In attendance: Victor, Dev, Brad, Chris, Glenn
Dev running a bit late due to work.
Warming up with 5th Primary work (CMaj, 4th string, up to 12th fret and back). Beginning on the slower side, around 80, and slowly increasing speed. As we hit 88, Victor asks us to make a conscious effort to listen to the other players in the circle: with one pass up and down the neck, listening to a player's sound directly as it's coming from the guitar, and on the next pass, listening to the whole sound and ambiance of the player. On the next pass, move to the next person, and repeat the process. Some comments about looking away from the neck.
Third Relation loop: second Dm section, 1st Am section, F#m descending section, Am section, repeat. Victor drills Brad on the Am section and makes a couple of suggestions.
Calliope, 1st Cmaj section loop. Dividing Attention and counting as 4 bars of 3, followed by 6 bars of 4. A full runthrough of the piece. Victor suggests really digging in and observing how long we can hold our
attention, and what happens when we lose our attention (and why it keeps happening at a certain point).
A break. Dev arrives. A bit of discussion on genetics, and how far back they go, and how they can be followed.
Back in the circle, and with Dev, some circulation work. High pitches to low pitches, and back again, key of C Natural Minor. The primary rule is to make sure you are lower than the person before you (or higher, if you're climbing back up). Several passes, with increasing speed. Finally, an extended pass, with multiple traverses up and down and up again, stretching outside of the key.
Reaching back to an exercise we'd done in 2010: each person takes a turn beginning/establishing an improv, and the rest of the circle has to figure out the tonic and join in. Some discussion follows, about give and take, when to remain in one area and when to move on, and drama.
Revisiting The Guitarist Inside, extending the exercise. It's suggested that we work with this as we can.
A final moment, and finishing for the night.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Supplemental Practice 7/5
GCNE
2012-07-05, 1345-1531
Dev, Brad and Rick
Once Rick arrives and chairs are arranged the meeting begins. An opening circulation centered on "C" and "G" with several changes of direction and a few double-time shifts morphs into improv about halfway in. Then a revisiting of a recent exercise tentatively called "step on your buddies' toes" circulation with more direction changes, stacatto/legato/sostenuto as well as timbral variances and a few fits of laughing.
Dev needs to take an aspirin break at 1423.
Back at 1428 and after a brief discussion on what might be played at the coming "Movie Night" gig, the team works on Askesis; the first run through is aborted and deemed too fast, the second is taken all the way through with the team agreeing that the mistakes might be due to lack of warm-up.
At 1445 Rick takes a phone call of necessity.
Resuming work at 1450 the subject of the future of GCNE comes up in discussion but the suggestion that this is saved for the upcoming meeting with the full team is adopted. The team then plays Third Relation twice. The first time through many mistakes are apparent to the team so Rick makes a suggestion of attempting to show no emotional or physical reaction to mistakes and it is applied to a second run through.
A play-through of Intergalactic Boogie Express is next at 1520. Brad offers the opinion that this is one of the group's better-played pieces while Dev offer's the advice not to "ham the ending." Then Where is The Nurse is played once though and an observation is made that this is also a piece that the team plays well.
Dev takes a few minutes to review the "Rock and Roll 5's" in THRAK and then it is given some attention; first in sections and them once through complete. The team is less critical of the outcome of the play through given that Dev is playing a less familiar part but it is agreed upon that being able to play multiple parts in repertoire gives the team added flexibility and is a challenge that might be worth exploring.
A final circulation revisits most of the strategies employed during the opening 2 circulations.
The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday July 8th.
This meeting is adjourned at 1531.
2012-07-05, 1345-1531
Dev, Brad and Rick
Once Rick arrives and chairs are arranged the meeting begins. An opening circulation centered on "C" and "G" with several changes of direction and a few double-time shifts morphs into improv about halfway in. Then a revisiting of a recent exercise tentatively called "step on your buddies' toes" circulation with more direction changes, stacatto/legato/sostenuto as well as timbral variances and a few fits of laughing.
Dev needs to take an aspirin break at 1423.
Back at 1428 and after a brief discussion on what might be played at the coming "Movie Night" gig, the team works on Askesis; the first run through is aborted and deemed too fast, the second is taken all the way through with the team agreeing that the mistakes might be due to lack of warm-up.
