In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Alex Lahoski, Brad Hogg, Chris Paquette.
All arrive at Victor's place at the same time, shortly after 8 pm. Taking a few minutes to organize, we circle up as Victor tends to domestic matters, and warm up with some very basic 2nd primary work. Eventually, Victor comes down to the studio, and we begin the meeting with a long moment of silence, followed by a free circulation.
After this, Victor presents the night's work, which is circulation patterns using English change ringing patterns. The concept is as follows: the pattern begins with one single pass around the circle. Each person has their note, and it does not change. (For our work, we're utilizing a descending Cmaj pentatonic scale.) Once it has circulated once, the pattern starts over again, but skips the first person and moves directly to the second. It then moves to the first, and then to the third, and continues to the end of the circle. For the next pass, the first person is again skipped, moving directly to the second. This time, however, the second passes to the third, who passes to the first. The first then passes to the fourth, and continuing normally around the circle. The pattern continues to do this through the rest of the circle. So, in a five-person circulation,
1 2 3 4 5
2 1 3 4 5
2 3 1 4 5
2 3 4 1 5
2 3 4 5 1
At this point, the pattern shifts one person. The last circulation could be seen as the first circulation in position 2, and fittingly, the pattern lays out as such:
2 3 4 5 1
3 2 4 5 1
3 4 2 5 1
3 4 5 2 1
3 4 5 1 2
The pattern then progresses through the rest of the circle , and ties seamlessly into the beginning again.
This takes a few times to really sort out, as we are learning the pattern as we play it. After about 25 minutes of playing, we make it through the full pattern one and a half times. The next couple of attempts don't make it around the full circle, prompting Victor into a discussion with regards to our work with the tetrad last week.
Following this, we take another few stabs at the pattern, and eventually succeed with two passes, occasionally shifting the pole positions. We eventually end the night with a solid pass through three full cycles (ending in the middle of the fourth). A moment of silence to mark the end of the meeting proper at about 10:10, followed by gig scheduling talk afterwards.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 08-15-2010, The Loft
In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski, Victor McSurely.
All except Victor arriving around 7:30 or so, and up to the loft. We begin to prepare the PA for rehearsal, but Alex suggests that we remain unplugged for the initial part of the meeting--this ends up being the case for the entire night.
The meeting begins with a circulation. After the last note fades out, Alex mentions that our circulation abilities have been on his mind this week; though this happened to be a good one, this is not the general rule, and so one of his intents for the night is to work on this tonight. First, though, he calls Blockhead--as we are running this down, Victor walks into the space. Taking a seat, he waits until we finish, and then asks us to run the set from the luau.
Interestingly, the set seems to go a bit better tonight than at the luau. Afterwards, this seems to be the consensus among the players, when prompted by Victor. Guitars come off for a bit, as we recapitulate. Alex notes that, for him, the biggest group issue seemed to be circulating in time. Brad and Rick both commented on needing to "be the guy" (Rick's words) to be able to play the part, especially in a smaller group. Chris's point of view, shared by the rest, was that it had been a "satisfying and honourable performance", with "a supportive audience that was also distracting". Some additional discussion, and Victor notes that there are some things he'd like to work on with regards to our comments.
Guitars back on, and Victor chooses to try out some things in circulation. A lot of working with attention to breath.
After this, guitars back off, and an in-depth discussion of the pentad, as well as how the tetrad, and how they relate to each other and to the circle.
To finish the night, Victor puts on the recording of the Improv ORG performance, to give us a chance to hear the work that was done that night. At 10:20 pm, a moment to acknowledge the end of the meeting, and we take our leave for the night.
All except Victor arriving around 7:30 or so, and up to the loft. We begin to prepare the PA for rehearsal, but Alex suggests that we remain unplugged for the initial part of the meeting--this ends up being the case for the entire night.
The meeting begins with a circulation. After the last note fades out, Alex mentions that our circulation abilities have been on his mind this week; though this happened to be a good one, this is not the general rule, and so one of his intents for the night is to work on this tonight. First, though, he calls Blockhead--as we are running this down, Victor walks into the space. Taking a seat, he waits until we finish, and then asks us to run the set from the luau.
