Mark Macpherson's Diary

2007-04-12T10:00:00.000+10:00

Absolutely stupid! Sigh, shake of head. Ab-so-lut-ely stupid.... Histrionics repeated.

I haven't played guitar (except once, and that was a mistake) for about a month. I can't. Ulnar nerve compression. How stupid. That behaviour is usually reserved for the young and those who do not believe in consequences. I have always (always? was I not once young? did I not recently hurt myself?) prided myself on my relaxed technique when playing guitar. Both hands/arms playing with just enough pressure for notes to ring. Conscious relaxation as I play. If I had a problem it was tension in my picking arm when playing very fast, I had to concentrate as I played to relax that arm. The arm that pressed strings was rarely a problem.

Constant vigilance is required as we age. We must re-evaluate what we can (still) do if we hope to remain injury free. If tiredness sets in then we need to rest or we run unacceptable risks of injury. I thought I knew that. I did know that. I forgot.

I had recently purchased a book of some of Django Reinhardt's music/solos. Out of interest, not as a new career. I was surprised that some of them caused me difficulty, even when I transposed them to make it easier for a four fingered guitarist. How did a guy with two fingers play that? Anyway, I embarked on a journey to play them at Django speed. I practiced too much, playing too quickly, too soon. After a few weeks I woke one morning with the, well known, symptoms of ulnar nerve compression.

Did I mention how stupid I am? I rested and when the symptoms had reduced (i.e. NOT gone) I had a 'free jazz' session with Mr Bashford. This is where I usually play too quickly, for too long, and get quite excited so that I forget to relax while playing. Obviously, I don't practice enough in a correct manner...

Next morning woke to even worse symptoms. Recovery progresses slowly. Serves an old guy right.

Farm work does not help. But that is not stupidity, that is necessary.

The "beautiful" weather continues. "Beautiful" if you're on holiday, "beautiful" if you have no requirements for water. By mid-April, often, some rain would have arrived. Not so far.

The view from the veranda should include water...

This lake has NEVER been empty since it was created decades ago. However...

View back to the house...

This should be green stuff (lots of it by now) and water views...

Instead of the diariser nodding his head sagely while looking over green pastures to animals that require little maintenance thus freeing him up for guitar practice (except for the aforesaid injury) he is busy feeding and maintaining...

The forecast for the next week is more 25 degree weather, sunny days, cool nights. Absolutely perfect weather. Sigh!

2007-03-09T12:08:00.000+11:00

It's too hard! It's all too hard...

No, it's not. If you wait to post blog entries until you think you have something earth-shattering or important to say then you will post nothing. Which is (possibly) as it should be. However, for those of us unlucky enough to be ordinary and not-genius we only have trivia and minutiae.

There are always excuses. Some are valid and when you're busy anyway then they can even be true but they are still, only, excuses.

Endsongs 2 had a gig in February. A local (ie 30 mins drive) cafe that was hoping (in vain) some of the summer crowds would still be around. They weren't. We played one set (we set up in a corner) of String Machine (long version... ie it was the set). The audience doubled during the set... from 2 to 4. We were an annoyance, I think. We had a small rest and then began a second set (Space Choir was to be the whole set). The audience left as we began. Vincent and I didn't mind and set to some serious improvising. The owner wandered over and said he was going close. Now! We stopped. We packed up (not a small job). We went our separate ways home. We had fun. Audience enjoyment = 0%, Performer enjoyment = 90%. At least someone had fun.

The improvised ambient thing is (possibly) too hard to get off the ground when the musicians are not well known. However, that's what I want to play. Mmmmm, compromise seems to be brewing.

Vincent and I have decided (in the meantime) to try and get gigs playing a different type of improvised music, so we can piggy-back the ambient stuff on top of it. Had our first rehearsal last week. Played for 100 minutes and I was impressed. Very difficult playing with no "big" sounds to fall back on and cover mistakes when playing semi-quavers at 150bpm (I have a strain ie RSI, in my left hand from playing with too much intensity - I will need to focus on minimal effort when playing - I do normally but was taken away by the excitement of it all. I also use heavier strings - Jazz Medium 13-56 - but the sound is worth the injury possibilities). Vincent plays acoustic drums and various percussiony things and I play my ES-137 through a clean 30 watt Carlsbro amp. No distortion, no effects. Except for the odd (controlled - mostly) feedback.

