In attendance: Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, David
A small crew on deck tonight. Chris is the last to arrive, shortly after 6:00, and the lighting and gear is mostly set up. Brad runs the board. We will be taking on Sunday night football and an October snow storm.
Before the performance, we haven't talked yet about what we can actually play as this particular quartet. Some minimal versions of IBE, Eye of the Needle, Flying Home and Batrachomyomachy are proffered to us in prehearsal, and Morning Has Broken is also a suggestion. Having duo pieces pays off with a Bartok duet and Moving Force, and Brad has a fresh solo piece to bring to the table.
We're on for an audience of three at 7:30, and the set comes out like this:
circulation I
Where's the Nurse
improv I
Eye of the Needle
Hommage a JSB
circulation II/improv II
Third Relation
Moving Force
Q & A
Askesis
Flying Home
Prelude in D minor
Morning Has Broken
improv III
Lark's Thrak
circulation III/improv IV
Austurias
About forty minutes of music. We tear down quickly after guests depart and linger a bit afterward to touch base on promotion and considerations for a possible third season. We're out the door no later than 9:45.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
small group meeting, Rick's House, 10-24-11
In attendance: Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev
We meet at Rick's around 8:00, and enter a discussion regarding our need as a group to 'reset', to mentally step back from the activity our work in the Circle has generated for us and reconnect with what is essential.
Once we are seated with guitars, we begin with a circulation that travels forward and back and lands in an A Major tonality. Dev calls Third Relation, after which Rick calls Intergalactic Boogie Express. We make note of an important transition in Third, and discuss strategies for having command of transitions in general, including muscle memory, having a mental image, and aural anticipation. Chris has the urge for Where's the Nurse, and Brad picks Eye of the Needle, which is played without a main lead voice; Rick offers Dev a right hand pointer.
Rick presents some working parts for an original composition, beginning with a circulation exercise wherein notes are passed on a quarter note pulse, but are half notes in duration ("the idea is to pay as much attention to the end of the note as the beginning," Rick says). We do this as a quartet in G minor until Rick adds the stipulation that one of the players is to play quarter notes in the same key (but never consecutively on the same string) on the backbeat of the pulse. We take turns being in the "hot seat" of the backbeat, and change key to D Major for Dev and F Major for Brad. After this, Rick presents some "shreddy" parts for us to run through as an ensemble.
With a few minutes left before a predetermined dispersal time, Dev brings up Voices of Ancient Children, which he and Chris worked on in a prior GC course. Dev shows the "claw" part to Rick, and we make two or three attempts to run through the piece, eventually arriving at the end of the bridge. We end the meeting around 10:00.
We meet at Rick's around 8:00, and enter a discussion regarding our need as a group to 'reset', to mentally step back from the activity our work in the Circle has generated for us and reconnect with what is essential.
Once we are seated with guitars, we begin with a circulation that travels forward and back and lands in an A Major tonality. Dev calls Third Relation, after which Rick calls Intergalactic Boogie Express. We make note of an important transition in Third, and discuss strategies for having command of transitions in general, including muscle memory, having a mental image, and aural anticipation. Chris has the urge for Where's the Nurse, and Brad picks Eye of the Needle, which is played without a main lead voice; Rick offers Dev a right hand pointer.
Rick presents some working parts for an original composition, beginning with a circulation exercise wherein notes are passed on a quarter note pulse, but are half notes in duration ("the idea is to pay as much attention to the end of the note as the beginning," Rick says). We do this as a quartet in G minor until Rick adds the stipulation that one of the players is to play quarter notes in the same key (but never consecutively on the same string) on the backbeat of the pulse. We take turns being in the "hot seat" of the backbeat, and change key to D Major for Dev and F Major for Brad. After this, Rick presents some "shreddy" parts for us to run through as an ensemble.
