In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski, Dev Ray.
No Glenn, tonight: he's having a sudden case of the not-feeling-wells.
Beginning at roughly 7:40, with the 28 Bar Exercise. After the first time through, Victor advises that, if we are unable to play it consistently as 32nd notes (current speed at about 50 bpm), to drop down to playing as sixteenth notes, without the tremolo on top. It's okay to play and drop in and out, if necessary, for now. Second time through, there's a bit of confusion--the speed went up slightly, and most tried it as sixteenths, but this was aborted in favor of a slower speed and 32nd notes.
Circulation. Victor begins several times, pausing after each circuit, which has something of an effect of setting a tempo, and then continues. After about 3 or 4 minutes, he stops the circulation, and asks the circle what key we are playing in. The responses seem to be Cmaj, Dmin, or Gmaj. Victor calls for each person to choose a note in Cmaj, and then directs the playing of the chord. He then does the same in Dmin and Gmaj, but none of them seem to match up with what we were just playing. Calling for C7, most people jump for the Bflat, which is interesting in and of itself. This does seem to be the closer match for the key that we'd been playing in.
The general direction that this discussion is heading is something to note: how aware one is of the improvisation. One may have a concept of playing a consecutive series of chromatic notes within the circulation, in relation to everyone else, but the "validity" of the concept won't be known until immediately before one plays--this might be literally the space of a 1/100th of a second. Being sensitive to what the group is doing playing is invaluable.
The further implications of this are extremely important, in the case of a performance. As performers, the ability to set the mood and atmosphere through music can be very powerful, but comes with a great deal of responsibility. Used recklessly, it can be damaging for both audience and performer. But we're not in that business!
Moving into repertoire. Nurse is up, and we play through it once. Some notes about cleaning things up are offered--it's not quite as clean as the week before. The leads get some good work out of observing the very last note in the bar (the 3 of the second 3, or "123-12-12-123") and emphasing that to really nail the "one" of the bar. This work translates over into the basses. One more run at a slightly faster pace.
Growing Circle is next. After the first play through, Victor notices that we played the middle section's dynamics in reverse from what we intended--making the adjustment makes an enormous difference. Some spot work on a couple of sections, and one more playthrough from the bass entrance, and we move on to Calliope. 4 basses and 2 leads, and one of the leads plays the bass part on the entrance, so it's a fairly unbalanced mix. A couple of notes about intonation and letting notes get a little crazy (not always a bad thing), and we break.
After a few minutes, back to the circle. We're working with Thrak, now--a first attempt at playing straight through goes down pretty quickly, and we buckle down to work each section with the metronome. The 1-4s, the 1-3s, and the 5s of the rock'n'roll section each get some quality time, along with the polyrhythm section. As usual, playing to the click track proves useful, and we play it once more through, without the metronome.
Prelude Circulation. Without Glenn, we enlist Alex to learn the Glenn notes of the last four bars. Playing one bar is proving to be a struggle--we get through, but not as easily as we should be able to. We move on to Eye of the Needle--Victor asks the basses to be more assertive, especially in the Dmin section, which really brings it together.
Last piece of the night--Asturias. A couple of arrangment notes (who takes the lead in the twinkle section, who takes it out, who keeps twinkling), and played once. Having a simple piece like this can be helpful, as it leaves everything on a good note, for the end of the rehearsal. With that, some notes on logistics for the gig, and who will be where, this next week. The meeting ends in silence at roughly 10:20.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 01-24-2010, 'The Loft'
In attendance: Victor McSurely, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski. Rick McCarthy and Dev Ray unable to make it, due to family matters.
Beginning the meeting at roughly 7:40 in silence. After a moment, Victor asks to warm up with the same rhythmic expansion exercise, but with an added dimension, based on the overtone series:
1: Open C
2: 5th Fret C
3: 5th Fret G
4: 3rd Fret C
5: 7th Fret E
6: 10th Fret G
7: 13th Fret Bflat, pushed flat (in the overtone series, this note is slightly less than a minor 3rd above the previous overtone)
8: 8th Fret C
And back down again. Additionally, we begin one after another, in a round fashion (displaced by 4 beats each). Especially in this format, the 5s and 7s are still soupy--several reasons are put forward why this might be, with the general consensus that how the 7 is played and counted is still kind of fuzzy.
