In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, David
Full team present tonight for the first time in a month. As we circulate to check sound, Victor notes that we are not falling into a natural pulse as we begin, and reminds us that in this regard it is useful to keep the number of note-passers in mind. For a more conventional warm-up, we turn to Askesis and Calliope.
A long silence and a little humor in the green room before we go on to perform the following set:
when ready, begin
circulation I/improv I
Growing Circle
circulation II
Where's the Nurse
Morning Has Broken
improv II
Blockhead
improv III
Love is Green
Askesis
improv IV
Calliope
Voices of Ancient Children
improv V
Eye of the Needle
improv VI
Austurias
circulation III
For our post-performance rehearsal we investigate our latest addition to the repertoire, Voices of Ancient Children. The sectional transitions have been flimsy during performance, so we begin by playing through with Chris counting out loud for continuity. After giving it a few cracks, there are still discrepancies in our individual understanding of the structure, and much discussion ensues. Eventually, Chris suggests a different count for the melody players, which breaks down thus:
Intro: four bars of 5/4
A: 13 + 13 + 13 + 6 (45, or nine bars of 5)
B: 9 + 9 + 9 + 3 (30, or six bars of 5)
A: same
B: 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 4 (40, or eight bars of 5)
C: 8 + 10 + 8 + 6 (32, or seven bars of 5 ending on '2')
Outro: (after melody comes in) 13 + 13 + 13 + 5 (44, or nine bars of 5 ending on '4')
Rick, Dev and Brad spend some time on Blockhead with suggestions from the group on dynamics, tempo and time feel. Afterward, there is a little logistical discussion and then we are tearing down late, to be out around 11:00.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #10, 11-13-11
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev
Some minor technical difficulties as we set up tonight, with coffee machines and (sound) mixers. We prehearse Bicycling to Afghanistan at Victor's request and also run through the nascent Voices of Ancient Children.
We perform around 7:40. The (approximate) set list:
circulation I/improv I
Batrachomyomachy
circulation II
Eye of the Needle
circulation III/improv II
Thrak
Rick and Chris
Voices of Ancient Children
Growing Circle
Q & A (how much do you practice during the week?)
Calliope
circulation IV/improv III
Haydn's canon
Where's the Nurse
imrpov IV
Austurias
For rehearsal, we're joined by a new player, Scott. Victor asks Scott if he would like to join the performance team and gives him the run-down of what he will need to be prepared for it; this dovetails into a demonstration of navigating the entire neck of the guitar in C Major using tetrachords. Victor then takes Scott downstairs for some one-on-one work while the remainder work on Blockhead and Love is Green.
We start wrapping up promptly around 10:00.
Some minor technical difficulties as we set up tonight, with coffee machines and (sound) mixers. We prehearse Bicycling to Afghanistan at Victor's request and also run through the nascent Voices of Ancient Children.
We perform around 7:40. The (approximate) set list:
circulation I/improv I
Batrachomyomachy
circulation II
Eye of the Needle
circulation III/improv II
Thrak
Rick and Chris
Voices of Ancient Children
Growing Circle
Q & A (how much do you practice during the week?)
Calliope
circulation IV/improv III
Haydn's canon
Where's the Nurse
imrpov IV
Austurias
For rehearsal, we're joined by a new player, Scott. Victor asks Scott if he would like to join the performance team and gives him the run-down of what he will need to be prepared for it; this dovetails into a demonstration of navigating the entire neck of the guitar in C Major using tetrachords. Victor then takes Scott downstairs for some one-on-one work while the remainder work on Blockhead and Love is Green.
We start wrapping up promptly around 10:00.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Small group, 11/17/2011, Brad's Apartment
In attendance: Rick, Brad, Chris.
Rick is first to arrive; some discussion about some current circle topics (as well as the interview that Victor, Dev, and Brad gave the night before) over coffee and cannele. With Chris's arrival, we set to work.
An opening circulation, beginning in A-flat Majorish and ending in A minor. A short improvisation follows.
