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.
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