GCNE on Transmission Hour

This morning, GCNE will be taping about an hour's worth of music for a local music show that has been around for a little while, "Transmission Hour", produced by Low Budget Records.  Along with the recently completed 3rd season of weekly performances, the Camp Caravan course (which included an Orchestra-style performance for the MREC community), as well as the opportunities that have begun coming up for us, we've had no shortage of work available to us.

Chris and Brad arrive first to the studio at 8:50 a.m., followed shortly by the film crew, then Rick, Glenn, Dev, Scott and his girlfriend Shaelyn (who is serving as an auxiliary photographer of the proceedings), and Victor.  We stick to staying out of the way of the film/sound crew and choose to spend our time warming up as they prepare the space for shooting.  Truth be told, this is a welcome change for us, and our technical involvement is limited to a few suggestions on mics from Victor and some minor points.

Set-up completed, and we filter in and sit down on our respective stools; a couple of adjustments are made, a few minutes of soundcheck, and we find ourselves 10 minutes ahead of schedule, affording a few more minutes to change shirts as necessary and collect ourselves.

Back into the studio, sitting down, and cameras and audio begin to roll.

Circulation

Growing Circle

Eye of the Needle

Askesis

3rd Relation

"When ready, begin."

Overworld II

Voices of Ancient Children

Hommage a J.S.B.

Intergalactic Boogie Express

THRAK

Where Is The Nurse?

Circulation/Improv

Love Is Green

Flying Home

Peaches en Regalia

Prelude no. 1 in C Major

Batrachomyomachy

Asturias

This was slightly abbreviated from the setlist we had walked in with, due to time constraints and a couple of false starts.  Also, the second "Circulation/Improv" may be in a different spot.

The tape runs out just barely after we complete the set.  A quick tear-down, and we reconvene in the green room for a quick logistics meeting (discussing the very near future and the new/possibly returning members and bringing them into the fold in true GCNE fashion).  We complete this, complete the endeavor as a whole, and take our leave of the studio.

Inside Out rehearsal #11

Victor's House, 4 - 23 - 12, 8:00 - 11:30 PM

**Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, and Scott in attendance.

**we begin with circulation. after a few limp passes, Victor makes two notes on listening while circulating: 1) to hear 'in space'; 2) to hear 'direction in terms of intentionality'. these suggestions seem to open a door which leads to a longer and more satisfying circulation; this is followed by some observations from the group.

**approaching 6/7th's of Fugue no.1 from the WTK without a spoken count or click. before long, we are shedding at a maximum performance tempo of about 76 BPM. next comes the work of combining two performances into one: the Prelude into Fugue. Prelude requires some attention of its own during this process, specifically flow and timing; some of the earlier work with circulation resurfaces in regard to this.

**after a break, we take a few moments to address some structural points in Voices of Ancient Children.

**a few passes through Peaches en Regalia. much time is devoted to detail work, including dynamics and phrasing of voices for specific sections. another task is to articulate the bass voice's special role as "drummer" for the five-guitar arrangement.

**a play-through of Overworld 2, followed by the introduction of a special underscore to be used on specific occasions.   

Inside Out rehearsal #9

Rick's House, 3 - 25 -12, 8:15 PM - 12:15 AM

**Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, and Scott in attendance.

**a +4 -3 circulation to commence the meeting. the circulation travels in one direction in an ambiguous, slightly chromatic tonality, concluding without chords.

**Prelude to begin repertoire work. the opening bars flow well but things become less even as uncertain notes creep in. to expedite the correction process, the group retakes from within the piece, rather than from the beginning, which also challenges the structural understanding of players who are more familiar. things begin to go more smoothly, and the group decides to move on and return to the piece later.

**Peaches en Regalia is approached next, at first slower than performance tempo. after a second run, Rick takes Dev aside to help him with a few parts while Victor, Chris and Brad woodshed the two perpetuo sections. when Rick and Dev return, the group makes several more runs through the piece, eventually incorporating a fade-out at the end of the arrangement. Rick makes a note to "roll" all chords in the piece.

**after a break, there is a small consensus to continue work on Fugue no. 1 from the WTK. Chris makes a suggestion to play through the piece with only the "head" of each voice's entry, and a second time imagining the voice as a response to the previous entry. after these two runs, the group is eager to tackle the fugue with full parts. much work is devoted to this, employing several strategies: with metronome; without metronome, but counting; with no metronome, no counting. at one point, Scott steps aside to refresh his part, while Rick and Dev work out an intricacy in the last bar. as another volley of takes ensues, Victor and others begin mapping the entry of other parts for themselves, to enhance reliability and contrapuntal awareness. a pass is even made at a full Prelude/Fugue, which stays together until the end.