I would have to describe this new venture (endsongs 3?) as a mixture of Derek Bailey, John McLaughlin and The Necks (but with only drums and guitar). I think it sounds good. Most would not and (possibly - probably) call it noise, not-music. I'm hoping the more obscure jazz clubs will give us the opportunity to play. And then we can introduce the improvised ambient as well. (Sneaky, eh?)

The book proposal, that has been gathering dust on the hard drive these last (many) months has finally been sent out. In the back of my mind I have thought that if I have not yet received a rejection letter from all publishers then I have not failed. The easy way to not receive a rejection letter is to not send out a book proposal (this proves my earlier point about not-genius). I have come to my senses and sent out the book proposals. Failure awaits me via the services of Australia Post.

2006-12-07T21:35:00.000+11:00

Doubt.

Doubt is normal but it is a problem. Had a very ordinary rehearsal with Mr Bashford last week. All my fault, nothing to do with him. I had been spending time on the business of music and not on music. I had not practiced for awhile and as we played my mind was on incomplete tasks and not on the moment. The notes I played were correct but... that was all, there was nothing else but notes. Music is more than notes, either in tune or intentionally not in tune.

After that I rehearsal doubt arose. Again. The problem with playing "new" music is that it is always unpopular. People prefer to be popular. Most people will not like endsongs 2 music. There is a problem here. There is always the option of not doing live musical performances. Merely producing the music for my own, private, consumption. No problems then, it is just a hobby. No embarassment when (fellow) musicians offer suggestions on how to play music just like them, since I (must) aspire to being a rock musician and merely need instruction on back-beats and 4/4 timing and restricting myself to pentatonic scales.

Ambient music is more difficult than it appears. I am surprised. Since that bad rehearsal with Mr Bashford, I practiced and then did a solo improv of StringMachine. A new version. I prepared fully and followed the muse. I thought it skipped along and was quite short. It was over 50 minutes. (no! nothing stronger than coffee was consumed...) A gentle bike ride on the bike path the next day while I listened to this improv again confirmed that I can produce music I like to hear myself. This is no wonder at my own dexterity, my god no, the lack of notes attests to that. Simply, the music is able to re-transmit emotion. I love listening to this music, it is not me playing, it could be anyone. The music itself is enjoyable.

However, doubt in my own judgement resurfaces. I like this music. However, that (possibly) ensures that most people will not. Perhaps some people will think of it in the same league as those bland relaxation CD's of nothing music and banal melodies. Perhaps that is what it is. I don't know. I think not. I hope not.

People prefer to be popular. I will never be. Is that a problem? If it is then I can do nothing about it. Am I ready (again!) for the audiences who will not like and not understand this music? Why do live performances again? I can't answer that yet. Perhaps I don't want to answer or think too closely about the search for approval. If I am searching for approval than I am choosing a strange profession.

Doubt continues. It will always continue.

2006-11-22T09:30:00.000+11:00

Reflections on last Sunday. I still haven't got into the swing of the online diary yet, doing it in a timely fashion. Perhaps it's a function of aging but it often takes me a few days of mulling things over before I have something to say, other than merely reporting what happened.

My son had a golf tournament that was a long way from the farm but was to not too distant from the city (about 40 minutes each way). We stayed in the apartment on Saturday night and then drove through (relatively) empty streets before 6am so he could arrive early and do what he does before tournaments (I'm not a golfer - I deliver him to the carpark and say my goodbyes and good lucks). It was a 36 hole tournament so I had all day before I had to return to pick him up. I had thought ahead and packed a guitar (a beloved ES137) so I returned to the apartment looking forward to a day of practice.

