In attendance: Victor McSurely, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Dev Ray.
The meeting begins at roughly 7:35 with a clear moment of silence. "When ready, begin."
Following this, we jump into working with CMaj, as well as the rest of the church modes, focusing on C as a tonal center. The approach is "bright to dark", echoing a very good presentation from Steve Jolemore:
Lydian (Major scale, augmented 4th)
Ionian (Standard Major, perfect 4th)
Mixolydian (Major Scale, minor 7th)
Dorian (Minor Scale, natural 6th)
Aeolian (Natural Minor Scale, minor 6th)
Phrygian (Minor Scale, minor 2nd)
Locrian (Minor Scale, minor 2nd, flatted 5th)
The focus is a bit more on ear training, tonight. After short improvisations in each mode (knowing what they are beforehand), Victor's next exercise is to have the circle improvise and respond in the mode that he lays out, without telling us what he will play. Interesting work, and interesting comments, especially with regards to "What key are we actually playing in?". This leads quite organically into "real life", or having to discern tonal center and modality by ear. After a bit, Victor leaves it and has Glenn choose a few keys. Glenn notes that it strikes him how important it is to know exactly what he's going to play before he plays it, in order to give the correct tonal bed.
With this, we take a slightly extended break. Victor plays a couple of recordings of the Beatles concert that he put on with his students at the Montessori school. Wonderful music. A quote from one of the parents really stuck with the scribe, as well: "Instead of performing for us, they were showing us themselves."
Also, during the break, we start hammering out details of the gig, such as who is opening, what rehearsals we have available to us, and what the setlist may involve. Currently, repertoire includes most of the major themes (EotN, Askesis, 3rdRel, Asturias, Growing Circle, Flying Home, Thrak), along with Batracho, Where's the Nurse, and the Bach Prelude. Morning Has Broken and Opening as well, possibly. Certain pieces are in the bag, but there are definitely those that need to be touched up and revisited. The problem is scheduling rehearsals where everyone is present. Additionally, we are considering a busking night in Canton, but this is still a little up in the air. We eventually decide that it will be easier to work out scheduling through e-mail (since two people weren't able to make it in, tonight).
Back in the circle for some more work. Glenn touches on the Chrysanthemum exercise, again, adding the additional challenge of tapping out the quarter note beat and saying the bass note of each triad as they come. A little tough, but very helpful. After working this for a bit, he then clarifies the melody part in MHB (specifically, the rhythmic variations from verse to verse).
Batracho is next. Glenn, Dev, and Victor on lead, with Chris and Brad on bass. A bit hairy, with Brad playing bass for the first time, and Dev in a different slot than what he has played, but it should work itself out--most problems are related to personal practice more than anything. Where's the Nurse after this. Not a bad runthrough of this, considering we haven't rehearsed it in some time.
Another very clear moment of silence at 11 p.m. to end the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment