Attending: Victor, Chris, Rick, Scott, Dev, Brad
The meeting opens with some necessary discussion about the status of the project, and where everyone stands on it. Good comments all around. This leads into a list-making session to decide what the primary list of repertoire will be, so that we can move on to some new food.
Asturias, Where is the Nurse?, and Calliope are the next trio to get the bump.
Moving into guitarizing. . . Victor leads calisthenics. About 10 minutes of "group looping".
Working on Nurse. A lot with this piece really stems from relating to the beat and time. Some disagreement on certain small but important points in the bass, but clarification is made. Lots of looping parts.
A break while Chris takes his leave for the night.
Back in the circle: Calliope. It needs work, certainly, but it *is* rusty. Victor makes some points about accent picking.
Some work with Asturias.
A couple of quiet circulations to close the night.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Mid-week at Dev's
2013/11/06
2100-2230
In attendance: Chris, Dev, RM, Scott
Arriving at Dev's for 1830 for a pre-meeting dinner I find that I am the first to arrive. Scott arrives a little before 1900 but Chris is nearly a full hour late! The group takes this in stride as he travels from two states away to attend meetings. Conversation and catching up while waiting on Chris.
Dinner at a local Indian fine dining establishment from 2000-2045. It was Victor's suggestion that the group meet for dinner and at this particular restaurant.
Circling up and beginning at 2100 with Scott running calisthenics. Scott proclaims first primary work and sets the metronome at a "slow" tempo. Working in eight notes changing from alternate picking in one position, then all release in the next position, then all return in the next and then the pattern repeats. Some observations are made regarding rushing during certain picking approaches. The next exercise is to play a first primary variation where a pattern (1-2-3-4) is played on one string while counting out loud in 5 and once the fingering/counting pattern resolves, moving to the next string. As an added challenge on the way down the neck from 1st string to 6th, the open string is added as the first note and the counting is in 4. Some comments are made regarding the challenge of staying with the count and the not rushing ahead of the click.
Work then proceeds to VOAC. Comments after the first run through include "That was much better than the first run through at last meeting" and "The dynamics seem more pronounced". A question is asked about dynamics in the "pulse" part and RM noticing the difference in playing the "claw" alone with two "pulses." The tempo is referenced with the metronome, it is played again and immediately afterward the tempo is verified with the metronome. A comment is made that the tempo slowed slightly but that this was "not too bad."
EOTN is next. The initial run through is met with a comment of "yikes" immediately afterward. Lotsa mistakes and misses and a bit of discussion follows as to what was experienced during these misses. Also a brief discussion is made as to the bass players giving their notes their full value as well as request to RM from Dev: "Can you please play it perfectly at next meeting?" RM agrees to comply. Another run through followed by a request by Scott to improv. Dev suggests that Scott begin by playing a motif and we would all join in. Afterward some discussion on difficulty trying to find tone centers through some of the shifting that the improv presented (Scott's initial motif also had a non-diatonic chromatic element that I can best describe as outlining a progression similar to "White Room" by Cream). Dev recollected some work that the 'Circle did about 3 years ago with recognizing tone centers and hinted at revisiting this.
At 2210 Chris announces that he needs to leave and after a some discussion and a brief pause the meeting is completed at 2230. Before he does leave we engage is a bit of chat centered around Chris' movie watching project and his request for future movie suggestions are plentiful. After Chris leaves Dev and Scott introduce RM to an episode of Metalocalypse which rounds out an evening of work sandwiched between some socializing and camaraderie building.
2100-2230
In attendance: Chris, Dev, RM, Scott
Arriving at Dev's for 1830 for a pre-meeting dinner I find that I am the first to arrive. Scott arrives a little before 1900 but Chris is nearly a full hour late! The group takes this in stride as he travels from two states away to attend meetings. Conversation and catching up while waiting on Chris.
Dinner at a local Indian fine dining establishment from 2000-2045. It was Victor's suggestion that the group meet for dinner and at this particular restaurant.
Circling up and beginning at 2100 with Scott running calisthenics. Scott proclaims first primary work and sets the metronome at a "slow" tempo. Working in eight notes changing from alternate picking in one position, then all release in the next position, then all return in the next and then the pattern repeats. Some observations are made regarding rushing during certain picking approaches. The next exercise is to play a first primary variation where a pattern (1-2-3-4) is played on one string while counting out loud in 5 and once the fingering/counting pattern resolves, moving to the next string. As an added challenge on the way down the neck from 1st string to 6th, the open string is added as the first note and the counting is in 4. Some comments are made regarding the challenge of staying with the count and the not rushing ahead of the click.
Work then proceeds to VOAC. Comments after the first run through include "That was much better than the first run through at last meeting" and "The dynamics seem more pronounced". A question is asked about dynamics in the "pulse" part and RM noticing the difference in playing the "claw" alone with two "pulses." The tempo is referenced with the metronome, it is played again and immediately afterward the tempo is verified with the metronome. A comment is made that the tempo slowed slightly but that this was "not too bad."
EOTN is next. The initial run through is met with a comment of "yikes" immediately afterward. Lotsa mistakes and misses and a bit of discussion follows as to what was experienced during these misses. Also a brief discussion is made as to the bass players giving their notes their full value as well as request to RM from Dev: "Can you please play it perfectly at next meeting?" RM agrees to comply. Another run through followed by a request by Scott to improv. Dev suggests that Scott begin by playing a motif and we would all join in. Afterward some discussion on difficulty trying to find tone centers through some of the shifting that the improv presented (Scott's initial motif also had a non-diatonic chromatic element that I can best describe as outlining a progression similar to "White Room" by Cream). Dev recollected some work that the 'Circle did about 3 years ago with recognizing tone centers and hinted at revisiting this.
At 2210 Chris announces that he needs to leave and after a some discussion and a brief pause the meeting is completed at 2230. Before he does leave we engage is a bit of chat centered around Chris' movie watching project and his request for future movie suggestions are plentiful. After Chris leaves Dev and Scott introduce RM to an episode of Metalocalypse which rounds out an evening of work sandwiched between some socializing and camaraderie building.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Thacher Music Room, 11-4-2013
Minutes by Dev
We began with Victor leading calisthenics. Relaxing the left hand, going through each part of the hand. Victor set the metronome and we played on beat 1 of a 4-beat click. Over time, we added more notes, but always with the idea of burying the click and playing with full tone. We would periodically be reminded of relaxation. We progressed through some variations, eventually playing one note on each string while tapping our heads, moving around, etc. Some work on the Burbles and getting them to sit right in the "mix".
This led into work on Eye of the Needle. We played it through once, and then broke it down into sections. Various people played parts together, to more clearly hear what was going on. Scott was shown the idea of picking through the string and resting the pick on the adjacent string. Lots of work here on subtle but important musical ideas.
Victor discussed the idea of not "knowing", but "seeing".
Break
Work on Voices of Ancient Children was next. A run-through, and then smaller groups. We spent some time on dynamics and also on when the "claw" part should re-enter after the "free melody" line of the lead.
It was almost time for Chris to leave, but we worked on Flying Home. Work with the basses on accenting the open D. The idea of letting the piece do the work. Victor discussed other traditions and practicing.
Completion
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