In attendance: Victor, Brad, Glenn, Chris, and Dev arrives a little later.
The meeting gets underway a bit on the late side; Victor suggests revisiting our revision of Sigh and a Kiss. A bit of review for everyone, but Glenn's edits eventually make sense. Dev arrives while we're parsing this information, and we run the piece a couple of times.
We also check in with 49 Notes. A bit of the same: a couple of runs with adjustments.
A quick break for Knockout.
Lots of updates on the OCG VII project. A lot of discussion on important logistics, what the Circle will need to do for promotion, and some opening discussion about travel-related items. Also, a clarification on a related exercise. A bit more discussion.
With guitars on, we take to our feet for a bit of playing. In the circle: Where is the Nurse?, Askesis, A Sigh and a Kiss, and 49 Notes. Work is necessary, but it's nice to know that some things are only a little rusty.
At this point, we've been playing in a relatively tight circle. On a whim, Brad asks if we can try 49 Notes again, as absolutely far apart as we can manage to position ourselves. Interesting work: the distance really significantly creates lag and timestretching.
Back on our stools for a few moments of final notes, and we call the meeting for the night.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Thacher Montessori Gym, 3/10/2013
In attendance: Victor, Rick, Chris, Brad. Dev arrives at a later time.
Pre-meeting, Chris and Brad (and with a bit of help from Rick as he arrives) de-chair the gym, leaving a mostly clear floor. Some tuning, warming up, and then a quiet moment to open the meeting. Warming up with the 1st Secondary, in 3 string chromatic form. Bumping this up to division of attention, counting the exercise in 7, twelve times through. A bit of a struggle, but we get it after a few tries.
Next, expanding on the C Major exercise from the week before: a crosspicking exercise that entails a simple 6/9 chord, or a bass note, a sixth above, and then a ninth above that. In CMaj, a chord built on an A would be, low to high, A F B. The simple version would be to cross pick the three-note chord, low to high, up and down the neck:
g------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------
A------2-----3-----5-----7------8-------10-------12----------
D----3-----5-----7-----9-----10------12-------14-------------
G--2-----4-----5-----7-----9------10-------12----------------
C------------------------------------------------------------
There are many variations to this.
The importance of working creatively, and of trying things that you're not sure of, is brought up; Victor makes the suggestion that we make this part of our practice, especially in light of the Orchestra work. This is necessarily different from the work of developing and maintaining craft, wherein one might work to perfect a particular skill--this is more the work of constantly doing something new ("Can I do this? Now can I do it backwards? Now can I run through this while maintaining a different count and engaging a different center of the body?").
Around this time, Dev arrives, just in time for a break.
After the break, Dev takes the lead to bring everyone up to date on logistics for the OCG tour in May. Some tasks will be getting handed out to others, soon.
Victor brings Dev up to date on what he missed in the first part of the meeting.
Up on our feet, on the other side of the gym, we work with circulating in alphabetic order in a rotating pattern (1 2 3 4 5, 2 3 4 5 1, 3 4 5 1 2, 4 5 1 2 3, 5 1 2 3 4). Concurrently, we're to be paying attention to our breathing, as well as the sound of our feet on the floor. It's a little tough, but we eventually get it. We then move to a standing circulation, with the same idea, but running the 60 points, one point per cycle around the group (standing still). Some difficulty getting through the exercise leads to a repetition with the lights out, which is noticeably easier. At the completion of another circuit, there is a moment of silence, followed by spontaneous ambulant improvisation, still with the lights off. Roughly 12 minutes.
After a long moment, the lights go back on, and we head back to the circle for a bit of discussion. The meeting closes shortly after.
Pre-meeting, Chris and Brad (and with a bit of help from Rick as he arrives) de-chair the gym, leaving a mostly clear floor. Some tuning, warming up, and then a quiet moment to open the meeting. Warming up with the 1st Secondary, in 3 string chromatic form. Bumping this up to division of attention, counting the exercise in 7, twelve times through. A bit of a struggle, but we get it after a few tries.
Next, expanding on the C Major exercise from the week before: a crosspicking exercise that entails a simple 6/9 chord, or a bass note, a sixth above, and then a ninth above that. In CMaj, a chord built on an A would be, low to high, A F B. The simple version would be to cross pick the three-note chord, low to high, up and down the neck:
g------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------
A------2-----3-----5-----7------8-------10-------12----------
D----3-----5-----7-----9-----10------12-------14-------------
G--2-----4-----5-----7-----9------10-------12----------------
C------------------------------------------------------------
There are many variations to this.
