In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Brad Hogg, Dev Ray, Chris Paquette.
Dev and Brad arrive from their drive south to find Chris and Rick waiting patiently with a pot of coffee and cakes of taste waiting in the fridge. Our training being what it is, and opportunity being a working point for some this week, we all seize the moment and dig in.
Post-mastication, up to the loft (yes, there's a loft here, too), where we arrange ourselves and take a moment to begin the meeting. An opening circulation, and a call is made for a warm-up. Bicycling to Afghanistan is suggested, attempted, and understood to be a pretty ballsy warm-up. A call for something a little less demanding leads to Flying Home. Still a bold choice, but the virtue is assumed to completion. Following this, a short discussion and resolution regarding an issue that has come up about the final show of the season at Spontaneous Celebrations, to be held a little over 3 weeks from today.
We begin work with the Eb Major Pentatonic scale that we were working with the other day. A quick review of the scale (3rd Primary style, at the 3rd fret), and we proceed to work with rhythm in circulation: in 8th notes with different players on the beat and off, in triplets while shifting the "pole position" around, and in 16ths with shifts in pole. We seem to get a lot of really good work out of the triplets, and choose to go for broke and work with quintuplets. This is quite difficult, as a five-note division naturally goes against the grind of most Western divisions in music, and we have four players to play these. This leads to some curious overlaps that really throw some wrenches into the works. But this gives us some useful challenges to work with. After about 15 minutes of this, Brad admits to being fried, and we take a short break.
Following the break, Chris asks to work back in the triplet mode again. Here, we are no longer in Eb Major, but in F minor. This is a real-time test of an adjusted arrangement of Opening, to be introduced once the season has ended. Some good work with this, and quite instructive.
We choose to close the meeting with a free circulation, accompanied by (or rather existing alongside) exuberant singing from one of Rick's daughters, followed by a difference of opinion between the pair of daughters. A moment of silence, followed by some short discussion of what will be following over the next week, and Dev, Chris, and Brad all take their respective exits.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays #15, 4-24-11
Brad, Chris, Rick and Dev are meeting at Brad's apartment (about a mile from the space) prior to the regular performance tonight for group work on Eb pentatonic major. Group scale practice in this context tends to be much different than individual scale practice, and has a variety of benefits.
Our primary material this afternoon is the said scale beginning in the third position, with three notes occurring on each string. Brad, Chris and Rick get warmed up circulating this sequence while awaiting Dev's arrival.
Dev is briefed on the work and our strategies for approaching it, and joins us to take it further. Our aim is fluency in the pattern from multiple possible perspectives (e.g. Brad beginning, Rick beginning), and we try different methods to get there:
* saying the scale degree of the note that we play (e.g. one, two, etc.);
* saying the name of the note we are playing;
* listening to the progression of the scale from a musical standpoint to determine where we are.
Each of these has different strengths and limitations and bring out different discrepancies in understanding (scale structure knowledge, fretboard knowledge, etc). Our last exercise is to circulate the pattern as quickly as possible; this produces a curious qualitative difference in our playing. But faster than you can say blood cake, we are off to Spontaneous Celebrations to help set up for tonight's Guitar Circle Sundays.
At the space, we are running a little late, but are otherwise okay. We have set up to record once again. We even manage to find time to run through The Sunken Cathedral.
After last week, we are conscientious about keeping the performance shorter than an hour. Some of the scale work is peeking through the imrpovs. The GCNE calls its own encore, an Easter stomp between bunny and Chris that has the whole group hopping into a sanguine send-off (no doubt to the piquant delight of Dev).
We make time to rehearse after the guests depart. At Dev's suggestion from last week, we play through The Sunken Cathedral a number of times in succession, and count it as well (which is making a big difference in our timing). Although we had thought to do this without much talking, we are not quite there yet, and somewhat lengthy forums occur between readings.
Also on the chopping block are Intergalactic Boogie Express and Opening, both of which pose 3-against-2 challenges for the group, as well as others. We are finishing up by 11:00.
Our primary material this afternoon is the said scale beginning in the third position, with three notes occurring on each string. Brad, Chris and Rick get warmed up circulating this sequence while awaiting Dev's arrival.
