We get going a little later than usual--some aren't able to attend, and so we have to re-plan the night. Dev shows up around 8 or so, with Chris finally making it in around 8:40.
In Brad's living room, we jump in with the 16 Bar Exercise, to get warmed up. Dev points out, as we play, that we don't need to play a note louder because it's on a different string. Afterwards, he notes that, as he warmed up, he'd grin every time he hit an open string, to just let it go by.
Flying Home, next. The first time we run this feels alright, though with a couple of mistakes--Dev suggests just letting them go, and concentrating on the task at hand. So we play this again, and actually make more mistakes. Chris observes that when he adopts the practice of not dwelling on mistakes, he experiences the reverse effect and tends to be less attentive, thus allowing for more mistakes. Dev then suggests that we play through, again, and apply a division of attention exercise and count the piece out loud as we play it (in 7s, not in 4s). As we play through, this time (discounting a false start), there's a few mistakes that work themselves out, and a few new ones, but we make it through to the end. The time tends towards a rush, due to the nature of this piece, but maintaining a count through the end is a good accomplishment.
Chris then suggests visiting Morning Has Broken, so as to get a little time in on that. Dev has not worked on this yet, so Chris and Brad help him get through the intro, with its picking pattern and chord shapes. They then do a full runthrough of the form of the song (just chords, no melody), with a mind to have this ready for the next week. Dev excuses himself for a moment; in the interim, Brad tests a small arrangement idea with Chris.
When Dev returns, Chris asks to try an arrangement of his own, of a Gentle Giant song. This looks like it will be fun, once all the parts get put together, so we'll be looking forward to it, next week. Brad then asks to do some work with circulation, so we start with a free circulation (C Ambiguous, ending on a Cmin chord). Dev guides this work into some "really fast" circulating with a few choice notes, eventually simplifying into a single Cmaj triad.
"Really fast" quickly becomes 96ish, so not quite so fast, but still pretty quick. Brad quickly gains an appreciation for just how difficult the lead circulation in Opening is to play, especially the 2nd part. We trade chairs a couple of times, to get a feel for the different spots, and figure out the difficulties of each chair.
At this, we decide to call it a night, at roughly 10:40 p.m. We're all looking forward to next week.
2 comments:
The level of commitment held by some is inspiring.
Lordy, someone get me an editor.
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