This leads to a discussion of logistics, both for the Montessori gig in February, as well as some new prospects for regular gigs (once a week, ideally). There are some options that we have, and we'll be pursuing most of them, it seems:
-A regular gig at PA's Lounge, with the idea to turn it into a shared gig
-Some different spots in the Central/Inman Square area
-A couple of spots in Jamaica Plain
-Some venues both to the west of Boston, as well as further south in Connecticut, though these would more likely be occasional gigs (the idea being to keep it accessible and available in the city)
Moving on to repertoire, we visit Growing Circle. This is on the setlist, so we work it a little harder than normal: twice through, with some fairly particular attention to dynamics. As short and to-the-point as this piece is, small nuances are extremely important, so we really work on properly defining the dynamic movement of the piece. One more run of part of the piece, to solidify a point, and on to Love is Green (from Jeff Beck's album 'Wired'). This is a trio, with Victor, Chris, and Glenn--apparently, this arrangement is very effective, and breathes quite a bit more than an ensemble piece. So, it will remain a trio arrangement. On that note, a break is called, and a break is delivered.
Back in the circle, we work on Opening, from Philip Glass' Glassworks. With Rick and Dev gone, Brad is the only person present who has played the bass part, so Alex is asked to read the part as well. This actually goes very well, and bumps the piece from the 'hopeful' list to the 'part of the setlist' list. This will be a fun piece to play in full.
Nurse is next. We play it once through, and Victor calls for section work. Alex and Brad head to the hall, and work on bass, while the leads remain in the loft. After about ten minutes, the basses head back in and sit down. Once through Nurse in full, at a sprightly pace, and it is very good.
After this, we hit several pieces in quick succession: Third Relation, Calliope, and Flying Home. This brings us up to ten o'clock, which means that Alex, and thus Chris as well, must head home. The meeting ends in silence at about 10:05 p.m.
Beginning the meeting at roughly 7:40 in silence. After a moment, Victor asks to warm up with the same rhythmic expansion exercise, but with an added dimension, based on the overtone series:
1: Open C
2: 5th Fret C
3: 5th Fret G
4: 3rd Fret C
5: 7th Fret E
6: 10th Fret G
7: 13th Fret Bflat, pushed flat (in the overtone series, this note is slightly less than a minor 3rd above the previous overtone)
8: 8th Fret C
And back down again. Additionally, we begin one after another, in a round fashion (displaced by 4 beats each). Especially in this format, the 5s and 7s are still soupy--several reasons are put forward why this might be, with the general consensus that how the 7 is played and counted is still kind of fuzzy.
This leads to a discussion of logistics, both for the Montessori gig in February, as well as some new prospects for regular gigs (once a week, ideally). There are some options that we have, and we'll be pursuing most of them, it seems:
-A regular gig at PA's Lounge, with the idea to turn it into a shared gig
-Some different spots in the Central/Inman Square area
-A couple of spots in Jamaica Plain
-Some venues both to the west of Boston, as well as further south in Connecticut, though these would more likely be occasional gigs (the idea being to keep it accessible and available in the city)
Moving on to repertoire, we visit Growing Circle. This is on the setlist, so we work it a little harder than normal: twice through, with some fairly particular attention to dynamics. As short and to-the-point as this piece is, small nuances are extremely important, so we really work on properly defining the dynamic movement of the piece. One more run of part of the piece, to solidify a point, and on to Love is Green (from Jeff Beck's album 'Wired'). This is a trio, with Victor, Chris, and Glenn--apparently, this arrangement is very effective, and breathes quite a bit more than an ensemble piece. So, it will remain a trio arrangement. On that note, a break is called, and a break is delivered.
Back in the circle, we work on Opening, from Philip Glass' Glassworks. With Rick and Dev gone, Brad is the only person present who has played the bass part, so Alex is asked to read the part as well. This actually goes very well, and bumps the piece from the 'hopeful' list to the 'part of the setlist' list. This will be a fun piece to play in full.
Nurse is next. We play it once through, and Victor calls for section work. Alex and Brad head to the hall, and work on bass, while the leads remain in the loft. After about ten minutes, the basses head back in and sit down. Once through Nurse in full, at a sprightly pace, and it is very good.
After this, we hit several pieces in quick succession: Third Relation, Calliope, and Flying Home. This brings us up to ten o'clock, which means that Alex, and thus Chris as well, must head home. The meeting ends in silence at about 10:05 p.m.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 01-17-2010
In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Dev Ray.
The meeting commences at roughly 7:40 p.m., with Victor, Rick, Chris, and Brad running the subdivision exercise (1 to 8 and back again). Dev arrives a few minutes later and joins in, once he's sitting in the circle. There is still a tendency for the 7s in the progression to sound like soup. Victor stops it for a moment and brings everyone's attention to the picking action, which should be immediate and fast, no matter what speed the tempo or subdivision is. This firms everything up a little bit. Victor pauses again and asks everyone to begin on an upstroke. The difference is night and day, to these ears: it is considerably tighter and more focused.
Moving on to bringing the left hand into play: the primary C Melody section of Calliope, looped. First attempt at counting is 6 bars of 4, which is abandoned for 4 bars of 3, to focus. We then move to 3 bars of 4. This is difficult for most people, especially if it is on something that they haven't previously divided attention with. After working this for a bit, Victor tells us to leave the counting and just play it. Dev stops playing, while we continue to go on. When we finally come to a halt, Dev explains that he had begun to experience quite a bit of tension in his left hand while trying to count, and that it was still there when we left the counting, so he had stopped, to bring his hand back into a less tense state.
Victor looks at him for a moment, and then says, "When ready, begin."
Then, "Circulation."
After the circulation ends, Victor asks the circle what they are passing. Brad: "Intention." Dev: "A quality." Rick: "Tension. It's been a rough week." This leads into a discussion of What We Play, and What Informs Our Playing, and what role our outside life has in what we play. Some interesting things are said.
Calliope in full. The first attempt to play becomes a case of "runaway tempo", and is stopped quickly. The second time is a full runthrough, and sounds much better.
A break for a few minutes.
Back in the circle, Flying Home. Dev points out to Brad some notes that are being played a touch too long (in this case, a touch is definitively too long), which is worked out a bit. This piece also brings up something from Victor: FH is a particular piece, in that there is essentially one rhythm that is played throughout the entire length. In fact, even with the very clear key changes, the subtlety of the section changes is what really make the song work. The circle is still treating each change as "a section", though, as opposed to moving into the next section and letting it speak for itself [my paraphrasing, and as concise as I can make it].
Third Relation, twice. The first time is not so good, and some sections are dropped by players. A second time is better.
At the request of one of the younger members, Askesis. This falls apart somewhere in the middle, and after some clarification on parts, is run again, from beginning to end.
What follows is a somewhat long (but somewhat necessarily so) discussion of Guitar Craft Face, or the necessity of both controlling what registers on one's face while performing and being able to have an intent to one's expression. The fact that we will be playing for children in a bit less than a month is very important to remember: they don't care about what our hands are doing, and will mostly care about the music, but it's our faces that they'll be looking at, which will color the entire experience for them.
Calliope played once more. Much tighter than at the beginning of the meeting.
Silence, and the end of the meeting. We draw up a setlist (order to be determined), discuss some logistics for musical decisions (how certain pieces will be played, in terms of who plays what), and what will be coming up in the next rehearsals. There is also mention of possible studio time coming up, but that is a discussion to be saved for the future. Adjournment at roughly 11:00 p.m.
The meeting commences at roughly 7:40 p.m., with Victor, Rick, Chris, and Brad running the subdivision exercise (1 to 8 and back again). Dev arrives a few minutes later and joins in, once he's sitting in the circle. There is still a tendency for the 7s in the progression to sound like soup. Victor stops it for a moment and brings everyone's attention to the picking action, which should be immediate and fast, no matter what speed the tempo or subdivision is. This firms everything up a little bit. Victor pauses again and asks everyone to begin on an upstroke. The difference is night and day, to these ears: it is considerably tighter and more focused.
Moving on to bringing the left hand into play: the primary C Melody section of Calliope, looped. First attempt at counting is 6 bars of 4, which is abandoned for 4 bars of 3, to focus. We then move to 3 bars of 4. This is difficult for most people, especially if it is on something that they haven't previously divided attention with. After working this for a bit, Victor tells us to leave the counting and just play it. Dev stops playing, while we continue to go on. When we finally come to a halt, Dev explains that he had begun to experience quite a bit of tension in his left hand while trying to count, and that it was still there when we left the counting, so he had stopped, to bring his hand back into a less tense state.
Victor looks at him for a moment, and then says, "When ready, begin."
Then, "Circulation."
After the circulation ends, Victor asks the circle what they are passing. Brad: "Intention." Dev: "A quality." Rick: "Tension. It's been a rough week." This leads into a discussion of What We Play, and What Informs Our Playing, and what role our outside life has in what we play. Some interesting things are said.
Calliope in full. The first attempt to play becomes a case of "runaway tempo", and is stopped quickly. The second time is a full runthrough, and sounds much better.
A break for a few minutes.
Back in the circle, Flying Home. Dev points out to Brad some notes that are being played a touch too long (in this case, a touch is definitively too long), which is worked out a bit. This piece also brings up something from Victor: FH is a particular piece, in that there is essentially one rhythm that is played throughout the entire length. In fact, even with the very clear key changes, the subtlety of the section changes is what really make the song work. The circle is still treating each change as "a section", though, as opposed to moving into the next section and letting it speak for itself [my paraphrasing, and as concise as I can make it].
Third Relation, twice. The first time is not so good, and some sections are dropped by players. A second time is better.
At the request of one of the younger members, Askesis. This falls apart somewhere in the middle, and after some clarification on parts, is run again, from beginning to end.
What follows is a somewhat long (but somewhat necessarily so) discussion of Guitar Craft Face, or the necessity of both controlling what registers on one's face while performing and being able to have an intent to one's expression. The fact that we will be playing for children in a bit less than a month is very important to remember: they don't care about what our hands are doing, and will mostly care about the music, but it's our faces that they'll be looking at, which will color the entire experience for them.
Calliope played once more. Much tighter than at the beginning of the meeting.
Silence, and the end of the meeting. We draw up a setlist (order to be determined), discuss some logistics for musical decisions (how certain pieces will be played, in terms of who plays what), and what will be coming up in the next rehearsals. There is also mention of possible studio time coming up, but that is a discussion to be saved for the future. Adjournment at roughly 11:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
GCNE Meeting 01-10-2010
In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski.
First in the building tonight are Victor, Brad, and Rick. After turning on the lights and PA, Victor starts the metronome at roughly 48 bpm, and begins the subdivision exercise (one note per beat, then two, then three, up to eight, and back again). Rick and Brad sit down separately and join in; eventually, Chris, Alex, and Glenn all arrive and join in as they sit. Roughly 10 minutes of this, all together.
Moving on to 3rd Rel. We begin by playing the F#m descending section, counting out loud as 8 bars of 4. We then move to attempting the count as 12 bars of 3--we're forced to abandon playing the entire section and instead play just the F#m chords (playing as two bars of 4 while counting in 3 out loud). This has a more solid sense to it, and we play the whole piece several times, addressing different issues as they arise.
Up next is Prelude--we haven't worked this one for a while, so it takes a moment for everyone to remember their way through the piece. The end of the prelude gives us some trouble, as well, so we run the last 4 bars several times, in order to solidify the unusual phrasing. Running the whole piece again, the time begins to really assert itself as an issue, leading Victor to ask everyone how they are marking time. There are several methods being used, from sensing the pulse in the core, to marking time with the foot, to simply allowing the music to speak and take command. The real difficulty is in being able to move fluidly between marking time as 8ths, as 16ths, and in the larger context of the music. Alex, who is not currently playing on this, remarks that there are several moments where it's clear that the circulation is moving as a phrase through the group. We run the piece once or twice more, and then take a short break.
During the break, gear talk ensues, and a consensus is reached: we need to know what nutrient baths are being used to grow $20 tortoiseshell picks. If any readers have some information as to the growth process, your help will be greatly appreciated.
Back in the circle, we revisit Nurse, and play once through, after which Rick moves to bass. Further work ensues--the leads take a moment to run the end, in order to get everyone's hands agreeing on phrasing and timing. Basses back in, and we run twice more, with noticeable improvement.
Flying Home is next: 3 basses and 3 leads. Once through, with one comment from Victor: "That one's going to be fun."
Calliope, next. Played once (?), with some spot work.
Bicycling, after this. This is really starting to sound good, and there were a few moments that sounded splendid, throughout this.
After this is played, Alex stands up, noting this to be the end of the meeting for him (it is 10 p.m., and he still has to drive home and be at work in the morning). This also marks the end of the meeting for Chris, and for everyone. There is some talk about practicalities, such as working on division of attention exercises using repertoire as source material, and we all take our leave for the week.
First in the building tonight are Victor, Brad, and Rick. After turning on the lights and PA, Victor starts the metronome at roughly 48 bpm, and begins the subdivision exercise (one note per beat, then two, then three, up to eight, and back again). Rick and Brad sit down separately and join in; eventually, Chris, Alex, and Glenn all arrive and join in as they sit. Roughly 10 minutes of this, all together.
Moving on to 3rd Rel. We begin by playing the F#m descending section, counting out loud as 8 bars of 4. We then move to attempting the count as 12 bars of 3--we're forced to abandon playing the entire section and instead play just the F#m chords (playing as two bars of 4 while counting in 3 out loud). This has a more solid sense to it, and we play the whole piece several times, addressing different issues as they arise.
Up next is Prelude--we haven't worked this one for a while, so it takes a moment for everyone to remember their way through the piece. The end of the prelude gives us some trouble, as well, so we run the last 4 bars several times, in order to solidify the unusual phrasing. Running the whole piece again, the time begins to really assert itself as an issue, leading Victor to ask everyone how they are marking time. There are several methods being used, from sensing the pulse in the core, to marking time with the foot, to simply allowing the music to speak and take command. The real difficulty is in being able to move fluidly between marking time as 8ths, as 16ths, and in the larger context of the music. Alex, who is not currently playing on this, remarks that there are several moments where it's clear that the circulation is moving as a phrase through the group. We run the piece once or twice more, and then take a short break.
During the break, gear talk ensues, and a consensus is reached: we need to know what nutrient baths are being used to grow $20 tortoiseshell picks. If any readers have some information as to the growth process, your help will be greatly appreciated.
Back in the circle, we revisit Nurse, and play once through, after which Rick moves to bass. Further work ensues--the leads take a moment to run the end, in order to get everyone's hands agreeing on phrasing and timing. Basses back in, and we run twice more, with noticeable improvement.
Flying Home is next: 3 basses and 3 leads. Once through, with one comment from Victor: "That one's going to be fun."
Calliope, next. Played once (?), with some spot work.
Bicycling, after this. This is really starting to sound good, and there were a few moments that sounded splendid, throughout this.
After this is played, Alex stands up, noting this to be the end of the meeting for him (it is 10 p.m., and he still has to drive home and be at work in the morning). This also marks the end of the meeting for Chris, and for everyone. There is some talk about practicalities, such as working on division of attention exercises using repertoire as source material, and we all take our leave for the week.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
GCNE Meeting, 01-03-2010
In attendance: Victor McSurely, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, and Dev Ray. Alex Lahoski and Rick McCarthy are unable to attend, due to weather concerns.
Beginning the meeting at roughly 7:40, Victor starts things off with the metronome at about 48 bpm: "Four beats each, with first one note, then two, then three per beat, up to eight notes (or sixteenths). And, instead of starting over at one note, go back to seven, then six, and so on." With one false start, and Dev still pulling his guitar out of his case, we work with this for roughly 10 minutes or so. What is interesting is straining to hear the click, while fighting the urge to gradually speed up into the next set (i.e. beginning the 7 as a 6, and then speeding up to stuff in the last couple notes, just in time to play the 8), but then feeling the time stretch as we shift down to 7, to 6, to 5, and struggling to stretch out the spaces enough.
Moving on to the left hand, and the first primary. Pattern: 2-4-1-3. Three times up and down the neck.
Free circulation, with Victor stopping the first pass, and beginning it again.
Flying Home, with work on the introductory 2 bars and 4 bars of the D section. We count this as what it is: 6 bars of 7 beats. Counting it out loud proves to be very difficult for most in the room; we all know how the music "goes", and can drop into the right slot after dropping out, but the act of vocalization (and vocalizing a specific thought or "coordinate", to boot) provides a formidable challenge. Glenn is successful in regularly getting a sound to come out of his mouth. Victor points this out, and Glenn notes that continuity of the pulse is something that is fairly easy for him to hold on to, but that there is a big disconnect when trying to actually use language to mark where he is--talking and saying a specific word seems to be antithetical to what his hands are doing [my paraphrasing]. Victor agrees, and mentions that it gets easier, once one is able to do this on a couple different pieces of music. Also, for the time being, he chooses to not go into 7 bars of 6 beats (!). This said, once through Flying home in full, and then we break.
After the break, we work with Nurse, for the first time in about three weeks. There's a couple of roughish spots from not having been played, along with a couple of tricky timing bits, but the dynamics seem to jump out quite nicely.
During one run of Nurse, there is a moment where we all collectively pull back: first the leads, and then the basses trip up. Recovering quickly, the circle finishes the piece, and Victor declares that this is the first time in a long time that everyone is so courteous that, when making a mistake, we each acknowledge that "that might have been me!" This leads him to refer vaguely to an incident at his first Level III course--the pregnant silence then invites the story of the first performance of the League of Crafty Guitarists where RF was not present in the performance ("I always thought that it'd be Tony!").
IBE next. Victor and Brad on lead, and Dev, Glenn, and Chris on bass. A couple of spots where Brad drops for a moment, but nothing that personal practice won't address. Played twice.
Third Relation. Within a bar, instant rushing in the basses, which gets worse as we get into the first D section, after the intro. Victor stops it quickly, and attempts to run it again. Same problem, so we work with the metronome, and loop the midtro and first D section, while being asked to count 4 bars of 4 concurrently. This will take some personal practice. We run the piece once through, and the rushing does diminish noticeably.
To finish the night, we play Thrak twice--first with the Lark's section, and then straight in. It is fast, tight, and right on the edge of being over the top. In other words, very good.
Silence, with a few words of practicalities coming up (a presentational gig at Victor's school, for instance), and we end at roughly 10:30 p.m.
Beginning the meeting at roughly 7:40, Victor starts things off with the metronome at about 48 bpm: "Four beats each, with first one note, then two, then three per beat, up to eight notes (or sixteenths). And, instead of starting over at one note, go back to seven, then six, and so on." With one false start, and Dev still pulling his guitar out of his case, we work with this for roughly 10 minutes or so. What is interesting is straining to hear the click, while fighting the urge to gradually speed up into the next set (i.e. beginning the 7 as a 6, and then speeding up to stuff in the last couple notes, just in time to play the 8), but then feeling the time stretch as we shift down to 7, to 6, to 5, and struggling to stretch out the spaces enough.
Moving on to the left hand, and the first primary. Pattern: 2-4-1-3. Three times up and down the neck.
Free circulation, with Victor stopping the first pass, and beginning it again.
Flying Home, with work on the introductory 2 bars and 4 bars of the D section. We count this as what it is: 6 bars of 7 beats. Counting it out loud proves to be very difficult for most in the room; we all know how the music "goes", and can drop into the right slot after dropping out, but the act of vocalization (and vocalizing a specific thought or "coordinate", to boot) provides a formidable challenge. Glenn is successful in regularly getting a sound to come out of his mouth. Victor points this out, and Glenn notes that continuity of the pulse is something that is fairly easy for him to hold on to, but that there is a big disconnect when trying to actually use language to mark where he is--talking and saying a specific word seems to be antithetical to what his hands are doing [my paraphrasing]. Victor agrees, and mentions that it gets easier, once one is able to do this on a couple different pieces of music. Also, for the time being, he chooses to not go into 7 bars of 6 beats (!). This said, once through Flying home in full, and then we break.
After the break, we work with Nurse, for the first time in about three weeks. There's a couple of roughish spots from not having been played, along with a couple of tricky timing bits, but the dynamics seem to jump out quite nicely.
During one run of Nurse, there is a moment where we all collectively pull back: first the leads, and then the basses trip up. Recovering quickly, the circle finishes the piece, and Victor declares that this is the first time in a long time that everyone is so courteous that, when making a mistake, we each acknowledge that "that might have been me!" This leads him to refer vaguely to an incident at his first Level III course--the pregnant silence then invites the story of the first performance of the League of Crafty Guitarists where RF was not present in the performance ("I always thought that it'd be Tony!").
IBE next. Victor and Brad on lead, and Dev, Glenn, and Chris on bass. A couple of spots where Brad drops for a moment, but nothing that personal practice won't address. Played twice.
Third Relation. Within a bar, instant rushing in the basses, which gets worse as we get into the first D section, after the intro. Victor stops it quickly, and attempts to run it again. Same problem, so we work with the metronome, and loop the midtro and first D section, while being asked to count 4 bars of 4 concurrently. This will take some personal practice. We run the piece once through, and the rushing does diminish noticeably.
To finish the night, we play Thrak twice--first with the Lark's section, and then straight in. It is fast, tight, and right on the edge of being over the top. In other words, very good.
Silence, with a few words of practicalities coming up (a presentational gig at Victor's school, for instance), and we end at roughly 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Notes for Sunday, 12-20-2009
Due to the nasty weather (and at least one person having to drive up from Connecticut in said weather), this week's meeting has been called off. With Christmas this coming weekend, we'd already chosen to take next week off, so this means that the next meeting will be held on January 3rd, 2010.
Coincidentally, this also happens to be roughly the same break as the current Guitar Craft AAD course. To all who read, thank you, and we'll see you next year.
jbh
Coincidentally, this also happens to be roughly the same break as the current Guitar Craft AAD course. To all who read, thank you, and we'll see you next year.
jbh
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
GCNE Meeting, 12-13-2009, "The Loft"
In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski, and Dev Ray.
The weather is being unkind, tonight, with a fairly strong rain coming down. Brad, Rick, and Glenn all arrive together, and walk up to the loft to find Victor already there, warming up. Some items exchange hands. Chris and Alex arrive a few minutes later, and the word is that Dev is on his way, but running late due to traffic. Andy Cahill will be taking some time for personal practice, study, and preparation for joining the circle proper, so to speak.
After a short silence, we begin at about 7:45 p.m. Victor mentions good wishes sent our way from both Curt Golden and Elan Sicroff, earlier that night. Warming up begins with a subdivision exercise presented by Victor. The metronome set at 48 bpm, we play:
One note to the beat, for four beats
Two notes to the beat, for four beats
Three notes to the beat, for four beats
Four notes to the beat, for four beats
Five notes to the beat, for four beats
Six notes to the beat, for four beats
Seven notes to the beat, for four beats
Eight notes to the beat, for four beats,
and start over.
There is a general understanding that, to begin with, the 7 and 8 beats will sound like an aural soup. And, true to form, they start out sounding pretty murky, and continue to do so. What is interesting, though, is that over the course of maybe five minutes or so, the "ones" begin to really come together and really have a solidity to them.
From this, we move on to a second warm-up, which hasn't been presented in this circle: the 28-bar exercise. This is a chordal sequence in G-minor, with a strict alternate picking pattern of 5-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2 (the number implies the string), with each note being a 32nd note. As he presents this, Victor notes that there are three ways to present this exercise: playing it as sixteenths (5-2-4-2-3-2-4-2-3-2-4-2-3-2), playing it as 32nds, and playing it while visualizing the count of the 28 bars. We play through the sequence once, slowly. Victor then mentions that there is a fourth way to play this exercise--one can play it in honor of the dead. He also notes that, incidentally, it is the 35th anniversary of J.G. Bennett's death. With this in mind, we play it at a more performance-minded tempo, twice through, pause for a moment, and then circulate.
Victor calls Eye of the Needle. Played once.
Victor then calls 3rd Relation. We play this, and there is considerable rushing throughout. In an effort to work on this, we first attempt to play it slower. Failing this, the metronome comes back out. This still doesn't quite work, so we pair off and play the piece. Going through each pair, Victor then asks what note is on count 2, and what note is on count 3. When we hesitate, Victor points out that we need to know the map precisely, and know what note is where, in the piece, so that we can put it right in where it needs to be. He also stresses the relation of that note to the big "macro-beat", and notes how, in the opening exercise, the "one" was impossible to deny (my paraphrasing), and how we need to bring that into other things that we play.
With this, we take a longish break, with a couple different conversations going around, mostly centered on numbers, the Dead String Quartet, and the Bassomatic. Glenn also takes the time to take a picture of the circle, sans players:
Returning to the circle, we revisit the Prelude circulation, starting with the last 4 bars (the trickiest part of the piece). The work on the prelude generally involves playing in time, more than anything; the notes have not been a problem for a couple of weeks. Eventually, the plan is to be able to move this into a more expressive tempo feel (not metronomic), but we first need to be able to nail it metronomically first. After some pretty intensive work with the metronome, this begins to pull together more, and we make it up to somewhere in the vicinity of 88-94 bpm.
Where is the Nurse is next. Played twice, with a little more attention to tempo the second time, but otherwise played quite well. It's not as fast as some versions out there, but it feels right, and it's good to really be able to say that we've essentially got it. Batrachomyomachy, next. Some tuning inconsistencies in the bass, but not much else. This is followed by Bicycling, with some dropping out occuring due to lack of time spent with the piece, but still nothing difficult to address. We next play Intergalactic Boogie Express, and Flying Home. The meeting ends in silence at roughly 10:30 p.m., with some discussion of a slightly earlier meeting time next week following.
The weather is being unkind, tonight, with a fairly strong rain coming down. Brad, Rick, and Glenn all arrive together, and walk up to the loft to find Victor already there, warming up. Some items exchange hands. Chris and Alex arrive a few minutes later, and the word is that Dev is on his way, but running late due to traffic. Andy Cahill will be taking some time for personal practice, study, and preparation for joining the circle proper, so to speak.
After a short silence, we begin at about 7:45 p.m. Victor mentions good wishes sent our way from both Curt Golden and Elan Sicroff, earlier that night. Warming up begins with a subdivision exercise presented by Victor. The metronome set at 48 bpm, we play:
One note to the beat, for four beats
Two notes to the beat, for four beats
Three notes to the beat, for four beats
Four notes to the beat, for four beats
Five notes to the beat, for four beats
Six notes to the beat, for four beats
Seven notes to the beat, for four beats
Eight notes to the beat, for four beats,
and start over.
There is a general understanding that, to begin with, the 7 and 8 beats will sound like an aural soup. And, true to form, they start out sounding pretty murky, and continue to do so. What is interesting, though, is that over the course of maybe five minutes or so, the "ones" begin to really come together and really have a solidity to them.
From this, we move on to a second warm-up, which hasn't been presented in this circle: the 28-bar exercise. This is a chordal sequence in G-minor, with a strict alternate picking pattern of 5-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-4-2-2-2-3-2-2-2 (the number implies the string), with each note being a 32nd note. As he presents this, Victor notes that there are three ways to present this exercise: playing it as sixteenths (5-2-4-2-3-2-4-2-3-2-4-2-3-2), playing it as 32nds, and playing it while visualizing the count of the 28 bars. We play through the sequence once, slowly. Victor then mentions that there is a fourth way to play this exercise--one can play it in honor of the dead. He also notes that, incidentally, it is the 35th anniversary of J.G. Bennett's death. With this in mind, we play it at a more performance-minded tempo, twice through, pause for a moment, and then circulate.
Victor calls Eye of the Needle. Played once.
Victor then calls 3rd Relation. We play this, and there is considerable rushing throughout. In an effort to work on this, we first attempt to play it slower. Failing this, the metronome comes back out. This still doesn't quite work, so we pair off and play the piece. Going through each pair, Victor then asks what note is on count 2, and what note is on count 3. When we hesitate, Victor points out that we need to know the map precisely, and know what note is where, in the piece, so that we can put it right in where it needs to be. He also stresses the relation of that note to the big "macro-beat", and notes how, in the opening exercise, the "one" was impossible to deny (my paraphrasing), and how we need to bring that into other things that we play.
With this, we take a longish break, with a couple different conversations going around, mostly centered on numbers, the Dead String Quartet, and the Bassomatic. Glenn also takes the time to take a picture of the circle, sans players:
Returning to the circle, we revisit the Prelude circulation, starting with the last 4 bars (the trickiest part of the piece). The work on the prelude generally involves playing in time, more than anything; the notes have not been a problem for a couple of weeks. Eventually, the plan is to be able to move this into a more expressive tempo feel (not metronomic), but we first need to be able to nail it metronomically first. After some pretty intensive work with the metronome, this begins to pull together more, and we make it up to somewhere in the vicinity of 88-94 bpm.
Where is the Nurse is next. Played twice, with a little more attention to tempo the second time, but otherwise played quite well. It's not as fast as some versions out there, but it feels right, and it's good to really be able to say that we've essentially got it. Batrachomyomachy, next. Some tuning inconsistencies in the bass, but not much else. This is followed by Bicycling, with some dropping out occuring due to lack of time spent with the piece, but still nothing difficult to address. We next play Intergalactic Boogie Express, and Flying Home. The meeting ends in silence at roughly 10:30 p.m., with some discussion of a slightly earlier meeting time next week following.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)