At 1445 Rick takes a phone call of necessity.
Resuming work at 1450 the subject of the future of GCNE comes up in discussion but the suggestion that this is saved for the upcoming meeting with the full team is adopted. The team then plays Third Relation twice. The first time through many mistakes are apparent to the team so Rick makes a suggestion of attempting to show no emotional or physical reaction to mistakes and it is applied to a second run through.
A play-through of Intergalactic Boogie Express is next at 1520. Brad offers the opinion that this is one of the group's better-played pieces while Dev offer's the advice not to "ham the ending." Then Where is The Nurse is played once though and an observation is made that this is also a piece that the team plays well.
Dev takes a few minutes to review the "Rock and Roll 5's" in THRAK and then it is given some attention; first in sections and them once through complete. The team is less critical of the outcome of the play through given that Dev is playing a less familiar part but it is agreed upon that being able to play multiple parts in repertoire gives the team added flexibility and is a challenge that might be worth exploring.
A final circulation revisits most of the strategies employed during the opening 2 circulations.
The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday July 8th.
This meeting is adjourned at 1531.
Monday, July 2, 2012
small group meeting 7/1
Chris, Brad, Wayne, Scott in attendance
Brad's pad
Chris, Brad and Wayne meet on the grass and begin at 8:00 with a circulation. to warm up, they take four first primary patterns in a sequence that alternates when changing direction on the neck to ascending or descending (with the 13th position as the pivot), in sixteenth notes at 80 BPM. Scott arrives shortly after this work begins, and the group retakes the exercise; a small adjustment in tempo is made.
next, the group splits off into pairs to work on Growing Circle - Brad teaching Scott the bass part, and Chris teaching Wayne the intro and main section of the lead. as it begins to get dark, the group reconvenes and relocates upstairs for some ensemble practice: two takes of just the intro and main section, to get the new players' feet wet; then, a couple takes counting the bars while playing.
this latter work leads to some ideas for division of attention practice, and to a counting exercise using the main theme from Invocation. Brad prefaces this with the suggestion that we should be working to expand our capacity to do this kind of work for greater lengths of time, e.g. to be able to divide attention for ten or fifteen minutes, or more. tonight the egg timer is set for eight minutes. Wayne departs shortly after this at 9:31, on family-related business.
Chris gives an exposition on a C Major exercise he has been working with based on closed triads on the top three strings. some of the chords are difficult, and the group winds up taking the 3rd inversion sequence for actual work, visualizing moving fragments of C Major across three strings. Chris even demonstrates how such fragments can be incorporated into dance music.
a final circulation to close the meeting, shortly after 10:00.
Brad's pad
Chris, Brad and Wayne meet on the grass and begin at 8:00 with a circulation. to warm up, they take four first primary patterns in a sequence that alternates when changing direction on the neck to ascending or descending (with the 13th position as the pivot), in sixteenth notes at 80 BPM. Scott arrives shortly after this work begins, and the group retakes the exercise; a small adjustment in tempo is made.
next, the group splits off into pairs to work on Growing Circle - Brad teaching Scott the bass part, and Chris teaching Wayne the intro and main section of the lead. as it begins to get dark, the group reconvenes and relocates upstairs for some ensemble practice: two takes of just the intro and main section, to get the new players' feet wet; then, a couple takes counting the bars while playing.
this latter work leads to some ideas for division of attention practice, and to a counting exercise using the main theme from Invocation. Brad prefaces this with the suggestion that we should be working to expand our capacity to do this kind of work for greater lengths of time, e.g. to be able to divide attention for ten or fifteen minutes, or more. tonight the egg timer is set for eight minutes. Wayne departs shortly after this at 9:31, on family-related business.
