Interesting session at the Farmers Market today. The Giants were playing in the midwest at 10:30am so I did one long two+hour session. I did have a spell about 70% through were my mind started to go, and where the ambient noise increased significantly, but I got back inside, re-concentrated, and ended up playing to please myself, in a way I hadn't been able to do there before. I think it sounded better to outside ears too.

New tunes I played out included that Quebec valse-clog medley in Bm and D... a little bit of "Thanks for the Memories" to start off... finally played Panama out, and I did miss a little but I could hear how to pull it together, the balance of the hands on an acoustic box... La Paloma finally came out... on Temptation Rag I had to drop the left hand out on some of the dual-chromatic work... sang on Moonglow, Blues for Dixie with four-to-the-bar bass, which started creaky but which came through by the end. The musette stuff had more authority than previous times.

Practice this week was light, more like two sessions a day than three, but they tended to be good sessions. I'm continuing through that classical fakebook, and aside from realizing that I already know much of this material I'm learning new things about accompaniment styles... the left hand is doing a lot of simultaneous bass/chord work, and also that b-c-c-c-b-c-c-c pattern works for a lot of it. I had a few where I was playing classical melodies against a Brazilian beat, or klezmer-style habanero beat. Continue reading on Duke Ellington's band and doing a lot of listening here... I've had a few sessions playing through his sheet music, but not as much as I need to really add this in. It'll come.
posted by macromed5 at 11:35 AM

I'm watching "Mostly Mozart" on PBS, and this piano player "Lang Lang" is interesting... he does have chops, and I believe he does have feeling (or else he wouldn't be subvocalizing his lines), but his mugging puts Fats Waller to shame. He seems caught in the NYC scene... what would he do barrelhouse on the Lower East Side, 80 years ago, without his current patrons? Take away the social trappings, what does it really mean? What did 9/11 mean to you, friend?

Later: Dude, get out of the way! (Judy Garland Disease?)
posted by macromed5 at 9:26 PM

So, the problem this past week seemed to boil down to a lack of feeling, of meaning... other things were cooking in the hours of the day, and I didn't feel I had stuff to say. S'cool, I can deal with that, just so long as it's not a permanent condition.... ;-)

Today I had four sessions, and will probably conk rather than pursue a fifth. In the morning I had two short practices between laundry cycles, mainly slowly working rags and other show pieces, trying to get on-demand note-perfection. In late morning I went to Strybing Arboretum, where I hadn't been for quite awhile. It was far from hand-drummers, but the fog was in. I brought a little chair so I could sit where I pleased. Played maybe 75 minutes before getting a burrito and listening to the ballgame... mostly stuff I was confident I wouldn't fluff too badly. Got some fans, a number of people sitting around who actually enjoyed it. I have no idea how far it carried across the open lawn. This seems like a good place to return to, at least so long as the weather's nice.

I've been thinking over some similar public place to play an evening or two each week. I want safety, a good amount of foot traffic so I can peoplewatch without imposing on a captive audience, and preferably an indoor location for the winter. The Hills Brothers Plaza has possibilities... there must be other places with restaurants South of Market so that I could take a bus from work and a bus home.

In the evening I had a 90+ minute session, still reading my first pass through a classical fakebook. I know these tunes have possibilites, but I'm not sure yet how to flesh them out... some would benefit from going back to the piano score, but I think I'll have to apply musette, gypsy and swing techniques in order to make them as meaty as some of the other stuff I play. There's definite gold in using those well-known melodies with the techniques learned in generational music. It will just take more work, that's all.

I'm reading through Duke Ellington scores and analysis... know I need to understand his voicings... my voice would be a definite part in such arrangements... I'm nowhere near ready on this, but I know it's there, and I'm working at it.
posted by macromed5 at 10:49 PM