Dev is briefed on the work and our strategies for approaching it, and joins us to take it further. Our aim is fluency in the pattern from multiple possible perspectives (e.g. Brad beginning, Rick beginning), and we try different methods to get there:
* saying the scale degree of the note that we play (e.g. one, two, etc.);
* saying the name of the note we are playing;
* listening to the progression of the scale from a musical standpoint to determine where we are.
Each of these has different strengths and limitations and bring out different discrepancies in understanding (scale structure knowledge, fretboard knowledge, etc). Our last exercise is to circulate the pattern as quickly as possible; this produces a curious qualitative difference in our playing. But faster than you can say blood cake, we are off to Spontaneous Celebrations to help set up for tonight's Guitar Circle Sundays.
At the space, we are running a little late, but are otherwise okay. We have set up to record once again. We even manage to find time to run through The Sunken Cathedral.
After last week, we are conscientious about keeping the performance shorter than an hour. Some of the scale work is peeking through the imrpovs. The GCNE calls its own encore, an Easter stomp between bunny and Chris that has the whole group hopping into a sanguine send-off (no doubt to the piquant delight of Dev).
We make time to rehearse after the guests depart. At Dev's suggestion from last week, we play through The Sunken Cathedral a number of times in succession, and count it as well (which is making a big difference in our timing). Although we had thought to do this without much talking, we are not quite there yet, and somewhat lengthy forums occur between readings.
Also on the chopping block are Intergalactic Boogie Express and Opening, both of which pose 3-against-2 challenges for the group, as well as others. We are finishing up by 11:00.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays #14, 4-17-11
Today, some of us are arriving from an afternoon at Guitarcon 2011 in Fitchburg. We were asked to vibe up the convention this weekend by playing in the entrance lobby. This was a new kind of challenge for our group; a small team represented the Circle at this conference of gear-nuts on both Saturday and Sunday, sporting mouse amps and Ovations. For better or for worse, we even found our way onto the main stage!
For the evening's regular performance, Rick and Victor have suspended two diametrically opposed room mics from the lighting rig. We have been recording our shows fairly regularly for our own critical listening, and are now looking to step up our game with an eye toward mining material for a general purpose demo.
With a good mix, we engage in some pre-show rehearsal (prehearsal?) in which we revisit Prelude No.1 and Love is Green. In between, we play through The Sunken Cathedral; Brad would like to begin bringing in the piece without a count-in.
We're on at 7:30. A good mix of new and old faces. This set was on the longer side at over an hour. There were some extended-length improvs and strong readings of Prelude No. 1 and Opening, and a curious moment during a circulation where everyone was passing the same note. No encore was called.
We pow wow after guests disperse. Tear down, and we are out around 10:45.
For the evening's regular performance, Rick and Victor have suspended two diametrically opposed room mics from the lighting rig. We have been recording our shows fairly regularly for our own critical listening, and are now looking to step up our game with an eye toward mining material for a general purpose demo.
With a good mix, we engage in some pre-show rehearsal (prehearsal?) in which we revisit Prelude No.1 and Love is Green. In between, we play through The Sunken Cathedral; Brad would like to begin bringing in the piece without a count-in.
We're on at 7:30. A good mix of new and old faces. This set was on the longer side at over an hour. There were some extended-length improvs and strong readings of Prelude No. 1 and Opening, and a curious moment during a circulation where everyone was passing the same note. No encore was called.
We pow wow after guests disperse. Tear down, and we are out around 10:45.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays #13, 4-10-11
Long rehearsal today. Some new repertoire to be looked at, other current repertoire to be refurbished . . . and of course, addressing the simple need of playing together.
We arrive between 2:00 - 2:30, and set up as we normally would.
Before we decide what to do with our time, we begin with a circulation, ending on three "chords" cued by Victor. Then, Glenn cues three chords - and so on, until everyone has had a turn at the baton, twice. Curiously, each circler generates unique harmonic feedback from the group. This little game serves as an invocation for our work this afternoon.
The first task on the docket is some focused work on Shostakovitch's Prelude XXII. The piece is originally for solo piano and is made up of a winding chromatic passage over a rhythmic scaffold, and a chordal accompaniment in the bass (there's some play with the structure throughout). Our arrangement features a circulation of the melody between four players and a section playing the bass part.