Rick suggests a simple but interesting strategy for circulation: whoever begins a circulation can, at any point, play a note out of turn, to create a "double-stop" with whoever is playing at the same time. That person then begins the next pass around the circle, with the same option to double-stop when they like. In a three-person circle, this is fun and sounds quite musical; it'll be interesting to see what happens in a larger group.
Chris suggests some more work with C Major tetrachords, and with circulating them. Instead of 3 octaves, we stick to the middle 4 strings, with multiple passes up and down. An off-the-cuff remark about singing at the same time results in us repeating the process while singing our note (vocal octave of our choice). This is really useful, and Brad notes that when we miss our note on the guitar, we never sing the right note (and usually aren't even able to hold a pitch). This leads to a short discussion on our various strategies and approaches for mentally hearing notes as we play. Some more of the same circulation work with the diminished scale (half-whole in G) across the fretboard.
Some extended discussion about George Russell's Lydian Chromatic theory, and about horizontal vs. vertical harmony. High-falutin' stuff.
Leading from the diminished scale, it only seems appropriate to pay a visit to Batrachomyomachy. Following the first run, Brad asks to try it again, and switches guitars with Chris. Having been edified, guitars are returned to their respective owners.
Rick asks to be shown the rest of the lead part for Growing Circle; Chris runs him through this. A full run through, with a couple of starts and stops for clarification. From here, we pay a visit to Bicycling to Afghanistan; we have no high lead, but Rick has just finished learning the mid-lead, and wants to begin ironing out his own part. It's a little empty-sounding, but enough information is available to run down the parts and help clarify some parts for Rick.
Another piece revisited is Blockhead. Brad attempts the Bert part, with Chris and Rick reprising their Paul and Hideyo roles, respectively. A bit of clarification of the arrangement, and other arrangements from others. A mention of topping out of abilities results in a pretty good discussion about the nature of pushing our abilities.
Rick asks if he might hear Hommage. Chris and Brad oblige several times over, with some useful direction from Rick.
A final circulation to end the afternoon, and Rick and Chris retreat into the early darkness.
Rick is first to arrive; some discussion about some current circle topics (as well as the interview that Victor, Dev, and Brad gave the night before) over coffee and cannele. With Chris's arrival, we set to work.
An opening circulation, beginning in A-flat Majorish and ending in A minor. A short improvisation follows.
Rick suggests a simple but interesting strategy for circulation: whoever begins a circulation can, at any point, play a note out of turn, to create a "double-stop" with whoever is playing at the same time. That person then begins the next pass around the circle, with the same option to double-stop when they like. In a three-person circle, this is fun and sounds quite musical; it'll be interesting to see what happens in a larger group.
Chris suggests some more work with C Major tetrachords, and with circulating them. Instead of 3 octaves, we stick to the middle 4 strings, with multiple passes up and down. An off-the-cuff remark about singing at the same time results in us repeating the process while singing our note (vocal octave of our choice). This is really useful, and Brad notes that when we miss our note on the guitar, we never sing the right note (and usually aren't even able to hold a pitch). This leads to a short discussion on our various strategies and approaches for mentally hearing notes as we play. Some more of the same circulation work with the diminished scale (half-whole in G) across the fretboard.
Some extended discussion about George Russell's Lydian Chromatic theory, and about horizontal vs. vertical harmony. High-falutin' stuff.
Leading from the diminished scale, it only seems appropriate to pay a visit to Batrachomyomachy. Following the first run, Brad asks to try it again, and switches guitars with Chris. Having been edified, guitars are returned to their respective owners.
Rick asks to be shown the rest of the lead part for Growing Circle; Chris runs him through this. A full run through, with a couple of starts and stops for clarification. From here, we pay a visit to Bicycling to Afghanistan; we have no high lead, but Rick has just finished learning the mid-lead, and wants to begin ironing out his own part. It's a little empty-sounding, but enough information is available to run down the parts and help clarify some parts for Rick.
Another piece revisited is Blockhead. Brad attempts the Bert part, with Chris and Rick reprising their Paul and Hideyo roles, respectively. A bit of clarification of the arrangement, and other arrangements from others. A mention of topping out of abilities results in a pretty good discussion about the nature of pushing our abilities.
Rick asks if he might hear Hommage. Chris and Brad oblige several times over, with some useful direction from Rick.