With a few minutes left before a predetermined dispersal time, Dev brings up Voices of Ancient Children, which he and Chris worked on in a prior GC course. Dev shows the "claw" part to Rick, and we make two or three attempts to run through the piece, eventually arriving at the end of the bridge. We end the meeting around 10:00.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #7, 10-16-11
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris, Brad, David
The performance space this week is brimming with lanterns which have been made by the local community for an upcoming evening parade around Jamaica Pond (at which we will also be performing), but it is easy for us to adjust. When we are seated with guitars, we reflect on what we have learned about the technique of circulation so far this season: how to address the ambiguous dilemma of an interruption of flow in real time, and the challenge of being the 'third man'. We also talk about the structure of a Whiz circulation - beginning, ending, and finding a continuity. There are a few other prehearsal bits, including Bicycling to Afghanistan with some notes on energy changes.
We're on at the usual time for a small audience. After the performance, a few of the team are out the door quickly on family business, and the remainder tear down and are out by 10:30.
The performance space this week is brimming with lanterns which have been made by the local community for an upcoming evening parade around Jamaica Pond (at which we will also be performing), but it is easy for us to adjust. When we are seated with guitars, we reflect on what we have learned about the technique of circulation so far this season: how to address the ambiguous dilemma of an interruption of flow in real time, and the challenge of being the 'third man'. We also talk about the structure of a Whiz circulation - beginning, ending, and finding a continuity. There are a few other prehearsal bits, including Bicycling to Afghanistan with some notes on energy changes.
We're on at the usual time for a small audience. After the performance, a few of the team are out the door quickly on family business, and the remainder tear down and are out by 10:30.
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #6, 10-9-11
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris, Brad, Dev, David
Several of us are running late, so set-up and soundcheck are tight. The order of the set (without improvs):
Eye of the Needle
Flying Home
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Hommage a JSB
Aspiration
Calliope
Q & A
Lark's Thrak
Batrachomyomachy
Where's the Nurse
Growing Circle
Haydn canon
Austurias
After the performance, Rick makes an early departure on family business while the rest of us stay for a bit longer for work with guitars. Victor brings up a point about 'seeing' scalar/harmonic relationships happening during circulations and improvs, rather than 'thinking' about them. Chris and Victor run through Derailed at the Junction, and then Brad, Chris and Victor give Bicycling to Afghanistan a whirl as a trio; this leads to a talk about how energy can change between and within pieces of music.
Tear-down and out of the space by 10:30.
Several of us are running late, so set-up and soundcheck are tight. The order of the set (without improvs):
Eye of the Needle
Flying Home
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Hommage a JSB
Aspiration
Calliope
Q & A
Lark's Thrak
Batrachomyomachy
Where's the Nurse
Growing Circle
Haydn canon
Austurias
After the performance, Rick makes an early departure on family business while the rest of us stay for a bit longer for work with guitars. Victor brings up a point about 'seeing' scalar/harmonic relationships happening during circulations and improvs, rather than 'thinking' about them. Chris and Victor run through Derailed at the Junction, and then Brad, Chris and Victor give Bicycling to Afghanistan a whirl as a trio; this leads to a talk about how energy can change between and within pieces of music.
Tear-down and out of the space by 10:30.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #5, 10-2-11
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, David
We all arrive between 6:00 and 6:15. After getting ourselves set up, we play a game with guitars wherein a circler is chosen to decide the timbre of a circulation - this could be a note played on a certain part of the neck, in any relation to the soundhole, picked, thumbed, plucked, slapped - so that the other players must listen and follow suit. We go around until everyone gets a chance to be "it", and then we prehearse Intergalactic Boogie Express and Calliope before a pre-show dispersal.
Victor has an idea in the green room for a circulation using mirrors before we head on around 7:40. There is a false start to Love is Green, but a heavy silence falls following the complete performance. We are asked for an encore and oblige.
After the audience has left, we get some constructive feedback from a special guest, and turn our attention to working on Opening as a large group. The quartet circulation needs extra time to get on their feet, and apply some of the strategies that were used in the small group meeting earlier in the week (with the added spacial distance contributing even more challenge). It is a lot of effort, though our guest approves of the direction of the work. After we have given it our best for a while, we tear down and are out not long after 10:30.