Interestingly, the set seems to go a bit better tonight than at the luau. Afterwards, this seems to be the consensus among the players, when prompted by Victor. Guitars come off for a bit, as we recapitulate. Alex notes that, for him, the biggest group issue seemed to be circulating in time. Brad and Rick both commented on needing to "be the guy" (Rick's words) to be able to play the part, especially in a smaller group. Chris's point of view, shared by the rest, was that it had been a "satisfying and honourable performance", with "a supportive audience that was also distracting". Some additional discussion, and Victor notes that there are some things he'd like to work on with regards to our comments.
Guitars back on, and Victor chooses to try out some things in circulation. A lot of working with attention to breath.
After this, guitars back off, and an in-depth discussion of the pentad, as well as how the tetrad, and how they relate to each other and to the circle.
To finish the night, Victor puts on the recording of the Improv ORG performance, to give us a chance to hear the work that was done that night. At 10:20 pm, a moment to acknowledge the end of the meeting, and we take our leave for the night.
Monday, August 9, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 08-08-2010, The Loft
In attendance: Brad Hogg, Chris Paquette, and Alex Lahoski.
Beginning the meeting at about 8 pm, we start with some circulation to check levels. With no key announced, this moves gently from Cmaj to A Hijaz (a Phrygian scale with a major 3rd and major 7th). We then warm up with some basic 2nd Primary work--first the initial exercise, and then moving to displacement of different harmony notes, working with this for about 10 minutes or so. Chris then offers a counting exercise in 6/4, derived from the bassline of a song by Gentle Giant.
This eventually prompts Alex to move to working with the polyrhythms in Blockhead, and counting while playing them. We first mainly work with the "Paul" part (which is the quarter-note-pulse-with-a-bump part), then move to Bert's 3-against-4-in-15 part, and finally to Hideyo's 5/8 part. After working with all of these for a bit, we then begin looking at the other parts of the song, and each learning all the parts. At 9:25, we take a break, just in time for Brad to take a call from Dev.
Back in the circle, a few minutes later, Alex brings us back to the fifth mode of D Harmonic Minor, teaching a figure that is played almost entirely on the 3rd string. This turns out to be parts of the CG composition "Trapiche". Work on this takes us up to 10 p.m., and a moment of silence to acknowledge the end of the meeting.
Beginning the meeting at about 8 pm, we start with some circulation to check levels. With no key announced, this moves gently from Cmaj to A Hijaz (a Phrygian scale with a major 3rd and major 7th). We then warm up with some basic 2nd Primary work--first the initial exercise, and then moving to displacement of different harmony notes, working with this for about 10 minutes or so. Chris then offers a counting exercise in 6/4, derived from the bassline of a song by Gentle Giant.
This eventually prompts Alex to move to working with the polyrhythms in Blockhead, and counting while playing them. We first mainly work with the "Paul" part (which is the quarter-note-pulse-with-a-bump part), then move to Bert's 3-against-4-in-15 part, and finally to Hideyo's 5/8 part. After working with all of these for a bit, we then begin looking at the other parts of the song, and each learning all the parts. At 9:25, we take a break, just in time for Brad to take a call from Dev.
Back in the circle, a few minutes later, Alex brings us back to the fifth mode of D Harmonic Minor, teaching a figure that is played almost entirely on the 3rd string. This turns out to be parts of the CG composition "Trapiche". Work on this takes us up to 10 p.m., and a moment of silence to acknowledge the end of the meeting.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
GCNE Performance, 08-07-2010, "The Luau" in Rhode Island
Circulation/Tuning the SpaceGrowing Circle
Askesis
Introduction
Circulation (A Hijaz)
Where is the Nurse?
THRAK
Morning Has Broken
Circulation/Improv
Eye of the Needle
Blockhead
Asturias
In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski.
The performance begins for the circle at 4 pm with some attention exercises, as we all start our traveling towards the location: Martin Bradburn's house in Rhode Island. All arriving at about 6:30 or 6:45 pm, we begin warming up as a group at 7 pm.
Scheduled to take the stage at 7:50 pm for setup, and 8:00 pm to play. The previous band ended up running a little long, so our performance ended up starting at 8:12 pm. After we finish, we leave the stage, take a moment to acknowledge the end of the performance, and then tear down.
Following the performance, we opt to hang out and socialize for a while--beautiful weather, and a lovely location next to the lake. Eventually, the night is called at 11 pm, and we all head home.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 08-01-2010, The Loft
In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski (the "luau team").
