05-23-2010, GCNE Busks on Newbury Street

In attendance: Glenn Hughes, Brad Hogg, Chris Paquette, Rick McCarthy, and Victor McSurely.

In response to the weather (and suggestions from Victor), the circle chooses to forgo "life-changing work on C Major and the 7 modes" and play outside. After first rendezvousing at the loft, we all load into Rick's vehicle and drive over with amps and stools, arriving around 8:15. Finding a spot in front of the Boston Architectural College, we set up, warm up, and start playing around 8:30.

As before, there is no setlist, but circulation and improvisation play a big part in the presentation. Repertoire includes some of the usual suspects (not in order): Eye of the Needle, Askesis, Growing Circle, Third Relation, Calliope, Batrachomyomachy, and the Prelude Circulation. We also play Opening and Where's the Nurse 3 times each, at varying points. Opening is tough--we haven't played this for a few months, as a group.

Finally completing around 10 p.m., we call it a night and count up the offerings: there's enough for ice cream, as well as a little left over for the band kitty. At JP Lick's, Chris unsuccessfully tries to convince us that he's unentertaining, and we all end up on camera at one point or another. A good close to the night, with a few more people in town becoming aware of the group.

Back to the loft, and a final shifting of materials. We all head home for the night, around 10:45 or so.

GCNE Meeting, 05-16-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, and Glenn Hughes.

Starting the meeting with a quiet bang, Chris mentions that he'd like to work a bit with an approach to Opening that he's developed. The motion passes, and we slot it in for a little later in the meeting. Both Glenn and Victor note that we need to begin revisiting CMaj and the 3rd and 5th primaries, and the agenda of the meeting is born. It is still light outside, so we don't bother with the room lights.

Tuning, and then an improvisation.

After this, we begin working directly with the 3rd primary, first playing and naming the notes, and then singing and playing the scale. This is played both ascending and descending, the latter of which provides some interesting jumps to sing. At this point, it's getting just a little too dark, so Victor turns on a light, which seems to have a noticeable effect on the team. We then work with the exercise of playing the scale at the 5th fret C on the low G, adusting fingering as necessary.

Following this, Chris presents an exercise he's developed for approaching the triplet circulation in Opening, which seems to be related to a circulation exercise that Claudio Lafalce presented in Sassoferrato, in March. Partway through this, Rick has to take leave, in order to play "Dad". After about 30 minutes or so of working with this exercise (and Opening in general), we elect to take a break. Some mild conversation, with a bit of discussion of gigs. A few minutes in, Rick returns, having been relieved of his parently duties before he made it home.

Back in the circle, we return to CMaj. Starting off with a circulation of CMaj, 3 octaves, low C to fifth fret 1st string (which only takes a couple of tries), we work with a simple 3-note ascending pattern (c-d-e-d-e-f-e-f-g etc.). Conceptually, this is not difficult, but holding the pattern is a little challenging, and it takes a number of attempts to get it right. Brad brings up the story of Curt Golden crystallizing CMaj on the guitar by being on the sidelines during a Guitar Craft course circulation that took roughly 3 hours and mentally playing every note with the circle (though he had no guitar in hand). After a few more minutes, we make it up and down again, and then make a go at diatonic triads, which is successful in a more timely fashion.

A little bit of talking, and a moment of silence to finish the night at roughly 10:20 p.m.

GCNE Meeting/Performance, 05-02-2010, The banks of the Charles River

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski, Dev Ray, and Tim Butler (who is visiting from New York).

The weather is beautiful, today, so the circle has chosen to take advantage of this and unleash ourselves on the unsuspecting public along the Charles River. Brad is about twenty minutes late, unfortunately, but once he shows up, we're off! Victor mentions that we will be working with an awareness of the motion of breath, as we move through the day.

Roughly twenty-five minutes later, we park in a garage in Harvard Square (courtesy of Glenn's day job), and embark to the river. Once we arrive with thrones, amps, guitars, and ourselves, we find a spot close to a bridge (the John Weeks Bridge, apparently) and circle up. At roughly a quarter of five, we begin with a bit of circulation to get the blood flowing and check levels, and then jump in with an improvisation. Regrettably, Dev has to leave, in order to go to work, but we continue to circulate and improvise. We come to a stop, and Victor calls "Growing Circle". After playing this, we jump straight back in with more improvisation, but come to a halt when Dev comes back and asks Glenn to help him get back into the garage. As Glenn leaves, we decide to take a break, and continue on in a moment.

A few minutes later, we circle back up again (with Glenn coming back in about 10 minutes later), and proceed to play for over two hours, without actually stopping. Most of this involves improvisation and circulation, but plenty of repertoire is called: Eye of the Needle, Third Relation, Flying Home, Thrak, Asturias, Where's the Nurse?, Askesis (twice), Growing Circle (again), and the Prelude circulation. There's also a very lovely improvisation that feeds into the first Theme, Invocation. Eventually, we close with a final circulation/improvisation.

Over the course of two hours or so, we maintain something of a continually shifting audience, with some people very happy to see us. One or two people ask a couple of questions, and are very pleased to see what we are doing. Two happy accidents, as well: Andy Cahill, who attended the beginner's course in Sant Cugat, back in July of 2009, accidentally finds us playing; and another person named Jonathan, who attended one of the former beginner's circles, about four years ago. Over all, a very good set of events.

Victor suggests that, in lieu of a regular meeting, we instead go for Indian food at a restaurant in Harvard Square, where we can relax and discuss some matters of importance. Over the course of the meal, several big things are put on the table (not counting the food), and we're able to really get a scope of what opportunities we have available to us. Once the meal adjourns (thank you, Alex and Victor!), it's back to the cars and the loft, in order to switch equipment and people to necessary vehicles, and a farewell for the night. Meeting adjourned at roughly 9:45 p.m.