The importance of working creatively, and of trying things that you're not sure of, is brought up; Victor makes the suggestion that we make this part of our practice, especially in light of the Orchestra work. This is necessarily different from the work of developing and maintaining craft, wherein one might work to perfect a particular skill--this is more the work of constantly doing something new ("Can I do this? Now can I do it backwards? Now can I run through this while maintaining a different count and engaging a different center of the body?").
Around this time, Dev arrives, just in time for a break.
After the break, Dev takes the lead to bring everyone up to date on logistics for the OCG tour in May. Some tasks will be getting handed out to others, soon.
Victor brings Dev up to date on what he missed in the first part of the meeting.
Up on our feet, on the other side of the gym, we work with circulating in alphabetic order in a rotating pattern (1 2 3 4 5, 2 3 4 5 1, 3 4 5 1 2, 4 5 1 2 3, 5 1 2 3 4). Concurrently, we're to be paying attention to our breathing, as well as the sound of our feet on the floor. It's a little tough, but we eventually get it. We then move to a standing circulation, with the same idea, but running the 60 points, one point per cycle around the group (standing still). Some difficulty getting through the exercise leads to a repetition with the lights out, which is noticeably easier. At the completion of another circuit, there is a moment of silence, followed by spontaneous ambulant improvisation, still with the lights off. Roughly 12 minutes.
After a long moment, the lights go back on, and we head back to the circle for a bit of discussion. The meeting closes shortly after.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Thacher Montessori Gym
In attendance: Brad, Victor, Glenn, Scott.
With Scott on his way, we begin by warming up with the First Secondary on 2 strings, in basic chromatic form. At Victor's suggestion, we try with a symmetrical scale, but switch to Dorian. Eventually, we give 3 strings a shot, but this proves to be a bit much in Dorian, so at Glenn's request we fall back to the basic chromatic 4-fret form. This eventually gets harmonized. A short discussion on how we learn, and the systematization of learning through patterns and numbers.
It comes to light that Brad has not learned Chrysanthemum yet, so the next bit of time is spent running the intro and first section of the head so that he can learn this piece (and eventually transcribe it). Scott arrives in the middle of this.
Victor calls a circulation; Cmaj with some chromaticism follows. Next, a simple form of +4/-3 follows; the ante is then upped when Victor directs us to cycle through the 60 points with each iteration of the complete form (every 16 beats). We have a bit of a group habit of stepping on each other's toes at moments, and there are a couple of moments where the 60 Point form gets confused. But generally, we make it through.
Back/backside break, during which knockout is played.
Post-break, a check-in with Scott, and a 5th Primary-based drill in Amin/Cmaj for boning up on fretboard knowledge.
Brad asks a small question about a harmony part in Thrak.
Some work with Sigh and a Kiss, which includes an extended bit of solo trading between Glenn and Brad, as well as reviewing Glenn's revised revision to the ending. Eventually, we get a couple of successful runs through the parts. There is a question about how this may or may not apply to the work towards the OCG.
A moment of silence to end the meeting. Afterwards, goats.
With Scott on his way, we begin by warming up with the First Secondary on 2 strings, in basic chromatic form. At Victor's suggestion, we try with a symmetrical scale, but switch to Dorian. Eventually, we give 3 strings a shot, but this proves to be a bit much in Dorian, so at Glenn's request we fall back to the basic chromatic 4-fret form. This eventually gets harmonized. A short discussion on how we learn, and the systematization of learning through patterns and numbers.
It comes to light that Brad has not learned Chrysanthemum yet, so the next bit of time is spent running the intro and first section of the head so that he can learn this piece (and eventually transcribe it). Scott arrives in the middle of this.
Victor calls a circulation; Cmaj with some chromaticism follows. Next, a simple form of +4/-3 follows; the ante is then upped when Victor directs us to cycle through the 60 points with each iteration of the complete form (every 16 beats). We have a bit of a group habit of stepping on each other's toes at moments, and there are a couple of moments where the 60 Point form gets confused. But generally, we make it through.
Back/backside break, during which knockout is played.
Post-break, a check-in with Scott, and a 5th Primary-based drill in Amin/Cmaj for boning up on fretboard knowledge.
Brad asks a small question about a harmony part in Thrak.
Some work with Sigh and a Kiss, which includes an extended bit of solo trading between Glenn and Brad, as well as reviewing Glenn's revised revision to the ending. Eventually, we get a couple of successful runs through the parts. There is a question about how this may or may not apply to the work towards the OCG.
A moment of silence to end the meeting. Afterwards, goats.
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