When we are in our normal place of residence or work (both the same place in my case) it is too easy to be distracted by other tasks. The distracting tasks are often more important than practicing, so we feel guilty indulging ourselves. Even if the business is music I feel I should be working on the "business", at least there are tangible results at the end of a task. Practicing is maintenance (often) and feels too good to be work. However, on Sunday my "work" was waiting for my son to finish golf, I did not take any other work with me so I only had my guitar and some music theory reading (No matter how much music theory you know or think you do know it is always important, from time to time, to refresh the basics. More so as you get older e.g. "There are 12 tones in an octave, now? I never!"). I spent the whole day practicing basics. Again. (You can't get enough basic practice!). Simple chromatic scales and then all the major scales in all positions. That was a whole days work. It was fun reinforcing the things I already knew but even with simple major scales new (or old but forgotten) relationships present themselves, as long as the guitarist is concentrating.

As an example, take the "lowly" (or most august) C major scale. The (arguably) starting point of western music. I find that when I am investigating a new piece of music and I am playing with combinations of sounds to see what works, I often am not consciously thinking of notes but of sounds and feelings. When this happens I usually fall into playing in the C major scale (this often changes once I think about how I want the piece to develop), it is the first one we learn and I tend to it when my conscious mind is not involved. I know this scale over all the fretboard as well as I think it can be known but... when I consciously practice this scale I (still) find interesting relationships that I had not been aware of (after nearly 40 years of playing this scale!). I think, "Oh!, if I move 3/4/5 strings across and 1/2/3/4+ frets up/down then that interval is {whatever}. Mmm, that could be useful in {piece of music}."

No matter how many centuries a guitarist has been playing then returning to basics can yield results (even the C major scale in the first position... try it for an hour and see what you can learn).

A point of clarification. When I say I do scales, I don't just do the up and down ones. I do those for a long time when I begin practicing but then, of course, my fingers "solo" over the scale I am practicing. I play mind games to see how I can make restricted intervals interesting. eg, no dominant allowed for x notes, one note every ten has to be more than an octave leap, etc, etc. Often it sounds like crap but that is probably why we shut the door to practice on our own.

By the way, my son came third. Not bad for a 16 year old in a senior tournament. I don't know where his choice of a sensible and financially rewarding passion came from. Not from me, obviously.

2006-11-16T15:59:00.000+11:00

A strange thing happened yesterday. One of the results of this unusual occurrence was...

Yes, it rained. Not much, only 10mm but it has been months since even that sort of amount has fallen. At this time of year (November - end of Spring) our paddocks should have grass between knee and waist high, if no animals or machinery have been in them. The picture below is the paddock near the house... it has had no animals or machinery in it for over six months.

It has also had little water in it over the same period.

The business of music progresses. The web site (www.endsongs.com) is pretty much done, I have begun a photo library where I will put the images from this blog (and others eg from performances, etc). I have used the JAlbum software, it is pretty much how I like software - spend 10 seconds on familiarization then be able to get 90% of your work done. I don't like wasting time finessing and stuffing around. I always use the example of a washing machine when I meet computer and/or software geeks - we don't spend time getting the extra 1% performance out of the washing machine, it is just a machine to get the task done. Computers and software should be like that (it's the reason I changed everything to Apple over a year ago).

I have put together a rudimentary sample CD with 10-20 second snippets of music from our rehearsals. Pretty cool (and easy) to make them fade in and out. I have done samples because I know how busy and uninterested venue owners are. They can listen to the CD, quickly know that we can play our instruments and get an overview of all the music styles we play. Much better than words when you don't play within a single musical style. I have spent too long on a brochure but the results are not too bad. (If you are in business - which I am - then it is important to project the image that you are in business to people who will be impressed by said image).

Some actual music playing has been happening as well. Started work on the new piece "Wagner would know". Basically, it's Eflat for 10+ minutes... Mmm, might need a few more notes than that...

