Where I’m at

Before you jump to any conclusions, let me just say that I have not forgotten that I have an antique square grand piano taken apart in my dining room (and bedroom, and garage). The problem – and yes, I’ve been using this excuse for weeks now – is the heat, because I have nothing but outdoor jobs that I need to do next: staining, sanding, engraving, etc. My original estimate for completion of this project was Labor Day. Needless to say, that isn’t going to happen. I’m thinking the end of this month might be possible if I really get going again, but sometime in October seems a lot more feasible. At least with the temperature getting down into the 60’s at night again (finally!), I should be able to get to some of the sanding and refinishing. That sort of work energizes me to work on the artsy jobs (felt work, engraving) to keep moving toward completion. Number one, though, is to get the harp back in. I just want that off the floor.

Without the desire to work on the piano, I’ve been concentrating on my playing. UAH actually decided to hold the jazz improvisation course with just three students, and we have to play every week, so I’ve been practicing. It’s amazing how much my playing actually improves when I’m practicing. Honestly, I was a little bit surprised. But as I said before, I’m really only trying to make sure I’ll be able to play half way decently when my piano is finished, because I’m sure anyone who sees it will want to hear it as well.

So, yes, I’m procrastinating a little, but don’t worry. Late-to-jazz will be getting more piano updates before long.

Finally, I need everybody to send me a couple bucks so I can buy one of these:

http://www.sonymusicdigital.com/miles-davis/details/5506623

I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT ONE!!!!

And by the way, now I’m a conductor

Here’s a little more about the “concert” where my 17-piece jazz arrangement was played.

Since I showed up first and most of the band had arrived and was ready to play, we decided to go ahead and start with my piece. The piano player hadn’t showed up, so my instructor asked me if I wanted to play on my piece. Simple fact of the matter was, I had spent so much time working on my arrangement, that I hadn’t played the piano in nearly two weeks, other than occasional relaxing plunking and a few notes here and there to work out arrangement parts. So, my instructor agreed to play the piano. The big band instructor asked if I wanted to conduct, but I told him I didn’t know how. It turned out, however, that the bass trombone player also hadn’t showed up and I needed the bass trombone, mainly for the foghorn accent sounds. So he said he would play, and I had no choice but to conduct. The instructor said, “Don’t worry. This band won’t look at you anyway.” So I explained the intricacies (?) of my piece, counted off, and away we went. It went surprisingly well. After we had played my piece twice, I gathered up the scores and sat down, but then the guitar player, who had to play on his piece and had also written piano and bass trombone parts, said, “We need you to conduct again.” Fortunately, I knew the piece pretty well from our in-class review, so I counted and pointed and away we went. Then we decided to read one of the instructor’s recently completed pieces, and of course, he wrote a fancy trombone part for himself, so I got to conduct his piece sight unseen. The first time through, he stood up and gave a few cues, but the second time through, when it came time for the cues, he was looking at me expectantly, so I gave them.

Really, it was no big deal, but at least now, I can say I have conducting experience without telling a lie.

How I spend my Sundays (non-Super Bowl weekends)

7:00 Wake up
7:01 Play stupid games on Facebook
7:17 Go out and get the newspaper off the sidewalk
7:18 Start cooking breakfast
7:30 Start eating breakfast
8:00 Work on the Sudoku-Triple puzzle
8:30 Make another cup of brandy tea
8:40 Play stupid games on Facebook
8:45 Write blog posting
9:15 Bury three buckets of fruit and vegetable matter in the compost pile
9:30 Start working on jazz arranging homework
10:20 Shower
10:30 Work on jazz arranging homework some more
11:20 Play stupid games on Facebook
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Read a book, nap, read, nap, repeat
14:00 Jazz arranging homework
15:30 Play the piano
16:00 Start cooking dinner, listening to jazz
17:00 Dinner
18:00 Watch a movie
20:00 Chill out
22:00 Watch the news
22:12 Read ten pages of a motivational book
22:30 Try to sleep
1:45 (Monday) Finally fall asleep
2:15 Dream of pretty Japanese girls having drinks with me in a jazz club (if I’m lucky)

Another concert down

Our semester ending concert was last night on the UAH campus. It was a lightly attended affair, but the crowd was enthusiastic and very much into it by the end of the evening. Our band played the most songs and so we were able to show off our chops a little bit more than the other bands, as we also had a broader selection of songs. Our tempo was off on one or two of the songs, and we got desperately lost twice but made good recoveries both times. I acted as emcee for our band and I think if nothing else, I was the best emcee on the evening. It was fun.

