Practice is off-rhythm this week... the Giants are playing American League Central and all games start at 5pm PDT. I'm not getting my evening practice, but on the flip side I'm turning in early and waking up early, getting long morning sessions.

Been bringing back "Panama" this week, also doing some reps of "La Paloma" and "El Choclo". Other tunes include Gershwin's "Somebody Loves Me", "El Manisero", "Frankie and Johnny". Been playing Handsonic to CD while watching the ballgame.

iPod up to over 3300 tunes... started rating things for "1= don't need to store it"... "3=like to listen to it"... "4= have played it but can't lead it need to learn it"... "5=can lead it". Adding filters by genre to this is real smart.

Big thing I have to keep remembering in sessions is to add vocals to both leads and percussion parts, as prelude to using voice as a true lead instrument. I've got the instrument's multiple voices, but I also have rhythm, and I also have voice to be independent and to color the rest. Got to use all my tools.



posted by macromed5 at 9:45 PM

Good week... three different sessions, each with its own growth. I skipped a few practices in there, but overall I grew.

I didn't meet up with Pete Tuesday, but did get to Jeanie & Chuck's session Wednesday. I didn't lead any tunes this time, but didn't have to skip out early because of volume problems either. The thing I had on this one was playing the melody. I did have a few lapses (a feared overplaying towards the end, an over-reliance on blues scales, and a solo which got lost at the ultimate four bars), but overall there was progress in supplying a solid complement to the rest of the group.

Saturday at the Farmers Market I did a 90+ set, then a 50 minutes set. The only choro was Segura Ele, the only Klezmer was Von Der Khupe, and with rags I stayed with the safe Original Rags, Elite Syncopations, and the (becoming-safe) Pineapple Rag. The French stuff works there, though (I brought back Nany this week), and I was able to get good tone/projection on a few Hank Williams and related tunes. The great thing was speaking with over a half-dozen people who appreciated it... I had to turn away 3-4 people who wanted to give me money... two people said they appreciated I came each week, which means that momentum is building. The first set I played by Peet's, and because of some heavy mist I canned the back and instead played under the streetside archways, near Wendy's flower stand.

This afternoon was the East Bay Potluck... small crowd this time, due to Grass Valley (and perhaps the Fandango jam in Palo Alto). I led three tunes in the first 90 minutes... River of Jordan, Sweet Temptation, I Am A Pilgrim... vocals were strong and right there (although I still cough after pushing my voice harder than I usually do, need to work on that). The latter three hours were on brushes with a swing session, and for the first time I got the jinglestick-in-the-shoe thing working. I had a lot of textures and worked at structuring the tunes, listening hard to provide complementary colors to the current lead.

I brought back The Cuckoo's Nest (hornpipe in G). Tried Heliotrope Bouquet again, but it *is* hard. iPod is up to 2300 tunes.

In two weeks the SF Folk Festival will happen, and I want to work up Any Old Time, Pineapple Rag, and Three Times Seven for a solo shot. During this week I hope to go back and revisit a number of rags which I had played but let go fallow, to bring them to the next level... Panama, maybe Magnetic Rag... want to get more choro into the regular circuit... at some point I want to work through one of the classical fakebooks to bring up some waltzes or other well-known tunes for the Saturday morning sessions.

Keep working, keep working....




posted by macromed5 at 8:25 PM