I took some promotional shots and the results of my rudimentary camera skills are:

1. Ensemble (note the lack of connections between boxes - the tangle of chords looked too ugly)

2. Mr Bashfords rudimentary set up (he is very much looking forward to leaving his (large) drum set at home when we perform)

3. And the guitar guys stuff...

Nearly time to start work on the markmacpherson.com web site, dedicated to literary pursuits. It says something about the person that the two major endeavours of my life are in things that (almost) nobody makes any money. Mmm...

2006-11-08T19:15:00.000+11:00

No matter how we want to rank the important things in our lives (family excluded, of course) sometimes our responsibility for the care of others makes us stop doing what we think we should be doing. My current number one priority (family excluded, of course) is getting the musical performances of endsongs up and running but that task has been little progressed in the last week due to rural responsibilities. There have been additions on the farm. The well being of others is paramount.

The latest (born today) and the last for a few weeks....

Music can wait (it has been waiting for so long that a little longer makes no difference - well, it makes no difference, really, any way!) but the care of others that need immediate attention cannot wait. The bucolic life can be rewarding but it has some responsibilities that cannot be ignored. Some work can be put off (the fertilising can wait for a few weeks, fences can be temporarily mended to last a short time until more time is available, etc) when music needs to be organised but when the lives of others is affected by whether you can be bothered or would rather be practicing guitar then.... there is no choice.

I had to cancel rehearsals earlier in the week but Friday beckons with Mr Bashford...

2006-11-01T09:46:00.000+11:00

Two days of excellent rehearsals. With Mr Bashford. We have now "completed" (completed = run through a few times, figured out all the sounds we want to make, recorded a few drum loops, half-thought of a few melodic ideas) four pieces of music that total to around an hour. On the night they could be anywhere from 4 minutes to two hours, depending on how we feel!

I should not play the music down that much... While it is improvised, to get to an hours worth of music has taken us a couple of months of regular work, a few times a week for a number of hours each time. As with most things, it is easier to decide what you don't want than to come up with something you do like. Alot of our musical creativity has been throwing out and rejecting stuff that we thought was working but when repeated or listened to, is not working.

Yesterday was especially pleasant as we rifled through my bank of Mellotron sounds. Pleasant = nostalgic. Mr Bashford was looking for sounds to invoke from his machine as he struck its rubber pads. I would change the sound bank and play a few notes while Mr Bashford would either nod his head sagely or screw his face up in pain or simply say things like, 'No. Too Moody Blues or too Yes.' He selected a few choirs and a few string sounds. I played a few simple chords or a 2 or 3 note slow melody, transferred the resultant file to his machine and Mr Bashford now plays the mellotron. We use it in only one piece, so far, the StringMachine song. The name says it all, although in nearly 20 minutes of music there are one or two moments when a guitar sound is almost recognizable.

The names I choose for the music indicate the amount of time I spend over those things. One is called, "Twelve tones to Locrian" and another is called "Alocrian". A new piece is called "In Sen" and another is called "White notes". At least, I will not be confused as to which key/mode to play each piece in...

Also, we even went through a few mini-moog sounds until I felt we had wasted too much time. Nostalgia not withstanding. The Moog sounds will be for some other time although careful choice will be required. The days of Mr Emerson are no longer here, and together with his erstwhile companion in music Mr Wakeman (perhaps they still are companions, I don't know), they have made alot of the moog sounds so distinctive as to be unusable by anyone else. Except, perhaps, if they are invoked by a drummer...

I have a task to complete that I have been putting off for a long time. There is a mess of cables and connections in the study, and the rack-able items need to be, well..., put into a rack. I have had the case sitting around for a month or two. It's, yet another, music related task that has nothing to do with producing or playing music. Immediately. The items must be racked since I cannot play live carrying around those items singly but, I will have to spend quite some time unconnecting, fitting (using tools like a screwdriver - I hope the hammer will not be required), re-connecting, trying to remember where the connections went, and then testing/sound checking it all. I will then be back to exactly where I am now, able to play and produce music. I'm sure you can see the reason for my reticence.

