One hour with the guitar this morning.
First 30 minutes for connecting with the right hand (2nd Primary).
Focus on the functioning of the hand.
Notice (again!) that one of the keys to improving this functioning is directing attention.
I have to keep reminding myself, that I also have back, arms, soles of the feet etc. (tendency to narrow my attention solely to my hand)
The latter half of the practice is work on C-maj part of Calliope lead. Take the small piece with the intention of doing it well.
Then play the complete piece three times, in 65, 60 & 75 BPM.
Monday, 31 August 2009
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
More work after the weekend
Marcin made a call to practice tonight. A good one.
Present: Marcin, Marek & Jacek.
Begin at 18.30
The weekend project completed last night. We go with the flow, and keep working, making a good use of what is available for us.
There are two requests to work on tonight: Primaries & Repertoire.
But first, without looking, we bring the right hand from the hanging down at the side of the guitar position, to the Position of Readiness, and strike A string. Then we begin again, and strike D string.
(My aim for this meeting is to observe the release in my wrist)
Metronome at 56.
Whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eight notes on A string.
(5th string = G, 1st string = g)
DAAAA pattern. In 8th, then 8th & 16th alternating, then only 16th, and back to 8th. Follow this approach with subsequent patterns:
DAAEA
DAEAE
GAEAE
GAEAg
GAEAg DAEAg
Add chords from Hope, learn individual sections as we keep going. We complete with playing through the complete piece, keeping the flow of the picking. Not much talking is needed in order to pass on this piece of the Repertoire.
This session was grounding, reconnecting with the Primaries always works like this for me: I was dopey and unsettled before the meeting, afterwards I was sharp and attentive.
Complete at 19:40
My neighbour whose apartment was available for our project came back tonight. So we go and play for her, her sister, son & my father.
Non-natural notes Circulation.
Beehir
Altana
I'm sure any aspiring performer would appreciate having my father in the audience!
Something clearly began tonight...
Present: Marcin, Marek & Jacek.
Begin at 18.30
The weekend project completed last night. We go with the flow, and keep working, making a good use of what is available for us.
There are two requests to work on tonight: Primaries & Repertoire.
But first, without looking, we bring the right hand from the hanging down at the side of the guitar position, to the Position of Readiness, and strike A string. Then we begin again, and strike D string.
(My aim for this meeting is to observe the release in my wrist)
Metronome at 56.
Whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eight notes on A string.
(5th string = G, 1st string = g)
DAAAA pattern. In 8th, then 8th & 16th alternating, then only 16th, and back to 8th. Follow this approach with subsequent patterns:
DAAEA
DAEAE
GAEAE
GAEAg
GAEAg DAEAg
Add chords from Hope, learn individual sections as we keep going. We complete with playing through the complete piece, keeping the flow of the picking. Not much talking is needed in order to pass on this piece of the Repertoire.
This session was grounding, reconnecting with the Primaries always works like this for me: I was dopey and unsettled before the meeting, afterwards I was sharp and attentive.
Complete at 19:40
My neighbour whose apartment was available for our project came back tonight. So we go and play for her, her sister, son & my father.
Non-natural notes Circulation.
Beehir
Altana
I'm sure any aspiring performer would appreciate having my father in the audience!
Something clearly began tonight...
Guitar Circle of Poland Weekend - Sunday - Performance Day
7:30 Morning Sitting.
Breakfast.
Begin the Circle Work with the Primaries. Then look at the details of some pieces. More work on Thrak. Fine tune Tt pieces, individual & small groups work.
After lunch Marek, Marcin W & Filip leave to get some stuff and shopping. Marcin G & Jacek prepare the space.
Guitar Circle: at the moment Thrak is a big maybe, but it may be called out during the performance.
16:45 Begin the preparation for the evening:
Marek, Marcin G & Filip work in the kitchen and prepare the buffet.
Marcin W & Jacek clean both apartments and prepare the performance space:
We encircle at 20:05. Some guests already arrived.
We have space limitations, so some guests wait in my apartment, where Marcin W takes care of them. Some guests (smokers) wait in the other room, in the apartment where the performance room is. Marek takes care of them. Jacek waits downstairs, greets the guests and directs them to which apartment on the 7th floor to go to.
20:30 - all guests are present.
Tuning.
20:40 J leaves to invite guests into the Performance Space.
Performance of the Guitar Circle of Poland for 15 invited guests:
Setlist:
C Whole Tone Circulation
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Aspiration
Beehir
The Eye of the Needle
Non-natural notes Circulation
(J speaks to the guests)
Altana
Asturias
Highlights: Circulations, Tychy trio pieces & Asturias. As for certain Guitar Craft Repertoire (EotN, IBE, non-performed Thrak): it's good we made an effort and worked on it, we needed it, but we are not quite ready for this level of playing yet. We'll keep working on it.
Buffet for our friends and special guests: Marek's parents.
There's cous cous, fruit salad and carrot cake.
We get a very good feedback, people were into it. They express their gratitude, and ask to be invited again in the future!
Few friends mentioned, that what worked best were our own pieces and Asturias.
22:45 Begin cleaning up the space.
We complete by sharing comments & observations on our work with the Aims, the process & the performance. We also share what we've heard from some audience members.
Acknowledge AAD support and my neighbour's kindness in allowing us to use her apartment for our work.
Something is available after this weekend. From my point of view, we need to perform more, but we also need to focus on establishing solid foundations of playing. Dedicated work on the Primaries is needed, in order to things to move on.
Certain depth of work was possible thanks to some of us attending L3 this Summer.
We complete the Guitar Circle of Poland weekend at 00:11
Breakfast.
Begin the Circle Work with the Primaries. Then look at the details of some pieces. More work on Thrak. Fine tune Tt pieces, individual & small groups work.
After lunch Marek, Marcin W & Filip leave to get some stuff and shopping. Marcin G & Jacek prepare the space.
Guitar Circle: at the moment Thrak is a big maybe, but it may be called out during the performance.
16:45 Begin the preparation for the evening:
Marek, Marcin G & Filip work in the kitchen and prepare the buffet.
Marcin W & Jacek clean both apartments and prepare the performance space:
We encircle at 20:05. Some guests already arrived.
We have space limitations, so some guests wait in my apartment, where Marcin W takes care of them. Some guests (smokers) wait in the other room, in the apartment where the performance room is. Marek takes care of them. Jacek waits downstairs, greets the guests and directs them to which apartment on the 7th floor to go to.
20:30 - all guests are present.
Tuning.
20:40 J leaves to invite guests into the Performance Space.
Performance of the Guitar Circle of Poland for 15 invited guests:
Setlist:
C Whole Tone Circulation
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Aspiration
Beehir
The Eye of the Needle
Non-natural notes Circulation
(J speaks to the guests)
Altana
Asturias
Highlights: Circulations, Tychy trio pieces & Asturias. As for certain Guitar Craft Repertoire (EotN, IBE, non-performed Thrak): it's good we made an effort and worked on it, we needed it, but we are not quite ready for this level of playing yet. We'll keep working on it.
Buffet for our friends and special guests: Marek's parents.
There's cous cous, fruit salad and carrot cake.
We get a very good feedback, people were into it. They express their gratitude, and ask to be invited again in the future!
Few friends mentioned, that what worked best were our own pieces and Asturias.
22:45 Begin cleaning up the space.
We complete by sharing comments & observations on our work with the Aims, the process & the performance. We also share what we've heard from some audience members.
Acknowledge AAD support and my neighbour's kindness in allowing us to use her apartment for our work.
Something is available after this weekend. From my point of view, we need to perform more, but we also need to focus on establishing solid foundations of playing. Dedicated work on the Primaries is needed, in order to things to move on.
Certain depth of work was possible thanks to some of us attending L3 this Summer.
We complete the Guitar Circle of Poland weekend at 00:11
Guitar Circle of Poland Weekend - Saturday
7:30 Morning Sitting.
Breakfast.
Guitar Circle at 9 o'clock:
4th Primary. Begin: pay attention to the feet, top of the head, the right elbow & the right hand. Connect the elbow & the hand using attention.
This leads into GC Theme II: Aspiration. Distribute the parts.
Intergalactic Boogie Express.
--- break ---
10:45
Rhythm work on empty strings: play 16th notes and skip one: the last note in the sequence of four, the 3rd note, the 2nd note and the first note.
Stay on skipping the first note. This leads to work on 4 bars of 4 sections of the Eye of the Needle bass line.
Work on sections of the piece in the reverse order, focusing on small pieces of work, aiming to do them well.
--- break ---
11:45
Thrak: rock'n'roll part. Playing on 1 is too much, unless we define playing on 1 as: bang the strings anywhere between 5 & 2, then we're quite good at it.
12.20 Split into small groups.
Lunch
Guitar Circle at 15:00
Go through the setlist:
C whole tone circulation in 3 registers
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Aspiration
Beehir
Then Asturias, define the parts in the middle section.
New circulation: play any note that is not natural.
Altana (new piecem Tychy trio).
Thrak. There is a little breakthrough with the r'n'r part. Once it's pointed out that one person doesn't have it and drops 1& 3 and moves to 1, we move on.
In general, we have timing issues.
17:10 Small group practice. Eye of the Needle bass & Tt pieces.
Dinner. Marek cooks all meals for us during this weekend. The food is very good, and keeps us going.
20.45 Open rehearsal for 3 invited guests.
Go through the set list. Swiftly play through some pieces, and spend more time to look at Thrak & the Eye of the Needle.
One of the guests commented later that he had a hard time during our long work on Thrak. He has my full sympathy.
With this open rehearsal we left the middle.
Something is available, we use the opportunity and spend half an hour working on Thrak & TEOTN. We moved forward.
Breakfast.
Guitar Circle at 9 o'clock:
4th Primary. Begin: pay attention to the feet, top of the head, the right elbow & the right hand. Connect the elbow & the hand using attention.
This leads into GC Theme II: Aspiration. Distribute the parts.
Intergalactic Boogie Express.
--- break ---
10:45
Rhythm work on empty strings: play 16th notes and skip one: the last note in the sequence of four, the 3rd note, the 2nd note and the first note.
Stay on skipping the first note. This leads to work on 4 bars of 4 sections of the Eye of the Needle bass line.
Work on sections of the piece in the reverse order, focusing on small pieces of work, aiming to do them well.
--- break ---
11:45
Thrak: rock'n'roll part. Playing on 1 is too much, unless we define playing on 1 as: bang the strings anywhere between 5 & 2, then we're quite good at it.
12.20 Split into small groups.
Lunch
Guitar Circle at 15:00
Go through the setlist:
C whole tone circulation in 3 registers
Intergalactic Boogie Express
Aspiration
Beehir
Then Asturias, define the parts in the middle section.
New circulation: play any note that is not natural.
Altana (new piecem Tychy trio).
Thrak. There is a little breakthrough with the r'n'r part. Once it's pointed out that one person doesn't have it and drops 1& 3 and moves to 1, we move on.
In general, we have timing issues.
17:10 Small group practice. Eye of the Needle bass & Tt pieces.
Dinner. Marek cooks all meals for us during this weekend. The food is very good, and keeps us going.
20.45 Open rehearsal for 3 invited guests.
Go through the set list. Swiftly play through some pieces, and spend more time to look at Thrak & the Eye of the Needle.
One of the guests commented later that he had a hard time during our long work on Thrak. He has my full sympathy.
With this open rehearsal we left the middle.
Something is available, we use the opportunity and spend half an hour working on Thrak & TEOTN. We moved forward.
Guitar Circle of Poland Weekend - Friday Evening
Tychy, Poland.
The first GC-related project in Poland begins today.
Participants: Filip, Marek, Marcin G, Marcin W & Jacek.
20:00 We begin with declaring what brought us here and what are our Aims for this project.
What brought me here was seeing the need of such project in Poland. My aim is to support the Guitar Circle of Poland, to see where we are as a group and what is possible in the future.
Guitar Circle:
Circulations:
Any note.
Second note on the offbeat is impossible at this moment.
Skipping the person, changing the seat with each round.
Callisthenics:
(G = 5th string, g = 1st string)
2nd Primary in various time subdivisions, leading into the 4th Primary:
DAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA
DAAA AAAA GAAA AAAA
DAAA EAAA GAAA AAAA
DAAA EAAA GAAA gAAA
Add the Third Relation harmonies on the 7th fret. Mirrors. Move up fret by fret until the TR intro position.
--- break ---
21:45
C whole tone circulation in 3 different registers: low, middle & high.
Short work on Intergalactic Boogie Express (trio).
The session mainly focuses on counting and tapping in five (on 1 & 4) and seven (on 1, 4 & 6). Employ similar approach to what we've done with Marek & Marcin few days ago. Thanks to that session on Tuesday we are in a different place now as a larger group.
Attempt to clap 5 & 7 polyrhythm.
Marcin W, Marcin G & Marek in 5.
Filip and Jacek in 7.
Complete at 23.20
We're on. A good and serious work.
The first GC-related project in Poland begins today.
Participants: Filip, Marek, Marcin G, Marcin W & Jacek.
20:00 We begin with declaring what brought us here and what are our Aims for this project.
What brought me here was seeing the need of such project in Poland. My aim is to support the Guitar Circle of Poland, to see where we are as a group and what is possible in the future.
Guitar Circle:
Circulations:
Any note.
Second note on the offbeat is impossible at this moment.
Skipping the person, changing the seat with each round.
Callisthenics:
(G = 5th string, g = 1st string)
2nd Primary in various time subdivisions, leading into the 4th Primary:
DAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA
DAAA AAAA GAAA AAAA
DAAA EAAA GAAA AAAA
DAAA EAAA GAAA gAAA
Add the Third Relation harmonies on the 7th fret. Mirrors. Move up fret by fret until the TR intro position.
--- break ---
21:45
C whole tone circulation in 3 different registers: low, middle & high.
Short work on Intergalactic Boogie Express (trio).
The session mainly focuses on counting and tapping in five (on 1 & 4) and seven (on 1, 4 & 6). Employ similar approach to what we've done with Marek & Marcin few days ago. Thanks to that session on Tuesday we are in a different place now as a larger group.
Attempt to clap 5 & 7 polyrhythm.
Marcin W, Marcin G & Marek in 5.
Filip and Jacek in 7.
Complete at 23.20
We're on. A good and serious work.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Duo practice
Duo practice today: Marek & Jacek.
We have just over one hour meeting today - productive.
First we look at a new closing of Beehir. Then work on the rock'n'roll part of Thrak.
The main focus of work is on the Eye of the Needle. Pass on the bass line to M. The form is there now. There are few notes to learn, but they need to be played in tune, in time and sounding good.
We have just over one hour meeting today - productive.
First we look at a new closing of Beehir. Then work on the rock'n'roll part of Thrak.
The main focus of work is on the Eye of the Needle. Pass on the bass line to M. The form is there now. There are few notes to learn, but they need to be played in tune, in time and sounding good.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
The Circle of Three in Tychy
11th August 2009, Tychy, Poland.
Guitar Meeting - Preparation for the upcoming Guitar Circle of Poland Weekend.
Present: Marek, Marcin W & Jacek
We begin at 20:10
2nd Primary on the A string in various time divisions. Underlying LRRLR pattern in the feet is too much, so move to LRR.
While the 8th notes on the guitar are going, and the pattern in the feet is being maintained, we circulate the count of 4 around. Then we circulate the count of 3 bars of 4.
Once this is accomplished, we drop the count and feet tap and move to 16th notes pattern: DAAAA. We fail at counting the metronome beat of 5.
Circulate C whole tone scale notes in 5 (on 1 & 4) There's a moment when it flows.
Work without the guitars. Clapping patterns in 5 (on 1 & 4) and in 7 (on 1, 4 & 6). We stand up, and integrate the patterns in the body. Then we divide into various groups and attempt to clap 5 against 7. It's slowly getting there.
Then we do the same for the duration of 7 bars of 5 and stop, then for the duration 14 bars of 5 and stop. The count is internal.
This session was probably too challenging, somebody got carried away.
--- 10 minutes Break ---
Work on the Repertoire:
Intergalactic Boogie Express - Marcin and Jacek on leads, Marek on bass. It needs personal practice and polishing, but it's groovy!
Behere - New arrangement, without the 5th cheesy part.
Sun Music - We miss the third guitar part, so this is maybe.
The feel when playing the pieces is good, we're getting there.
The Extended Summer Project work resonates. Something is available to us, and it feels we're making a good use of it. We have clearly moved on, and one indication of it is how we tune together...
The meeting completes at 22:20
After this we look at the space available for the weekend.
Guitar Meeting - Preparation for the upcoming Guitar Circle of Poland Weekend.
Present: Marek, Marcin W & Jacek
We begin at 20:10
2nd Primary on the A string in various time divisions. Underlying LRRLR pattern in the feet is too much, so move to LRR.
While the 8th notes on the guitar are going, and the pattern in the feet is being maintained, we circulate the count of 4 around. Then we circulate the count of 3 bars of 4.
Once this is accomplished, we drop the count and feet tap and move to 16th notes pattern: DAAAA. We fail at counting the metronome beat of 5.
Circulate C whole tone scale notes in 5 (on 1 & 4) There's a moment when it flows.
Work without the guitars. Clapping patterns in 5 (on 1 & 4) and in 7 (on 1, 4 & 6). We stand up, and integrate the patterns in the body. Then we divide into various groups and attempt to clap 5 against 7. It's slowly getting there.
Then we do the same for the duration of 7 bars of 5 and stop, then for the duration 14 bars of 5 and stop. The count is internal.
This session was probably too challenging, somebody got carried away.
--- 10 minutes Break ---
Work on the Repertoire:
Intergalactic Boogie Express - Marcin and Jacek on leads, Marek on bass. It needs personal practice and polishing, but it's groovy!
Behere - New arrangement, without the 5th cheesy part.
Sun Music - We miss the third guitar part, so this is maybe.
The feel when playing the pieces is good, we're getting there.
The Extended Summer Project work resonates. Something is available to us, and it feels we're making a good use of it. We have clearly moved on, and one indication of it is how we tune together...
The meeting completes at 22:20
After this we look at the space available for the weekend.
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