GCNE Meeting, 06-27-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski.

A bit of a late start, tonight. In the circle at 8 p.m., we open with an improv that slowly establishes itself in A minor--very good. There's a different, more mature feel to this than some of what we've been playing, recently.

Fittingly, to start in with repertoire, we begin with 3rd Relation. Some brown notes on the last descending line, and some lumpiness in the bass, so a bit of spot section work to address this. Where's the Nurse, next--disregarding some bass issues, it's not bad. This seems to be a piece that is easier to play with a larger group, though that can also mean more timing inconsistencies. Some spot work on this as well.

Askesis, next.

Growing Circle, with three leads and one bass. There's a bit of a dynamics issue that was brought up last week, so we play through twice, to catch it the second time around. Next up is Flying Home; the only really pertinent difficulty is maintaining the tempo throughout. The bass part is quite repetitive, and it can be really easy to rush the piece and mistake rushing for playing with intensity.

Morning Has Broken comes up next. In this small group (which will extend into the full group), it sounds really quite good, and with a bit more personal practice, will be solid for the gig on the 7th. With this, we take a break at about 9:15.

Ten minutes later, we're back in the circle, and we review the Chrysanthemum exercise, both to revisit it and to teach it to Alex. 20 minutes later, it's under the fingers, and ready for personal practice. We close with an improvisation that is even better than the opening--more avant garde, eventually landing on a D tonal center. Lotsa fun, and a good indicator of where the circle is at. The meeting closes with a moment of silence at 10 p.m.

Some discussion, afterwards, of the pentad.

GCNE Meeting, 06-20-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Alex Lahoski, Dev Ray (late due to a cross-ocean familial ambush!).

No notes taken during the meeting, so this will be mostly anecdotal. Quite hot, and just starting to get a little dim at about a quarter to 8 when we started. Started out with a warm-up presented by Glenn as a way of working through the modes by using a descending tritone pattern, and the relation of the tritone to its place in each mode. Interesting way to look at them, and a useful way to hear the place of tension in each mode. Moved on to identifying modes by ear, as they are played, and responding in the correct mode.

Continuing on, we reapproached some repertoire that we haven't worked for a while. Askesis, Third Relation, Growing Circle (at this point, we turned the lights on, which helped), Opening (this may not approach the three-seat bass circulation in time for the gig, but we're still hoping), the Prelude Circulation, and Batrachomyomachy. Some counting issues still, but nothing that some personal practice won't fix. With this, a break.

Back in the circle, we take on the last parts of MHB, which include all the harmony and ornamentation parts. Though the tradition has been for everyone to know all parts, and trade off throughout the piece, we're choosing to stick with assigned parts for the sake of the gig coming up. A couple of runthroughs, and a long moment of silence.

With this, Victor presents the pentad of the guitar circle (as it applies to our work). Things to consider. Meeting closes at about 11 p.m. or so.

GCNE Meeting, 06-13-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, Dev Ray.

The meeting begins at roughly 7:35 with a clear moment of silence. "When ready, begin."

Following this, we jump into working with CMaj, as well as the rest of the church modes, focusing on C as a tonal center. The approach is "bright to dark", echoing a very good presentation from Steve Jolemore:

Lydian (Major scale, augmented 4th)
Ionian (Standard Major, perfect 4th)
Mixolydian (Major Scale, minor 7th)
Dorian (Minor Scale, natural 6th)
Aeolian (Natural Minor Scale, minor 6th)
Phrygian (Minor Scale, minor 2nd)
Locrian (Minor Scale, minor 2nd, flatted 5th)

The focus is a bit more on ear training, tonight. After short improvisations in each mode (knowing what they are beforehand), Victor's next exercise is to have the circle improvise and respond in the mode that he lays out, without telling us what he will play. Interesting work, and interesting comments, especially with regards to "What key are we actually playing in?". This leads quite organically into "real life", or having to discern tonal center and modality by ear. After a bit, Victor leaves it and has Glenn choose a few keys. Glenn notes that it strikes him how important it is to know exactly what he's going to play before he plays it, in order to give the correct tonal bed.

With this, we take a slightly extended break. Victor plays a couple of recordings of the Beatles concert that he put on with his students at the Montessori school. Wonderful music. A quote from one of the parents really stuck with the scribe, as well: "Instead of performing for us, they were showing us themselves."

Also, during the break, we start hammering out details of the gig, such as who is opening, what rehearsals we have available to us, and what the setlist may involve. Currently, repertoire includes most of the major themes (EotN, Askesis, 3rdRel, Asturias, Growing Circle, Flying Home, Thrak), along with Batracho, Where's the Nurse, and the Bach Prelude. Morning Has Broken and Opening as well, possibly. Certain pieces are in the bag, but there are definitely those that need to be touched up and revisited. The problem is scheduling rehearsals where everyone is present. Additionally, we are considering a busking night in Canton, but this is still a little up in the air. We eventually decide that it will be easier to work out scheduling through e-mail (since two people weren't able to make it in, tonight).

Back in the circle for some more work. Glenn touches on the Chrysanthemum exercise, again, adding the additional challenge of tapping out the quarter note beat and saying the bass note of each triad as they come. A little tough, but very helpful. After working this for a bit, he then clarifies the melody part in MHB (specifically, the rhythmic variations from verse to verse).

Batracho is next. Glenn, Dev, and Victor on lead, with Chris and Brad on bass. A bit hairy, with Brad playing bass for the first time, and Dev in a different slot than what he has played, but it should work itself out--most problems are related to personal practice more than anything. Where's the Nurse after this. Not a bad runthrough of this, considering we haven't rehearsed it in some time.

Another very clear moment of silence at 11 p.m. to end the night.

GCNE Meeting, 06-06-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Glenn Hughes, and Dev Ray.

Getting started a little earlier than the week before, we begin with a bit of a pause before jumping straight in with the opening 16 chords of Chrysanthemum, presented by Glenn. Work on this is pretty direct: the sequence is long*, and there's a couple of jumps thrown in that are not difficult, but are hard to remember where they are. The most difficult part of this, for the scribe, is reconciling the root movement and the suggested fingering of the notes. Work on this takes us straight up to 9 p.m., and a break ensues.

After some small talk, we reconvene, and discuss the upcoming gig on July 7th: who will open, what we might do. After this, we make some very clear headway with MHB, having both the chordal structure and the primary melody down. A circulation and improv to close the night, and we finish at about 10:15 or so.

*The sequence of the root movement will be in a comment on this post.

05-30-2010, GCNE Meeting, The Loft

In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Alex Lahoski, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg.

Not too many people for this one, so we choose to play in the round, unplugged.

Meeting starts at 8:18 p.m. with a clear moment of silence. As a warm up, Alex presents a circulation exercise given to him by CG: each person is given a time signature (5, 7, 9, or 11), as well as two notes from CMaj (from Bdim and CMaj7). With a low C as a drone, we then circulate around, each playing on the last and first beats of our measure, with the aim to track the beats lining up as they go around the circle. After a bit with 5 through 11, we back down to 3, 4, 5, and 7, and then drop the drone. Then we shift the pattern one seat, retaining our assigned notes.

After working with this for a bit, we move on to diatonic triads in CMaj, singing and playing the notes. We then work on circulating these. Break at 9:25.

"Hi, this is Toady Gerbil, and I'm here to talk to you about Batracho Bits!" One had to be there.

Before beginning work on Opening, Brad asks Chris if he had any observations about playing the piece on Newbury Street, the previous week. Chris replies that what struck him most was that, when we'd go offrail during a section, we'd "find ourselves" at the beginning of the next section, and be together for most of that, before having it go sideways again. Tough job, this.

We work for the next 45 minutes or so on pulling the beginning section together and getting the order right (Seat 1: Brad, Seat 2: Rick, Seat 3: Alex, playing the duple-time bass part as a 3-person circulation). We then have Chris come in, playing the lead part to provide the triplet overlay. Some words about timbre and correct positioning on the neck. Another very clear silence at 10:30, to close out the night.

05-23-2010, GCNE Busks on Newbury Street

In attendance: Glenn Hughes, Brad Hogg, Chris Paquette, Rick McCarthy, and Victor McSurely.

In response to the weather (and suggestions from Victor), the circle chooses to forgo "life-changing work on C Major and the 7 modes" and play outside. After first rendezvousing at the loft, we all load into Rick's vehicle and drive over with amps and stools, arriving around 8:15. Finding a spot in front of the Boston Architectural College, we set up, warm up, and start playing around 8:30.

As before, there is no setlist, but circulation and improvisation play a big part in the presentation. Repertoire includes some of the usual suspects (not in order): Eye of the Needle, Askesis, Growing Circle, Third Relation, Calliope, Batrachomyomachy, and the Prelude Circulation. We also play Opening and Where's the Nurse 3 times each, at varying points. Opening is tough--we haven't played this for a few months, as a group.

Finally completing around 10 p.m., we call it a night and count up the offerings: there's enough for ice cream, as well as a little left over for the band kitty. At JP Lick's, Chris unsuccessfully tries to convince us that he's unentertaining, and we all end up on camera at one point or another. A good close to the night, with a few more people in town becoming aware of the group.

Back to the loft, and a final shifting of materials. We all head home for the night, around 10:45 or so.

GCNE Meeting, 05-16-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, and Glenn Hughes.

Starting the meeting with a quiet bang, Chris mentions that he'd like to work a bit with an approach to Opening that he's developed. The motion passes, and we slot it in for a little later in the meeting. Both Glenn and Victor note that we need to begin revisiting CMaj and the 3rd and 5th primaries, and the agenda of the meeting is born. It is still light outside, so we don't bother with the room lights.

Tuning, and then an improvisation.

After this, we begin working directly with the 3rd primary, first playing and naming the notes, and then singing and playing the scale. This is played both ascending and descending, the latter of which provides some interesting jumps to sing. At this point, it's getting just a little too dark, so Victor turns on a light, which seems to have a noticeable effect on the team. We then work with the exercise of playing the scale at the 5th fret C on the low G, adusting fingering as necessary.

Following this, Chris presents an exercise he's developed for approaching the triplet circulation in Opening, which seems to be related to a circulation exercise that Claudio Lafalce presented in Sassoferrato, in March. Partway through this, Rick has to take leave, in order to play "Dad". After about 30 minutes or so of working with this exercise (and Opening in general), we elect to take a break. Some mild conversation, with a bit of discussion of gigs. A few minutes in, Rick returns, having been relieved of his parently duties before he made it home.

Back in the circle, we return to CMaj. Starting off with a circulation of CMaj, 3 octaves, low C to fifth fret 1st string (which only takes a couple of tries), we work with a simple 3-note ascending pattern (c-d-e-d-e-f-e-f-g etc.). Conceptually, this is not difficult, but holding the pattern is a little challenging, and it takes a number of attempts to get it right. Brad brings up the story of Curt Golden crystallizing CMaj on the guitar by being on the sidelines during a Guitar Craft course circulation that took roughly 3 hours and mentally playing every note with the circle (though he had no guitar in hand). After a few more minutes, we make it up and down again, and then make a go at diatonic triads, which is successful in a more timely fashion.

A little bit of talking, and a moment of silence to finish the night at roughly 10:20 p.m.