The floor in the study before...

The empty rack case... (and the wonderful doona in the spare room)

1:00pm
Been distracted by various rural pursuits. Some friends needed attention...

And others simply needed mum...

As I was outside in this early summer weather, much too early and much too summery - even if these last years are not directly caused by global warming then these years (and much worse) are what we can expect in the years and decades to come. I have no grandchildren yet but when I do I will have to apologise to them on behalf of all of us - thinking about how much time and effort there is in music without playing music. It seems most of time is spent organising. For example, doing the web sites (on this blog I thought about putting my interests as "having completed web sites"), preparing documentation, even down to an afternoon trying to work out a template for endsongs business letters, another whole day went by trying to prepare music samples from some of the music we have recorded so far. I have taken a few 5 or so second snippets and faded them in and then out and then joined them together. Ohh! It sounds so easy when I write it like that. A day was spent working out how to do that - it's easy now.... Of course, once I have no further use for that skill. Covering letters have been written, drum samples for Mr Bashford have been stretched and altered (often the mistakes caused by my ineptitude in all things musical technician-wise have been quite interesting - I could not reproduce them of course, so they have been quickly rendered to disk before I made further mistakes that removed the music all together), also various tiny business-tidying thingys that are inconsequential but lead to a day being over and a guitar not being touched.

And our farm needs attention from time to time - although that is "real" work. I sound not say that, I don't mean it. In the scheme of things everything is "real" work, even sitting on your bum reflecting - perhaps that is the only real work there is. We all need more time for that.

The work so far is only preparation, and there is (some) optimism since I have not come up against the real world of venue owners and audiences that care not for the music. I have no current contacts, I do not know any venue owners, so I will have to do what I did 30 years ago and: find venues that may be suitable and will accept our music (even if only on Monday at 5pm), then approach said venues with what has been prepared including music samples and try to convince them that we are worth employing (even though we have a following of zero and can guarantee no audience). Somehow I need to convince people that "new" music is worth it (it isn't - but I need to convince them otherwise).

Why bother? Mmm. Well, it will be fun and very little of what we do needs to be productive.

Times moves on. Perhaps the rack case packing will be done tomorrow.

One day after, one day before

2006-10-26T16:04:00.000+10:00

Various domestic activities this morning. An advantage of doing this at my age is that regular trips to the supermarket are not a financial issue. They are no less boring for that.

The joys of a full pantry that makes no impact on the bank balance...

Listened to the rough mix of SpaceChoir from our latest rehearsal. I should qualify "rough". When I say rough I mean final. My mixing skills extend to moving volume sliders relative to each other. So when I say rough and mean final I actually mean finished. I wish I had more skill in this area but there is so much technical information already required to transform the plucked notes I play into a vast ensemble that I don't have the time or inclination to spend more time not playing. Perhaps later we can entice, entrap, cajole or threaten someone with those skills to help out. Why they would agree to do so is beyond me.

The mix sounds good, great really. I might post it to the web site soon. Soon-ish. The web site, the new web site that is, needs to be completed first. It is number one on my task list but finding time to work on the task list is difficult too. For example, the necessary (but boring) trip to the supermarket. I could be doing the web site instead of this blog, but...

I have yet to speak of the inspiration for the resurrection of my playing career. Playing live career, that is. Except for the dozen years previously mentioned I have continued to play. What got me thinking that this was not a stupid idea (it is a silly idea but it's not stupid) was Mr Gil Askey. An amazing man. I have seen him play many times but have never met him. Don't need to. He inspires by what he does. I'm not a fan of the jazz he plays (and still plays so well although he is into his 80's), but I am a fan of his enthusiasm. For people who don't know I suggest a Google search. And for all those questions online like "Where is Gil Askey now...?" I can tell you he is here. He runs the jazz band at the High School my children attend. They are awesome. The group of teenagers they are not withstanding. My son plays drums in the jazz band, he also plays classical guitar but his real choice of instrument is between a 4 iron and a 5 iron when 200 metres out from a green. He has great expectations of a U2-like revenue stream but not from music. Look out for another Macpherson ten years from now.