Chris gives an exposition on a C Major exercise he has been working with based on closed triads on the top three strings. some of the chords are difficult, and the group winds up taking the 3rd inversion sequence for actual work, visualizing moving fragments of C Major across three strings. Chris even demonstrates how such fragments can be incorporated into dance music.
a final circulation to close the meeting, shortly after 10:00.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Dev's House
6/24/2012
In Attendance: Dev Ray, Scott Dozier, Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Wayne Wylupski, Brad Hogg
In Attendance: Dev Ray, Scott Dozier, Victor McSurely, Rick McCarthy, Wayne Wylupski, Brad Hogg
Beginning around 8 pm with Dev, Scott, Brad, and Wayne. An
opening circulation, going round the circle, followed by another circulation
that begins with intentional passing across the circle and grows quickly into a
full improvisation.
Dev comments on the newness seems to be coming from Wayne; this
prompts a discussion about where Wayne had left off in the beginning years of
Guitar Craft, and where we are as a circle.
Circulation pattern work; first a review of +2 -1, and then some
stretching. Brad suggests a pattern of +2 -1 +1 -1, while counting in 5 (1 2
3 1 2). The big
help here seems to be looking the way that you are passing. Once we get
that under our hands, Dev mixes it up and suggests playing a rest on the 1,
while still having the spot in the pattern "played" by the
circulation (so the rest would happen on a person's slot, and they would get
the note, but wouldn't actually play anything). This proves to be a good
challenge. Some playing with this, and
then quick observations (noticing startles, difficulties with the gap of the
rest) and a note that this particular pattern ends up with a ping pong that
shifts on each bar of 5. Another run of
the pattern with this in mind makes it much easier to play, but also makes it
too easy to think of the ping pong and just play that. After a few minutes of this, we take a short
break that ends up running longer—some discussion of various topics, during
which Rick arrives.
With Rick in the circle, we take a moment to collect, and then a
circulation and improv. Nice stuff.
Back in with the circulation work. We review what we’d been doing with Rick, run that for a moment,
and then Brad puts forward a different pattern: forward 3, reverse 2, and then begin again to the right of the
player that finishes the pattern. So,
with an order of Dev – Brad – Wayne – Rick – Scott, it would look like:
Dev – Brad – Wayne – Rick – Wayne – Brad
Wayne – Rick – Scott – Dev – Scott – Rick
Scott – Dev – Brad – Wayne – Brad – Dev
Brad – Wayne – Rick – Scott – Rick – Wayne
Rick – Scott – Dev – Brad – Dev – Scott
Once we have our fingernails latched onto this, Rick ups the
ante: count out loud in 5. This we do, and then bump it up just a touch
more with a footstomp when the six-note pattern shifts. A couple of attempts result in peals of
laughter, and then we begin to get the hang of it. At about this time, Victor arrives.
A short circulation to incorporate Victor, and then a short
discussion of what we’ve been doing, to bring him up to speed. At his request, a short report on what is
going on with the AAD course. Some more
discussion follows of upcoming performances and work we have coming our way.
Back with the for3-rev2 circulation we’d been working with, sans
stomping or counting. Victor adds an
extra step that we hadn’t thought of:
using the two non-playing circulators in the circuit, playing on the &s
of 1 and 4. This looks like this:
Rick (Wayne) Victor – Scott – Dev (Brad) Scott – Victor
Scott (Victor) Dev – Brad – Wayne (Rick) Brad – Dev
Fun work.
At this point, Victor takes a moment to talk about Orchestra work,
and presents two exercises that we should be working with: The Guitarist Inside work, and
Division of Attention. We run this last
one for about 8 minutes or so. Some
final words, a final circulation, and we call it a night.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Small Group (regular Sunday), Glenn's House
Attending: Glenn, Scott, Rick, Brad.
Jumping straight in with CMaj work, and circulating up and down 3 octaves; different permutations of this, including a revisit to +2 -1 while maintaining tertiary motion. Per a suggestion from Rick, we move to the E diminished scale (half-whole), and then the E whole-tone scale. Different strategies being used throughout.
A break while we move upstairs for noshing, courtesy of Scarlet's kitchen work. Many thanks.
Back to the basement. Some general calisthenics work--Scott has been working with the Hammerhead exercise, so we run that for a bit. A couple of different interpretations of the anchor exercise (the 4th primary) are presented. Glenn re-presents the 16 bar exercise, reminding everyone that the focus of the exercise is not in the hands.
A final circulation/improvisation to close the night.