Now, with that out of the way, I've got to concentrate on my jazz theory class and start studying up in that, making sure I understand every Aoelian, flat 2, sharp 5, pentatonic, harmonic, 13th, etc. I've already decided to take the test day off, and that should allow me to cram everything I'll need to get a decent grade on the test and hopefully pull myself up to a secure B, if not an A. I'm also going to jump start my critical listening project, which has been languishing these last few months. I picked up some new CD's which will have to be added to my database, so while I'm listening to them, I can also be advancing my CLP.

It's a delightful kind of euphoria when the concert is past, the obligation to practice is gone, and all that's left is the music and the memory of its performance. As tired as I am, I feel good about the whole thing. An hour before the concert, if you had asked me, I'd've told you that I'm not so sure this playing and performing jazz is a good thing. During and after the concert, I'd've told you there's no greater feeling in the world.

I still feel that way.

Nothing like a curveball

Last night was the Valentine's Songfest Concert. Four bands playing six songs, and it really was quite a big success. The concert led off with the Wednesday night combo which I play in, then the "second" big band, which I also play in, then the Thursday night combo, which is just a trio, then the "big" big band.

At rehearsal in the late afternoon with the second big band, I was still utterly unable to play my six bar solo without flubbing it, and I started to become genuinely worried I was going to make an ass of myself when it came time to play. When I played it by myself or just for the director, I didn't have a problem, but when I played it leading into the band, I had to make it up. It was awful. But eventually, we ran out of time and I simply hoped to get lucky when it came time for the performance. I'm sure my band mates were hoping the same.

The curveball came at our next rehearsal for the combo. Over the last five weeks, we've play about six different songs, but since two weeks ago, we'd only played two: My Romance, and Ruby, My Dear. Last week, we decided we would play Ruby at the concert, and that was what we worked on all during practice, and that was the only song I practiced during the week. So, sure enough, our director comes in and says, "You guys know you're playing My Romance, right?" The guitar and tuba player both go, yeah, we know, whereupon I said, "You gotta be shittin' me." Then, for a brief second, I assumed the guys were playing a joke on me, and I asked them if they were, but they assured me, no. No joke. The program has My Romance, and we're the first act. Everybody said, don't worry you sound fine, and hey, it's jazz! And while I'm fully aware I can play some simulacrum of the song, I'm also aware I can't play it half as well as I can play Ruby. Oh well. We dive in. We sounded great during practice, we worked out some chording ideas, and my confidence returned.

So, showtime. My Romance did sound pretty good. We got through our solos, but somehow we got confused with the section on tradeoffs, and like the last time we flubbed a song publicly (which was a slightly different group), no one was quite sure what happened. But, we kept going, avoided the train wreck (where the song goes off the track and comes to a complete stop), signaled for the head, and finished the song safe. I don't think the audience even recognized we had goofed.

Then came My Funny Valentine with the big band. And lo and behold, while I did stumble slightly, I did not flub the solo by any means, and as a matter of fact, got it mostly spot on. I was overjoyed. The rest of that song and the original that we did were fine, including a solo in the second piece that was not as interesting as when I played it in practice but still sounded somewhat accomplished.

In short, then: I continue to progress. Slowly, but progressing nonetheless. And I have to say, I do have a lot of fun during the concert. The feeling of exhilaration after the concert is great, too, not to mention the feeling of being free from having to master some songs, patterns, solos, etc. Just liberation and freedom to plunk around the keyboard as I will.

There's nothing like a curveball to make the concert experience all the more rewarding!