A final circulation to end the afternoon, and Rick and Chris retreat into the early darkness.
Small Group 11/14/2011, Rick's House
In attendance: Rick, Brad, Scott, Dev.
Dev and Brad arrive at Rick's place, and are pleasantly surprised to see the newest member of the circle is attending as well. Scott is a recent newcomer (having just attended an intro course this past summer), and tonight is the second for him to really get to sit and work with some of us.
An opening circulation, largely C Major, followed by a good improvisation.
Scott is very new to this way of working, which gives us a great chance to reconnect with some primary exercises. Dev takes the opportunity to lead us through an extended second primary exercise (A string only). Following this, a chance to let shoulders and muscles de-tensify. We then ask Scott for permission to run a piece of repertoire. Askesis follows (with one false start) at performance tempo.
We then introduce Scott to the 16-bar Exercise. His guitar's lack of cutaway (leading to a mention of Ralphie G.) is somewhat restrictive, so we modulate down to F#min in order to allow him to work.
A break for the bums afterward, with chatting about Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, and other chatty subjects.
Back in the circle--Brad and Scott switch places. Another circulation and improvisation. Checking in with Scott about C Major, we choose to work with circulating 3 octaves in various manners. Some useful work with this. Afterward, Scott ducks outside for cough drops, while Rick, Brad, and Dev blast through Calliope at what is definitely too fast of a tempo. We know this primarily because we're already finished before Scott comes back inside the house.
With Scott's permission, Brad calls Intergalactic Boogie Express, and is followed by Dev calling Flying Home. The latter feels quite good, but this bunch of players being what it is, we decide to give "performance tempo" a shot (Curt aims for 104 bpm!). Brad drops out in the first D section, followed by Rick somewhere around the midtro, which makes Dev the Flying Home Champion. Aim high. . .
A final circulation to end the night.
Dev and Brad arrive at Rick's place, and are pleasantly surprised to see the newest member of the circle is attending as well. Scott is a recent newcomer (having just attended an intro course this past summer), and tonight is the second for him to really get to sit and work with some of us.
An opening circulation, largely C Major, followed by a good improvisation.
Scott is very new to this way of working, which gives us a great chance to reconnect with some primary exercises. Dev takes the opportunity to lead us through an extended second primary exercise (A string only). Following this, a chance to let shoulders and muscles de-tensify. We then ask Scott for permission to run a piece of repertoire. Askesis follows (with one false start) at performance tempo.
We then introduce Scott to the 16-bar Exercise. His guitar's lack of cutaway (leading to a mention of Ralphie G.) is somewhat restrictive, so we modulate down to F#min in order to allow him to work.
A break for the bums afterward, with chatting about Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, and other chatty subjects.
Back in the circle--Brad and Scott switch places. Another circulation and improvisation. Checking in with Scott about C Major, we choose to work with circulating 3 octaves in various manners. Some useful work with this. Afterward, Scott ducks outside for cough drops, while Rick, Brad, and Dev blast through Calliope at what is definitely too fast of a tempo. We know this primarily because we're already finished before Scott comes back inside the house.
With Scott's permission, Brad calls Intergalactic Boogie Express, and is followed by Dev calling Flying Home. The latter feels quite good, but this bunch of players being what it is, we decide to give "performance tempo" a shot (Curt aims for 104 bpm!). Brad drops out in the first D section, followed by Rick somewhere around the midtro, which makes Dev the Flying Home Champion. Aim high. . .
A final circulation to end the night.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #9, 11-6-11
In attendance: Victor, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev
Our space is downstairs tonight. Brad and Chris get a few performance pointers from Victor while awaiting Dev, who arrives during a reading of Derailed at the Junction. Brad, Chris and Victor also give Bicycling to Afghanistan a whirl as they consider repertoire possibilities for the quartet.
