In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, David Kuznick, and Dev Ray. Alex is feeling unwell, and cannot make it.
Starting a little late, at 8 p.m., we find ourselves 7 in the circle, with the return of David to the circle. This is the first time in roughly a year that David has been here, and he is welcome back.
A light comes on, and Victor calls, "When ready, please begin."
Following this is some discussion--this is the first meeting with Victor since the Montessori gig, and he invites some comments from the performance. Dev mentions that in the middle of one of the songs, he looked out at the audience and saw a writhing mass of movement, and had been surprised by it. Victor notes that the audience--both kids and adults--were very appreciative, and enjoyed the performance very much. The energy in the room was very present and positive, but the kids were pretty excited. When asked, he also noted that there weren't too many questions, the day after the gig, likely because he is teaching them all.
There was also an official recognition of the gig coming up at the end of the month, for the non-Italy contingent ("the special performance project GCNE team!"). As this is coming up fairly soon, the decision was made to do some full circle work, after which Dev and Victor would sit out and observe (with comments as necessary).
Growing Circle, first. Eye of the Needle, following. There is some rushing going on, especially in the leads, so we play through again, with more attention to time, as well as to the dynamics in the outro.
Moving to Opening. This is played once, but with a bit of lead section work before hand. After the full runthrough, some comments are offered, in regards to the rhythm/time-related issues with this. The duple-against-triple feel comes through, occasionally, but mostly isn't quite making it, though it clearly wants to.
Where's the Nurse is next. The first time is pretty fast, probably in the 84-88 bpm realm (it feels at least as fast as Tuning the Air's recorded tempo), and the timing is a little sloppy, so we play through it again, a little slower. Much better, though dynamics aren't quite as dynamic. This leads into the Bach Prelude, which, after a false start, just about falls apart halfway through, due to dropped/wrong notes. But, we keep it together and finish it, and then elect to play it again, now that we all remember our parts. The time is still a little too jazzy, but we at least are able to make it to the end.
Thrak is called, next. Played twice (I think). Not quite as cohesive as at the gig, but not bad. A break comes after this, with some talk about how the gig will work, when we'll be playing, where it is, who will be playing. In a word, logistics.
After the break, Victor and Dev elect to stay out of the circle and let the abridged performance team do their work. 3rd Relation is up, with some rushing. Glenn stops the circle, and asks us to return to playing just the intro with the same delicacy we had approached last week. A couple instances of this, and then through the piece. This is pretty effective.
Flying Home, called by Brad. This isn't played nearly as fast as last week, but sounds a lot better (Victor's comment: "You guys are fun to listen to!"). Some talk about minor/major points of performing this piece. Before we move on, Victor asks us to circulate, which is very clearly in C Major. At this, Victor and Dev take their leave, and we continue on. Growing Circle again, with this "new" organization of personnel, followed by Nurse, with three leads and one Brad.
Eye of the Needle. With five in the circle, and five parts, the balance sounds excellent, and this probably lends to the success of this run-through. Calliope, next--no mirror lead, but it doesn't sound bad, though the lead part in the intro is overpowered by four bass parts (one player switches parts between sections).
Intergalactic Boogie Express: this is becoming unlikely for performance, though when it works, it works. It's more a problem of lead players remembering which parts go where. 3rd Relation again, to revisit this, and it does sound a little better. Asturias up next, with parts getting redistributed and learned--this shouldn't be a problem.
One last requested improv, to finish the night, and we end in silence at roughly 11 p.m.
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