Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #11, 11-20-11

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.