With Gil as the jazz band leader they attract some great musicians that just "pop in". The drummer, David Jones, played with the band a few times last month, with my son playing next to him. What an opportunity. Although it did cost me $300 with his enthusiasm for different implements to strike things with. I didn't know such a variety of hitting sticks was possible.

I remember a silly thought I had once. I was 27 and I thought, "I'm too old to be doing this sort of thing anymore." An interesting concept that, too old for music, too old to be performing music I mean. I guess the embarrassment factor is important. Which I guess it would be if you were playing Kiss covers at my age or plain old sad if you were trying to live a Kurt Cobain lifestyle. But, playing innovative, improvised music at any age is acceptable. When it comes to jazz then the older you are the better.

I'm doing that.... the getting older part, I mean.

So, the music, the innovation, the moving forward or simply changing is what is important. I can do that too.

On the subject of inspiration, I remember another story. It is amusing in its contrariness. It was 1969, I was a 14 year old budding guitarist. My grandmother had remarried and moved to Scotland years earlier. She was dying of cancer and in 1969 my father went to visit her. On his way back, through London, he went to buy a present for each of his children. I have a younger sister. Music was the obvious and safe choice. For me the choice was simple, "Abbey Road". My sister was a problem so my father simply picked out an album, by its cover, that he thought she would like. He picked an album that, he thought, consisted of children's novelty songs. A logical choice since the cover was, almost, clown-like. Thank god for my fathers complete lack of taste and, probably, his haste to get the present shopping over with. He does not have a musical molecule in his body, so there was no intent in his purchase.

Later, when my father was back in Australia and had distributed his largesse, I was happy with the Abbey Road purchase. My sister announced, many days later, that she did not like her present. I was interested immediately, since any music that a younger sister did not like must have merit. I played it on my record player in my bedroom. I can still remember standing and listening with the album cover in my hand. I had not heard music like that before, I did not know music like that could exist. I was listening to, possibly, the only copy in Australia at the time of, "In the Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson.

The logical extension, being a budding guitarist, is that I was inspired by Mr Fripp's playing and that led me in new and uncharted directions. However, with the greatest respect to Mr Fripp's playing (it was only years later I appreciated his playing) it was the flute that inspired me. I thought, 'I have to learn the flute'. I did.

When I met Mr Herrick, only a few years after that, I inspired him with that record and my enthusiasm for it. He also learnt the flute, and he became a better player than me (I was by then concentrating on guitar - probably beginning my quest in pursuit of proficiency with the E flat major scale, that still continues today!). When we played in Cirrus, many years later, we had a section of music in the middle of our performances where I put down my guitar (with increased reluctancy as time progressed) and Lee and I played a flute duet. It lasted only for a few minutes but our band became known as the "one with the two flutes". With one to two hours of music we were defined by what happened during one or two minutes only.

I only discovered Mr Anderson years after I began playing the flute. Unfortunately, my flute has remained encased and un-played for a few years now - not since my acoustic foray, "Dispossessed". Now, that is embarrassing but needs to be discussed at another time.

That's enough, I need to get back to the E flat major scale. I was naughty last night and played it in the sixth position for awhile. I have an idea for a new piece of music. It's in E flat at 180 bpm. I have the name already, "Wagner would know". Yes, a pretentious in-joke but one of the highlights of my musical life was seeing the complete Ring Cycle. The music says it wants to be at 180, but the days of picked semi-quavers at 180 are gone. Although, I hope not, I hope it's just a matter of (even) more practice.

I want to spend a few tens of hours on just the E flat major scale and burn it into my brain. Again. I'm sure when the music is, eventually, heard people will not understand why I spent so long on just this one scale (and only in one position, so far). Most of the notes will not be in the E flat major scale! However, it is important to know where your fingers should have been placed when you, purposefully, place them elsewhere.

