Season's End Meeting, 12-18-2011, at Canary Square Pub

In attendance:  Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Alex Lahoski, Chris Paquette, Dev Ray, Brad Hogg.

All have arrived at Canary Square (come for the fries, stay for the waitrons) by 8 p.m. for a celebration of season's end, as well as a fairly important discussion of the schedule and plan for the next phase of the circle.  A lot of logistics aside, the big points of the meeting come out to be:

1. The Intro to Guitar Circle and Guitar Circle Advanced-Beginner and Intermediate courses that are fast approaching in May 2012, here in Massachusetts.
2. Strategies/schedules for promotion work.  Dev is officially named Promotional Director, giving further proof of his many capabilities.
3. The push for new music and adjusted performance conditions for the new season coming up in the spring.

With a good amount of joshing and joking around, we manage to draw up a relatively comprehensive list of "necessary things to do and approach".  We all leave just around 10 p.m., making sure to tip the waitress generously, and go our separate ways out into the cold night.

See you all next year!

Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #14, 12-11-11

In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris, Alex, Brad, Scott, Dev, David

With two additional guitars, we take a little extra time to soundcheck tonight. Scott is running late, so we take the stage at around 8:00.

The set that unfolds:

circulation
Where's the Nurse
improv
Blockhead
circulation II
Voices of Ancient Children
Askesis
Derailed at the Junction
Morning Has Broken
Flying Home
improv II
Third Relation
improv III
Thrak
Prelude in D minor
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Eye of the Needle
improv III
Austurias
circulation III

Completion meeting after the performance, where David takes an early leave and the rest remain until 11:00.

Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #13, 12-4-11

In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, David

Downstairs tonight. A little extra time is needed to clean up and ready the space for a performance, and to get adjusted to a dry sound. We prehearse Calliope slowly for Rick to test out the lead, and also touch on Intergalactic Boogie Express, before people arrive.

The set comes out as follows:
circulation I/improv I
Eye of the Needle
improv II
Derailed at the Junction
Askesis
circulation II
Calliope
Where's the Nurse
improv III
Thrak
Third Relation
circulation III
Bicycling to Afghanistan
Hommage a JSB
improv IV
Austurias

Afterward during rehearsal, we play a game where the role of time keeper moves around the circle during an improvisation. Victor notes that, in general, the time keepers tend to slow down when also taking on an active listening role; we also talk about being aware of time feel.

There is also a little talk about some struggles that were going on during the evening's performance, one of which was dealing with poor sound - or what seems to be poor sound. Another was being 'free' during the performance.

Guitar Circle Sundays s. 2 #12, 11-27-11

In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe) Brad, Dev, David

We're soundchecking as Victor walks in. Warm-up tonight: Third Relation and Askesis. Prehearsal bits: Blockhead with Rick, Brad and Dev on the main piece, and Chris, David and Victor on 'color'; Hommage a JSB from Brad and Chris; and the full team on Voices of Ancient Children.

The set tonight:
circulation (short)
Blockhead
when ready, begin
Voices of Ancient Children
circulation (long)
Batrachomyomachy
Eye of the Needle
Q & A (requests)
Hommage a JSB
Calliope
improv I
Derailed at the Junction
whizz circulation
Prelude in D minor
Where's the Nurse
circulation III
improv II
Third Relation
circulation IV
Austurias

Post-performance, we meet with aspiring Circler Scott and discuss what he has been working on over the past week, and how he has been assisted by the mid-week group. This is followed by some variegated circulation, + 2 - 1 and + 3 - 2, and Growing Circle while making faces.

Rehearsal items include Calliope, with a note being made about the rhythmic directionality of note groupings (i.e. a group of three has a different "shape" than a group of two because of the way the notes rise and fall into each other in a periodically defined space, or pocket), and much discussion of Intergalactic Boogie Express, with a few corrections and playthroughs.