Following a preliminary effort as an ensemble, it becomes clear that the challenges facing the two parts are quite different, and we opt for individual section work.
The leads begin by going as far into the melodic passage as their memory of the note order will take them, but this turns out to be an ineffective strategy. Victor suggests breaking the melody down into the smallest repeatable circulation pattern (which happens over two bars) and tackling the resulting "cells" one at a time. This gives us an easy way to dissect and follow the melody; at the same time, we are beginning to listen to the music, rather than becoming absorbed in the mechanics of the note order and circulation. This process is slow, but the circulation is becoming coherent.
The basses later report that their work involved looping entire sections and recongifuring parts to make certain passages more playable.
Break around 4:30. Plans for the fall are beginning to take form.
Returning, we pick up on a piece that has "sunken" into our backlog repertoire over the past few weeks (for various reasons), The Sunken Cathedral, a kind of program piece by Debussy (also originally for solo piano, arranged for eight guitars by Brad). Little is said, and coming out of the gate the music already has something of an inner life. We hit a speed bump during a specific section, however, and need to take some time to clean up the mess of different ideas regarding tempo and timing. Unlike the Shostakovitch prelude, we aim to have this ready for performance tonight.
We take the floor at 7:30. An enticing set emerges, which seems to dwell on moods rather than visit them. The Sunken Cathedral, Opening and Austurias form the end of the set with a circulated coda in D minor, still in the audience's ears.
There are a few performances after the audience departs. Chris, Dev and Alex take the stage to debut Voices of Ancient Children to their curious circlemates. Later, it is Brad and Chris reviving Hommage, their take on Bartok's take on Bach. An encore performance of this is called. To wrap things up, Victor introduces a canon by Haydn to be used as a catalyst for improvisation. A fun rehearsal for all, and the "ginger after sushi" following a good day of work.
We arrive between 2:00 - 2:30, and set up as we normally would.
Before we decide what to do with our time, we begin with a circulation, ending on three "chords" cued by Victor. Then, Glenn cues three chords - and so on, until everyone has had a turn at the baton, twice. Curiously, each circler generates unique harmonic feedback from the group. This little game serves as an invocation for our work this afternoon.
The first task on the docket is some focused work on Shostakovitch's Prelude XXII. The piece is originally for solo piano and is made up of a winding chromatic passage over a rhythmic scaffold, and a chordal accompaniment in the bass (there's some play with the structure throughout). Our arrangement features a circulation of the melody between four players and a section playing the bass part.
Following a preliminary effort as an ensemble, it becomes clear that the challenges facing the two parts are quite different, and we opt for individual section work.
The leads begin by going as far into the melodic passage as their memory of the note order will take them, but this turns out to be an ineffective strategy. Victor suggests breaking the melody down into the smallest repeatable circulation pattern (which happens over two bars) and tackling the resulting "cells" one at a time. This gives us an easy way to dissect and follow the melody; at the same time, we are beginning to listen to the music, rather than becoming absorbed in the mechanics of the note order and circulation. This process is slow, but the circulation is becoming coherent.
The basses later report that their work involved looping entire sections and recongifuring parts to make certain passages more playable.
Break around 4:30. Plans for the fall are beginning to take form.
Returning, we pick up on a piece that has "sunken" into our backlog repertoire over the past few weeks (for various reasons), The Sunken Cathedral, a kind of program piece by Debussy (also originally for solo piano, arranged for eight guitars by Brad). Little is said, and coming out of the gate the music already has something of an inner life. We hit a speed bump during a specific section, however, and need to take some time to clean up the mess of different ideas regarding tempo and timing. Unlike the Shostakovitch prelude, we aim to have this ready for performance tonight.
We take the floor at 7:30. An enticing set emerges, which seems to dwell on moods rather than visit them. The Sunken Cathedral, Opening and Austurias form the end of the set with a circulated coda in D minor, still in the audience's ears.
There are a few performances after the audience departs. Chris, Dev and Alex take the stage to debut Voices of Ancient Children to their curious circlemates. Later, it is Brad and Chris reviving Hommage, their take on Bartok's take on Bach. An encore performance of this is called. To wrap things up, Victor introduces a canon by Haydn to be used as a catalyst for improvisation. A fun rehearsal for all, and the "ginger after sushi" following a good day of work.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays #12, 4-3-11
Glenn is taking a break from the Circle this weekend to keep up with work.