A Rehearsal

2006-10-25T21:32:00.000+10:00

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.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

2006-10-25T09:51:00.000+10:00

It's really Wednesday, and it was all supposed to begin with, "A good rehearsal with Mr Bashford yesterday".

It didn't. Although to be fair to Mr Bashford I did have my telephone turned off and did not get his message until after I had given up waiting.

However, waiting for Mr Bashford was not that onerous...

I thought, as I waited in such disturbing circumstances, that so much of our time is spent waiting, usually for someone else to do something. I've been waiting, sort of, for this time for about 24 years. I can't remember the exact last time I played in front of an audience but I can remember which year it was. Perhaps that's the function of age to blur the specifics so that we can smile with our memories. Or dribble, as our smiles become fixed as we fall asleep.... Waiting for Mr Bashford.

So, a duo this time. The last time was a trio and the time before that was a number too large to count, with banks of mellotrons and keyboards and a strutting guitarist. I never really strutted though. Perhaps that was the problem but then, when a simple mistake like a misplaced quaver in an hour of music could bring down the whole edifice, there is not a lot of concentration room left over for strutting. I couldn't have left the vicinity of my pedal board anyway, since in my pretentiousness I needed a new and distinct sound, almost, with each refrain I played. I remember being surprised that we were not more popular, all the musicians were excellent and the music was well played (even though after a performance our dressing room was a den of silence and of passing around the rusty razor blades as we believed we had played badly. Lee's (the singer, flautist and part-time guitarist) most popular parting remark to the audience was "You've been most kind". It was only in the following days when we heard recordings of our performance would we think we played quite well and would wish we could go back and do the encore we refused to do because we were sure the audience didn't really mean to clap).

The music then (and I am talking now of ancient history, the 1970's) needed to be listened to many times before enjoyment could begin. Few people, not associated with the band, got past twice.

Still, no matter how long you try to hide from the muse or try to ignore its urgings it will catch up to you. I had 12 years of complete escape. And I mean complete. I did not touch a guitar or listen (with intent) to music. I sold almost everything musical. However, I could not part with my classical guitar, a Guild acoustic and my RD Artist. But, they lived forgotten and unloved in a shed. When I did dig them out (a bit more than 10 years ago) the gold fittings on the Gibson had rusted and I had to get them replaced. What a shame.

As I waited for Mr Bashford (or was I dreaming and smiling and dribbling), I remembered the shock of discovery when I responded to the urgings of the muse. And I could still play although my fingers hurt when I played steel strings. That put me off for awhile and I returned to Bach, I re-bought the Lute Suites and attempted to play them again. I failed but had fun doing so.

The striving is the important bit. I've been playing guitar for 40 years (less the aforementioned 12) and still consider myself less than a beginner. When we start we think once we have mastered about a dozen chords and a few pentatonic scales then we will be finished and we only need to get faster. As we study more and practice more we become aware of what we don't know. I have so much more to learn now after 40 years (less the 12). Who could have believed there could be so many combinations of 12 notes. Then your brain explodes with the possibility of adding a second octave. The foetal position is assumed when we realize the possibilities of 12 notes and nearly 4 octaves!

For example, after I did turn my telephone on and received Mr Bashford's message about his non-arrival I used the next hour or so on the E flat major scale. Only the position at the 11th fret, no other, and only playing consecutive notes in the scale (either up or down) or part scale. After more than an hour of just this (yes, I know, don't say "Get a life") I thought I was ready to begin practicing this scale in this position. Not to mention different positions, single string scales and then all the different keys and then all the different modes and then, perhaps, be ready to be a babe in the woods with all the jazz combinations. I would need to live many long lives. Even then...

Perhaps I'm still dreaming and dribbling but always smiling. Mr Bashford has assured me of his presence today and I need a few more hundred hours on the E flat major scale, 11th position before he arrives. I need to mix our rehearsals from last week also (I wish I knew how to do that better but that would have to be lifetime number 23).

Have I mentioned I've also written a book? No?

Ahh, I hear the dulcet tones of Mr Bashfords arrival.