Jumping straight in with CMaj work, and circulating up and down 3 octaves; different permutations of this, including a revisit to +2 -1 while maintaining tertiary motion. Per a suggestion from Rick, we move to the E diminished scale (half-whole), and then the E whole-tone scale. Different strategies being used throughout.
A break while we move upstairs for noshing, courtesy of Scarlet's kitchen work. Many thanks.
Back to the basement. Some general calisthenics work--Scott has been working with the Hammerhead exercise, so we run that for a bit. A couple of different interpretations of the anchor exercise (the 4th primary) are presented. Glenn re-presents the 16 bar exercise, reminding everyone that the focus of the exercise is not in the hands.
A final circulation/improvisation to close the night.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Small Group at Dev's
In attendance: Dev Ray, Rick McCarthy, Glenn Hughes, Brad Hogg.
Beginning around half-past for noon, due to a late arrival.
Opening circulation in F Lydian, leading to improvising in A minor-ish.
When work is called for, Rick (or Dev) mention some circulation work that had happened some weeks prior: +2 -1 in a very small group context. We revisit this, and then bump it up a notch by assuming 16th-note phrasing (1e&a2e&a3e&a, with an accent on the downbeat), and begin trying something "different" on the downbeat (a low note, or a chord, or a harmonic).
This is challenging but fun, and an off-the-cuff remark ("The next step is doing it in 5") becomes the next step, still retaining the +2 -1 circulation. Now it gets interesting. To keep it easy to hear, we use Cmaj pentatonic, and just using a single octave, to ground the ear.
A full circuit looks like this:
Rick - C
Glenn - D
Brad - E
Glenn - G
Brad - A
Dev - C
Brad - D
Dev - E
Rick - G
Dev - A
Rick - C
Glenn - D
Rick - E
Glenn - G
Brad - A
Glenn - C
Brad - D
Dev - E
Brad - G
Dev - A
Really good work, and a lot of evidence of multiple strategies being used at once. A suggestion of "developing variations" floats by, but isn't quite taken up.
A break for the bums, with some general chatter in between. This leads to Rick mentioning a Church of Flying Dreams piece, "Branding Iron", and how the Circle needs to learn this piece. Glenn begins to play through it, and Dev and Brad immediately strap their guitars on--evidently, the time is now.
Some really good and fun work with this; enthusiasm is not diminished for this piece, and it's very likely that this will move from a solo piece to a Circle piece.
Some associative discussion regarding some of the current AAD course work, and moving into Discipline. A moment of silence closes the meeting at a little after 2 p.m.
Beginning around half-past for noon, due to a late arrival.
Opening circulation in F Lydian, leading to improvising in A minor-ish.
When work is called for, Rick (or Dev) mention some circulation work that had happened some weeks prior: +2 -1 in a very small group context. We revisit this, and then bump it up a notch by assuming 16th-note phrasing (1e&a2e&a3e&a, with an accent on the downbeat), and begin trying something "different" on the downbeat (a low note, or a chord, or a harmonic).
This is challenging but fun, and an off-the-cuff remark ("The next step is doing it in 5") becomes the next step, still retaining the +2 -1 circulation. Now it gets interesting. To keep it easy to hear, we use Cmaj pentatonic, and just using a single octave, to ground the ear.
A full circuit looks like this:
Rick - C
Glenn - D
Brad - E
Glenn - G
Brad - A
Dev - C
Brad - D
Dev - E
Rick - G
Dev - A
Rick - C
Glenn - D
Rick - E
Glenn - G
Brad - A
Glenn - C
Brad - D
Dev - E
Brad - G
Dev - A
Really good work, and a lot of evidence of multiple strategies being used at once. A suggestion of "developing variations" floats by, but isn't quite taken up.
A break for the bums, with some general chatter in between. This leads to Rick mentioning a Church of Flying Dreams piece, "Branding Iron", and how the Circle needs to learn this piece. Glenn begins to play through it, and Dev and Brad immediately strap their guitars on--evidently, the time is now.
Some really good and fun work with this; enthusiasm is not diminished for this piece, and it's very likely that this will move from a solo piece to a Circle piece.
Some associative discussion regarding some of the current AAD course work, and moving into Discipline. A moment of silence closes the meeting at a little after 2 p.m.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
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.
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