We all arrive between 6:00 and 6:15. After getting ourselves set up, we play a game with guitars wherein a circler is chosen to decide the timbre of a circulation - this could be a note played on a certain part of the neck, in any relation to the soundhole, picked, thumbed, plucked, slapped - so that the other players must listen and follow suit. We go around until everyone gets a chance to be "it", and then we prehearse Intergalactic Boogie Express and Calliope before a pre-show dispersal.
Victor has an idea in the green room for a circulation using mirrors before we head on around 7:40. There is a false start to Love is Green, but a heavy silence falls following the complete performance. We are asked for an encore and oblige.
After the audience has left, we get some constructive feedback from a special guest, and turn our attention to working on Opening as a large group. The quartet circulation needs extra time to get on their feet, and apply some of the strategies that were used in the small group meeting earlier in the week (with the added spacial distance contributing even more challenge). It is a lot of effort, though our guest approves of the direction of the work. After we have given it our best for a while, we tear down and are out not long after 10:30.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
small group meeting, McCarthy Ranch, 9-26-11
In attendance: Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev
We're gathered a little past 8:00. After a salutatory circulation, Chris brings up the possibility of reviving Opening with a new arrangement: four seats taking the high ostinato (as opposed to three) and two seats taking the low. For the high part (i.e. the present company), that means circulating in triplets across four seats. We begin by working with a metronome on the first bar and simply trying to "do it", but with little success. We then bring the tempo down and discuss strategies for keeping with the pattern, including counting, visualization, foot tapping, etc. For further simplification, we take time to clap the pattern without guitars, which leads to our first taste of success. When we return to guitars, we are able to circulate much more steadily, and note the value of relaxation in this process. At concert tempo, we begin to experiment with adding more material from the full piece, with and without metronome, until we have the entire first section. Here, we decide to take a short break.
We briefly return to make a pass through some current and working repertoire, including Where's the Nurse, Batrachomyomachy, Bicycling to Afghanistan, and Hommage a JSB. After a valedictory circulation, we depart around 10:45.
We're gathered a little past 8:00. After a salutatory circulation, Chris brings up the possibility of reviving Opening with a new arrangement: four seats taking the high ostinato (as opposed to three) and two seats taking the low. For the high part (i.e. the present company), that means circulating in triplets across four seats. We begin by working with a metronome on the first bar and simply trying to "do it", but with little success. We then bring the tempo down and discuss strategies for keeping with the pattern, including counting, visualization, foot tapping, etc. For further simplification, we take time to clap the pattern without guitars, which leads to our first taste of success. When we return to guitars, we are able to circulate much more steadily, and note the value of relaxation in this process. At concert tempo, we begin to experiment with adding more material from the full piece, with and without metronome, until we have the entire first section. Here, we decide to take a short break.
We briefly return to make a pass through some current and working repertoire, including Where's the Nurse, Batrachomyomachy, Bicycling to Afghanistan, and Hommage a JSB. After a valedictory circulation, we depart around 10:45.
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #4, 9-25-11
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev
We arrive, set up, and do a little prehearsal before showtime; as usual, we review what repertoire is available with a less-than-optimal configuration of the group. Where's the Nurse and Love is Green get specific attention before we go on around 7:35. A fun set: strong improvisations and Lark's Thrak making an unexpected appearance, worthy of the approbation of upstairs and downstairs audients alike. In the green room we discuss some performance/publicity opportunities that are opening up, then tear down early to support another performance in the area by visiting friends.
We arrive, set up, and do a little prehearsal before showtime; as usual, we review what repertoire is available with a less-than-optimal configuration of the group. Where's the Nurse and Love is Green get specific attention before we go on around 7:35. A fun set: strong improvisations and Lark's Thrak making an unexpected appearance, worthy of the approbation of upstairs and downstairs audients alike. In the green room we discuss some performance/publicity opportunities that are opening up, then tear down early to support another performance in the area by visiting friends.
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