**a couple play-throughs of Overworld 2, with Dev conducting dynamics. some late-in-the-night banter leads to the addition of a small tone color in the finale, and the piece seems ready for Thursday.

**while Rick makes an excursion upstairs, the group compiles a list of performable (and maybe performable) repertoire for Thursday. this dovetails into a recital and somewhat lengthy discussion of Voices of Ancient Children, before Rick returns downstairs.

**a little more Fugue, and recapitulation of logistics, before dispersal.

Inside Out tech rehearsal

Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 3 - 15 - 12, 5:30 - 8:30 PM

**Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, and Scott in attendance.

**as people are arriving and getting settled, Brad "loans" Scott a guitar with a pickup.

**once equipment is moved inside and everyone is gathered, the group takes a moment to observe its "beginning" in the space.

**the first question to be addressed is how best to use the space for the group's particular style of performance. speakers and seats are placed (with adjustments made), and the board is set up.

**some extended soundchecking, including circulations with three, four, five and six people. there is a small discrepancy between the height of the group's temporary stools and the speakers that is causing acoustical difficulty for some of the players.

**a couple pieces: Eye of the Needle and Austurias.

**the group begins tearing down around what would be the time of the theoretical end of a performance. with some questions as to the storage of equipment, everything is cleaned up only a little after 8:00.

**Dev gives some advice for making phone calls to promotional contacts, before the group leaves off. there is no sign of the group that follows us in the space at 8:30.

Inside Out rehearsal #7

Thacher Montessori, 3 - 11 - 12, 8:30 - 11:30 PM

**Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Dev, Scott, and Alex in attendance.

**the group spends the afternoon doing a photo shoot, followed by dinner.

**before meeting with guitars, Dev does some follow-up on promotional work and engages the group in discussion on some ideas to promote the upcoming GC course.

**for warm-up, Where's the Nurse and Batrachomyomachy, with a little detail work on the latter.

**next is Prelude and Fugue no. 1 from Bach's WTC. the Prelude team plays through the piece as far as their knowledge will collectively take them, which tonight is about half-way. it seems that there is a little lack of clarity in the notes of the sequence (rather than the structure) for some players, which is luckily a straightforward fix. then onto Fugue, which tonight is begun from the final chord of the preceding Prelude. conversely, the obstacle to this piece seems to be structural - entering at the right time, counting correctly, etc.

**Dev requests Voices of Ancient Children. the group plays through the piece once, tentatively but without any conspicuous mistakes. Dev makes a note on the tempo, and Chris offers to have a clear delineation of the structure for the next rehearsal.

**the final piece for rehearsal is Overworld 2. Chris has made some changes to the "coda" he has written for the main loop, based on the previous week's responses to it. He takes a moment to teach these as well as a new ending. Then, the team makes several passes through the complete Overworld, and concludes the meeting.

Inside Out rehearsal #6

Thacher Montessori, 3 - 4 - 12, 8:00 - 11:30 PM

**Victor, Rick, Chris (scribe), Brad, Scott, Alex in attendance.

**for a calisthenic warm-up, the group tackles the "anchor" exercise up and down the neck first at a moderate, and then a brisk, tempo.

**a play-through of Flying Home for something a bit more musical.

**several pieces of new repertoire are in need work, and people are at various levels of proficiency with various parts within that repertoire. the group splits up to economize the work and find a direction: Alex works individually on his parts for the fugue; Rick works with Chris on the perpetuo sections of Peaches en Regalia; and Brad and Victor work on their own part for Peaches.

**after the small groups session, a few full recitals of Peaches before Alex and Rick must both make early departures.

**following a short break, the remaining group plays through some repertoire: Growing Circle, once at a slow tempo and again more quickly; one take of Bicycling to Afghanistan; Moving Force, with Chris pulling Scott outside to show him the bass part; and finishing up with Thrak, getting Scott on board with marching, counting, and a little help from the Talking Heads.

Inside Out rehearsal #5

* Thacher Montessori, 2 - 26 - 12

* 7:50 - 11:30 PM

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

** to begin, a circulation which hovers between C and G Major.

** once again, the group warms up with familiar repertoire: Where's the Nurse, Askesis, Batrachomyomachy, Calliope, Intergalactic Boogie Express

** two play-throughs of La Cathedrale Engloutie as a quintet. the group decides that the piece is tenable as a five-part arrangement, if needed. some sections are still rusty. off-book for next week, please!

** short break, which leads to some discussion. among the topics are recruitment ideas for the Circle; turning the burner up on our work currently; a practical point regarding season length; and, still an issue, a name, to be addressed later.

** saddled with guitars again, the group tackles Peaches en Regalia, focusing specifically on the "D" section.

** the group plays a game with free association to help them settle on a name ("Inside Out"). a few decisions made regarding certain arrangements (Opening, Overworld 2), and what to have ready for next week.