A Rehearsal
A good rehearsal with Mr Bashford today.
Now, that would have been a more satisfactory beginning. Alas, we rarely can decide when important things in our lives begin.
I have been thinking upon the word "dulcet", and after a quick glance at a dictionary I do not believe the word could, correctly, be applied to Mr Bashford. I mean, he hits things. That's what he does. And while we can program melodious snippets into his contraption normally the sounds he makes have no harmonic content. Although, to be fair, it is not his fault that his passion is physical and rhythmical music. I especially forgive him the error of his ways since he has asked me to record a refrain containing Mellotron sounds to add to his machine's memory.
The great advantage of what we are embarking upon is that we can rehearse at low volume levels. We use smallish powered monitor speakers and are able to converse, with only slightly raised voices, as we play. The interest of the rehearsing performer is piqued by listening to the "thwap" as Mr Bashford's sticks impact rubber pads and the "click" of a plectrum as it strikes a string. The resultant sounds, after passing through many electrical boxes, is very different.
Also, we can rehearse in the guest room/study and take up little space. Luckily, no guests are expected.
Mr Bashford is attired for the warm weather we are experiencing at the moment.
What is it that we are doing? I thought about that this morning but did not write about it. I didn't realize what we are doing is jazz. It just doesn't sound like jazz. It doesn't sound like anything I've heard before at all. It's improvised music but we have a structure, sort of, that allows some repetition but the end result from performance to performance is different. I love being, simultaneously, a performer and an audience member. Since the computer is an integral component - we play live but record and play back parts of the performance and then improvise over the top of the improvising, etc, etc - there are times when I have nothing to play (and should not be playing) and can listen to the music as if it has been created by someone else. I wonder where the music comes from at times although, to be honest, there are times when it is not working and inspiration, temporarily, fails.
That is the beauty of everything, we need the lesser moments just as much. I wish the young gentlemen and ladies who enjoy playing loud guitar, all the time, would understand that high/loud moments are enhanced by the low/soft moments and without the later the former loses impact. Consequence: The audience becomes bored, the performer becomes bored.
This is all so obvious but few people put it into practice.
Finished the overview for the SpaceChoir piece. We know the sounds we will use, which key it will be based on, the tempo, how it will start, what will happen about half way through and then how to stop it at the end (that will be the "stop all clips" button on the computer!). Consequently, another piece of music of 8 to 20 minutes length is completed. I really like this one, what happens half way through gives me goose bumps - the good kind.
I need to remix what we've recorded so I can select a few sections of, say, 30 seconds length to put on a demo CD. To try to convince a venue to allow us to play. The jazz venues won't like it, the rock venues won't like it... God, it's the 1970's all over again when I was trying to convince venues that it would be good for business to host a progressive rock band. The music was great just no-one liked it in numbers enough (in a small country like New Zealand) to sustain us. Then in Australia, AC/DC was as complex as music was allowed to be. So, late-twenties, frustrated with the lack of interest, lack of money, I gave up. Unfortunately, I had many other options to pursue and some of them made money. Ah, the lure of a roof over your head (that you own), sufficient food and, even, holidays. Music didn't stand a chance.
However, here I am doing it again but this time there are no stars in my eyes, I understand about running businesses (even successful ones!) and there is a plan. Luckily the revenue stream only needs to be sufficient to keep Mr Bashford in drum sticks and buy food on alternate days. He doesn't need to eat everyday? Does he? I think if we are successful at the extreme end of my business plan then we might, almost, make enough to do that. Ahh, heady success beckons.
Now, that would have been a more satisfactory beginning. Alas, we rarely can decide when important things in our lives begin.
I have been thinking upon the word "dulcet", and after a quick glance at a dictionary I do not believe the word could, correctly, be applied to Mr Bashford. I mean, he hits things. That's what he does. And while we can program melodious snippets into his contraption normally the sounds he makes have no harmonic content. Although, to be fair, it is not his fault that his passion is physical and rhythmical music. I especially forgive him the error of his ways since he has asked me to record a refrain containing Mellotron sounds to add to his machine's memory.
The great advantage of what we are embarking upon is that we can rehearse at low volume levels. We use smallish powered monitor speakers and are able to converse, with only slightly raised voices, as we play. The interest of the rehearsing performer is piqued by listening to the "thwap" as Mr Bashford's sticks impact rubber pads and the "click" of a plectrum as it strikes a string. The resultant sounds, after passing through many electrical boxes, is very different.
Also, we can rehearse in the guest room/study and take up little space. Luckily, no guests are expected.
Mr Bashford is attired for the warm weather we are experiencing at the moment.
What is it that we are doing? I thought about that this morning but did not write about it. I didn't realize what we are doing is jazz. It just doesn't sound like jazz. It doesn't sound like anything I've heard before at all. It's improvised music but we have a structure, sort of, that allows some repetition but the end result from performance to performance is different. I love being, simultaneously, a performer and an audience member. Since the computer is an integral component - we play live but record and play back parts of the performance and then improvise over the top of the improvising, etc, etc - there are times when I have nothing to play (and should not be playing) and can listen to the music as if it has been created by someone else. I wonder where the music comes from at times although, to be honest, there are times when it is not working and inspiration, temporarily, fails.
That is the beauty of everything, we need the lesser moments just as much. I wish the young gentlemen and ladies who enjoy playing loud guitar, all the time, would understand that high/loud moments are enhanced by the low/soft moments and without the later the former loses impact. Consequence: The audience becomes bored, the performer becomes bored.
This is all so obvious but few people put it into practice.
Finished the overview for the SpaceChoir piece. We know the sounds we will use, which key it will be based on, the tempo, how it will start, what will happen about half way through and then how to stop it at the end (that will be the "stop all clips" button on the computer!). Consequently, another piece of music of 8 to 20 minutes length is completed. I really like this one, what happens half way through gives me goose bumps - the good kind.
I need to remix what we've recorded so I can select a few sections of, say, 30 seconds length to put on a demo CD. To try to convince a venue to allow us to play. The jazz venues won't like it, the rock venues won't like it... God, it's the 1970's all over again when I was trying to convince venues that it would be good for business to host a progressive rock band. The music was great just no-one liked it in numbers enough (in a small country like New Zealand) to sustain us. Then in Australia, AC/DC was as complex as music was allowed to be. So, late-twenties, frustrated with the lack of interest, lack of money, I gave up. Unfortunately, I had many other options to pursue and some of them made money. Ah, the lure of a roof over your head (that you own), sufficient food and, even, holidays. Music didn't stand a chance.
However, here I am doing it again but this time there are no stars in my eyes, I understand about running businesses (even successful ones!) and there is a plan. Luckily the revenue stream only needs to be sufficient to keep Mr Bashford in drum sticks and buy food on alternate days. He doesn't need to eat everyday? Does he? I think if we are successful at the extreme end of my business plan then we might, almost, make enough to do that. Ahh, heady success beckons.
posted by Mark Macpherson at 9:32 pm
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