afterwards (necessary), and then teardown and restoration. Some discussion afterwards of when the next meeting is, and we all take our leave, with the exception of Victor, who has a class to teach.

Photos coming soon!

*This might seem like a silly question, but even the long-time guys have a hard time answering this one.

GCNE Meeting, 02-07-2010, 'The Loft'

In attendance: a full house, with Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski, and Dev Ray.

Victor and Dev have just arrived from the Guitar Craft "Professionals" course (quite literally, as they drove straight from the location in New Jersey to Boston and the loft, not even stopping at home) to find Brad waiting at the door. Everyone else arrives at roughly the same time, 10 minutes later, and the circle is assumed.

A gift is presented to the circle, from RF: fresh picks! A small, kind, and mutually appreciated gesture. Very good.

The theme of the night is the coming Thursday, and as such, there is little warming up, save for a short circulation. When Victor asks the key that we were playing in, the answer of Dmaj (with a borrowed chord from Dmin) is provided--a glance back at last week's work. From here, we jump straight into repertoire, mostly playing straight through the pieces.

Growing Circle, once through, followed by Eye of the Needle. Eye comes out sounding a touch flat, but only needs a little bit of personal attention to dynamics. 3rd Relation is next, and the same thing comes up; timing isn't as much of a problem as it has been before.

Moving on to Asturias, some basic arranging is worked out (who plays what twinkle, who's going to bring it in). We play it once, and the general consensus is that the twinkle section sounds pretty shapeless. A couple of questions about small details (shaping the twinkles dynamically, a difference from recordings), and we move to Thrak. No "Lark's" section tonight, but it sounds good and tight. Where's the Nurse is next. Very good playthrough--Victor's reaction of, ". . . Well, moving right along. . ." is a good summation.

Before moving into work on Batrachomyomachy, there's a bit of mention about the fact that we'll be playing for kids, which brings up a couple of recollections about the last time the circle played at this school ("This weekend, I got a chocolate egg!" "How many strings are on your guitar?"), and plenty of laughter. The basses (which are two, and the other two that aren't leads) move into the hall, while the leads remain plugged in. In the hall, Chris and Rick work their parts, while Alex and Brad look on and offer critique when asked. After about 10 minutes, they rejoin the leads, and some spot work is assumed, mostly from the middle and onward.

Philip Glass' "Opening" is next. A bit of work is attempted on this, but after a few minutes, it's pretty apparent that we need a break. So we do, though the basses--Rick, Brad, and Alex--take to the hall to run their parts (which aren't technically demanding, but the triplets-against-duplets feel can be very challenging, especially when conflicting parts sit next to each other).

Back in the circle proper, we jump back in with Batracho, with some more extensive work on this piece. Dev has been working the lead, and is still learning a bit of the part--admirable work. At least one full playthrough, and we move on to the trio version of Love is Green. Once through.

Next is the Prelude Circulation. Twice through this, with some spot work--the rhythmic work on this is still challenging, though it's more appropriate to say that consistency is the challenge. On to Opening, again. Playing straight through the form (48 bars, twice through), there's points where it locks in, and points where it doesn't. We make it to the end, and silence pays a visit, for a time.

With some words about technicalities for the gig, we end the meeting at roughly 10:30 p.m.

GCNE Meeting, 01-31-2010, 'The Loft'

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski, Dev Ray.

No Glenn, tonight: he's having a sudden case of the not-feeling-wells.

Beginning at roughly 7:40, with the 28 Bar Exercise. After the first time through, Victor advises that, if we are unable to play it consistently as 32nd notes (current speed at about 50 bpm), to drop down to playing as sixteenth notes, without the tremolo on top. It's okay to play and drop in and out, if necessary, for now. Second time through, there's a bit of confusion--the speed went up slightly, and most tried it as sixteenths, but this was aborted in favor of a slower speed and 32nd notes.

Circulation. Victor begins several times, pausing after each circuit, which has something of an effect of setting a tempo, and then continues. After about 3 or 4 minutes, he stops the circulation, and asks the circle what key we are playing in. The responses seem to be Cmaj, Dmin, or Gmaj. Victor calls for each person to choose a note in Cmaj, and then directs the playing of the chord. He then does the same in Dmin and Gmaj, but none of them seem to match up with what we were just playing. Calling for C7, most people jump for the Bflat, which is interesting in and of itself. This does seem to be the closer match for the key that we'd been playing in.

The general direction that this discussion is heading is something to note: how aware one is of the improvisation. One may have a concept of playing a consecutive series of chromatic notes within the circulation, in relation to everyone else, but the "validity" of the concept won't be known until immediately before one plays--this might be literally the space of a 1/100th of a second. Being sensitive to what the group is doing playing is invaluable.

The further implications of this are extremely important, in the case of a performance. As performers, the ability to set the mood and atmosphere through music can be very powerful, but comes with a great deal of responsibility. Used recklessly, it can be damaging for both audience and performer. But we're not in that business!

Moving into repertoire. Nurse is up, and we play through it once. Some notes about cleaning things up are offered--it's not quite as clean as the week before. The leads get some good work out of observing the very last note in the bar (the 3 of the second 3, or "123-12-12-123") and emphasing that to really nail the "one" of the bar. This work translates over into the basses. One more run at a slightly faster pace.

Growing Circle is next. After the first play through, Victor notices that we played the middle section's dynamics in reverse from what we intended--making the adjustment makes an enormous difference. Some spot work on a couple of sections, and one more playthrough from the bass entrance, and we move on to Calliope. 4 basses and 2 leads, and one of the leads plays the bass part on the entrance, so it's a fairly unbalanced mix. A couple of notes about intonation and letting notes get a little crazy (not always a bad thing), and we break.

After a few minutes, back to the circle. We're working with Thrak, now--a first attempt at playing straight through goes down pretty quickly, and we buckle down to work each section with the metronome. The 1-4s, the 1-3s, and the 5s of the rock'n'roll section each get some quality time, along with the polyrhythm section. As usual, playing to the click track proves useful, and we play it once more through, without the metronome.

Prelude Circulation. Without Glenn, we enlist Alex to learn the Glenn notes of the last four bars. Playing one bar is proving to be a struggle--we get through, but not as easily as we should be able to. We move on to Eye of the Needle--Victor asks the basses to be more assertive, especially in the Dmin section, which really brings it together.

Last piece of the night--Asturias. A couple of arrangment notes (who takes the lead in the twinkle section, who takes it out, who keeps twinkling), and played once. Having a simple piece like this can be helpful, as it leaves everything on a good note, for the end of the rehearsal. With that, some notes on logistics for the gig, and who will be where, this next week. The meeting ends in silence at roughly 10:20.