We begin the meeting at a quarter of 8pm. A moment of acknowledgment, and then improvisation initiated by Alex. A bit of organizational discussion, with regards to the upcoming luau gig on the 7th, and we jump into working the set (not quite a list yet, as there is no defined order as of this writing).
First up is Intergalactic Boogie Express. A false start, and then a full go at it. With only one bass player, though, we quickly decide to leave it for this gig. 3rd Relation next--this settles in once we actually get into the piece. We spend a little time touching up the final descending run, to give Alex a chance to get used to playing the Dancing D's part, and make a note to revisit the piece before the end of the night.
Growing Circle, next. Once through, with comments from Alex to remember to play the dynamics. A comment from Brad, regarding the playing of this at the Midway gig--Alex has us run it again, with both comments in mind. With this small of a circle, it helps to enter more strongly than we might with more players.
Moving on to Blockhead. This gets two runs, with a quieter entry into the polyrhythm section, the second time. This is a fun piece to play, and a good addition to our repertoire. Where's the Nurse is up next, and gets a good ten minutes of spot work. The Turkish spirit in mind, we continue with Askesis, and give some extra attention to the middle tricky bits, as per request. Flying Home gets some time spent with it, as we are missing an ornamental part for the end--this is also run twice. A break at 9:15 or so.
Back in the circle at 9:25 with Morning Has Broken, with parts as follows: Rick and Alex on melody lead (Rick takes the tremolo picking in the last verse), Chris on chordal accompaniment, and Brad on the Glenn Special. Everyone having addressed their parts, this will be a good addition to the set list for Saturday (and also its premier performance). A bit of a digression, here, as Brad takes a moment to ask about logistics for arrival--this leads to a couple of further digressions, including a recipe from Rick (given below in the comments!).
Eye of the Needle next, with the notes from last week in mind. Chris makes a point of reminding everyone about keeping with the tempo as counted out. A couple of runs with this, and then once more through 3rd Relation, with attention to open strings. A circulation to close the night, starting in C Major and moving to areas more ambiguous. With a moment of silence, we close at about 10:25 or so.
We begin the meeting at a quarter of 8pm. A moment of acknowledgment, and then improvisation initiated by Alex. A bit of organizational discussion, with regards to the upcoming luau gig on the 7th, and we jump into working the set (not quite a list yet, as there is no defined order as of this writing).
First up is Intergalactic Boogie Express. A false start, and then a full go at it. With only one bass player, though, we quickly decide to leave it for this gig. 3rd Relation next--this settles in once we actually get into the piece. We spend a little time touching up the final descending run, to give Alex a chance to get used to playing the Dancing D's part, and make a note to revisit the piece before the end of the night.
Growing Circle, next. Once through, with comments from Alex to remember to play the dynamics. A comment from Brad, regarding the playing of this at the Midway gig--Alex has us run it again, with both comments in mind. With this small of a circle, it helps to enter more strongly than we might with more players.
Moving on to Blockhead. This gets two runs, with a quieter entry into the polyrhythm section, the second time. This is a fun piece to play, and a good addition to our repertoire. Where's the Nurse is up next, and gets a good ten minutes of spot work. The Turkish spirit in mind, we continue with Askesis, and give some extra attention to the middle tricky bits, as per request. Flying Home gets some time spent with it, as we are missing an ornamental part for the end--this is also run twice. A break at 9:15 or so.
Back in the circle at 9:25 with Morning Has Broken, with parts as follows: Rick and Alex on melody lead (Rick takes the tremolo picking in the last verse), Chris on chordal accompaniment, and Brad on the Glenn Special. Everyone having addressed their parts, this will be a good addition to the set list for Saturday (and also its premier performance). A bit of a digression, here, as Brad takes a moment to ask about logistics for arrival--this leads to a couple of further digressions, including a recipe from Rick (given below in the comments!).
Eye of the Needle next, with the notes from last week in mind. Chris makes a point of reminding everyone about keeping with the tempo as counted out. A couple of runs with this, and then once more through 3rd Relation, with attention to open strings. A circulation to close the night, starting in C Major and moving to areas more ambiguous. With a moment of silence, we close at about 10:25 or so.
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