After a few guests arrive, we decide it is time to begin the performance-proper and meet in the "green room" a little after 7:30. The set that emerges is laden with improvisation:
circulation/improv I
Eye of the Needle
improv II
Bicycling to Afghanistan
improv III
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Hommage a JSB
circulation II/improv IV
Q & A (how was Seattle?)
improv V
Thrak
improv VI
Where's the Nurse
improv VII
Growing Circle
circulation III/improv VIII
Austurias
circulation IV
Some talk after the set regarding the next step and our current successes and failures. Returning to a rehearsal mind, Victor asks the team what they have been working on this week in their own personal practice, and Chris proffers a small bit from a project he is undertaking with Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Then we work on Voices of Ancient Children with Dev teaching Victor the melody in small parts and a few full-group run-throughs for good measure; we have some homework.
Tear-down and out late, after 11:00.
Our space is downstairs tonight. Brad and Chris get a few performance pointers from Victor while awaiting Dev, who arrives during a reading of Derailed at the Junction. Brad, Chris and Victor also give Bicycling to Afghanistan a whirl as they consider repertoire possibilities for the quartet.
After a few guests arrive, we decide it is time to begin the performance-proper and meet in the "green room" a little after 7:30. The set that emerges is laden with improvisation:
circulation/improv I
Eye of the Needle
improv II
Bicycling to Afghanistan
improv III
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Hommage a JSB
circulation II/improv IV
Q & A (how was Seattle?)
improv V
Thrak
improv VI
Where's the Nurse
improv VII
Growing Circle
circulation III/improv VIII
Austurias
circulation IV
Some talk after the set regarding the next step and our current successes and failures. Returning to a rehearsal mind, Victor asks the team what they have been working on this week in their own personal practice, and Chris proffers a small bit from a project he is undertaking with Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Then we work on Voices of Ancient Children with Dev teaching Victor the melody in small parts and a few full-group run-throughs for good measure; we have some homework.
Tear-down and out late, after 11:00.
Small Group, Rick's House - 11/9/2011
In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Dev Ray, Brad Hogg.
Dev and Brad arrive at around 8:20 p.m. Fresh coffee in hand and stools set in place, we immediately set to socializing and catching up. Eventually, a guitar does make it out of its case, and the other two follow suit.
An opening circulation, followed by a "no messing around" count-off into Askesis.
Work on Voices of Ancient Children. Brad picks up the pulse/structure part (or a facsimile thereof) in order to give the piece a complete airing; this will likely get moved into the setlist soon.
After a bit more joshing around (we're a rowdy bunch), Brad presents parts of a piece he has been working on. We spend a little bit of time getting it into our hands, then some more time while Brad administers some tests. Good work.
Another circulation.
Where's The Nurse? leads to some very focused spot work with regards to togetherness and note-lengths and picking patterns. The general feeling is that the Circle plays this piece very well, but that there is always a bit of fuzziness in certain parts. With this addressed, the resulting clarity is very noticeable.
Intergalactic Boogie Express. Once we've finished playing this, Dev works the leads on their re-entry towards the end of the piece (when the bass lays out). Some hard work on this, which really cleans up.
A final circulation, which almost becomes an improvisation, but then simply ends instead.
A bit of parting discussion, and Brad and Dev take off into the night.
Dev and Brad arrive at around 8:20 p.m. Fresh coffee in hand and stools set in place, we immediately set to socializing and catching up. Eventually, a guitar does make it out of its case, and the other two follow suit.
An opening circulation, followed by a "no messing around" count-off into Askesis.
Work on Voices of Ancient Children. Brad picks up the pulse/structure part (or a facsimile thereof) in order to give the piece a complete airing; this will likely get moved into the setlist soon.
After a bit more joshing around (we're a rowdy bunch), Brad presents parts of a piece he has been working on. We spend a little bit of time getting it into our hands, then some more time while Brad administers some tests. Good work.
Another circulation.
Where's The Nurse? leads to some very focused spot work with regards to togetherness and note-lengths and picking patterns. The general feeling is that the Circle plays this piece very well, but that there is always a bit of fuzziness in certain parts. With this addressed, the resulting clarity is very noticeable.
Intergalactic Boogie Express. Once we've finished playing this, Dev works the leads on their re-entry towards the end of the piece (when the bass lays out). Some hard work on this, which really cleans up.
A final circulation, which almost becomes an improvisation, but then simply ends instead.
A bit of parting discussion, and Brad and Dev take off into the night.
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