Alex and Chris arrive at the space around 5:30. We are supposed to be downstairs this week, but there are is a conference going on there . . . Chris makes a call to Brad, who confirms the situation and asks us to hang tight. As the meeting lets out around 6:00, there is a salsa class also needing to use the same room for the next hour - apparently, the men's group upstairs is not on the house manager's schedule, creating a conflict. Fortunately, the salsa class graciously relocates to an adjacent art room, and we are able to begin setting up.
On the bright side, Rick has repaired the fried tweeter in one of the PA speakers over the week and we are back in business, mix-wise.
Otherwise, a straightforward set-up and sound. We spend a few moments looking at what repertoire is available without Glenn, including (of all things) Morning Has Broken. This arrangement of Cat Steven's arrangement of a Christian adaptation of an old Gaelic tune has not been heard for a few weeks and is given a go, sounding surprisingly good, up to a point.
There is a bit of an extended wait in the green room before showtime, as the men's group is going into overtime with meditations and lectures on Buddhism. We fracture into small groups for further warming up on various pieces. Chris and Brad consolidate their understanding of Bartok's Hommage a JSB and land it one or two times. Victor has an idea: imagine that the men's group has had an uplifting experience. What music do they hear first coming down the stairs? This is our keynote for the evening.
We go on about 8:05. Our tendency is improvisational: no set list, something thrown in entirely on the spot, an idea tried and followed at our own risk. We are getting better at this. Pantonal circulations flow in and out of fluttering, effervescent embroideries. There is an improv moment between Rick, Chris and . . . Dev? with the rest of the group taking their own part when ready. A circulated coda concludes the performance after Austurias. At a certain point (there is later general agreement), this performance seemed to take on a higher level of intensity.
After the show, we listen back to the recording we made of it (a good approach to take in our own personal practices). A distinction comes up between the quality of practicing performing and performing, and some critical discussion follows. The time feel of our circulations and some repertoire also comes up, which is obliquely a part of the former question. On the practical side of things is talk of life after the performance series and an upcoming gig opportunity.
Tear down, and we're out by 11:00.
Alex and Chris arrive at the space around 5:30. We are supposed to be downstairs this week, but there are is a conference going on there . . . Chris makes a call to Brad, who confirms the situation and asks us to hang tight. As the meeting lets out around 6:00, there is a salsa class also needing to use the same room for the next hour - apparently, the men's group upstairs is not on the house manager's schedule, creating a conflict. Fortunately, the salsa class graciously relocates to an adjacent art room, and we are able to begin setting up.
On the bright side, Rick has repaired the fried tweeter in one of the PA speakers over the week and we are back in business, mix-wise.
Otherwise, a straightforward set-up and sound. We spend a few moments looking at what repertoire is available without Glenn, including (of all things) Morning Has Broken. This arrangement of Cat Steven's arrangement of a Christian adaptation of an old Gaelic tune has not been heard for a few weeks and is given a go, sounding surprisingly good, up to a point.
There is a bit of an extended wait in the green room before showtime, as the men's group is going into overtime with meditations and lectures on Buddhism. We fracture into small groups for further warming up on various pieces. Chris and Brad consolidate their understanding of Bartok's Hommage a JSB and land it one or two times. Victor has an idea: imagine that the men's group has had an uplifting experience. What music do they hear first coming down the stairs? This is our keynote for the evening.
We go on about 8:05. Our tendency is improvisational: no set list, something thrown in entirely on the spot, an idea tried and followed at our own risk. We are getting better at this. Pantonal circulations flow in and out of fluttering, effervescent embroideries. There is an improv moment between Rick, Chris and . . . Dev? with the rest of the group taking their own part when ready. A circulated coda concludes the performance after Austurias. At a certain point (there is later general agreement), this performance seemed to take on a higher level of intensity.
After the show, we listen back to the recording we made of it (a good approach to take in our own personal practices). A distinction comes up between the quality of practicing performing and performing, and some critical discussion follows. The time feel of our circulations and some repertoire also comes up, which is obliquely a part of the former question. On the practical side of things is talk of life after the performance series and an upcoming gig opportunity.
Tear down, and we're out by 11:00.
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