I played my two church gigs yesterday.
The first one was pretty much just another shot at the stuff we did Christmas Eve, so that was fairly easy, though we did add God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (with a sax solo) in kind of a rockabilly style. It's always funny to me when somebody says "we'll do it 'big band' style"--I know right then that it will be NOTHING like a big band. I think they're trying to describe that the eighths will not be even, but it will not be a shuffle, and it will not swing. If a guitar player says it, he's probably referring to the "big bands" like the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
This time it was doubly funny because the drummer had no idea what to do with either style (big band or rockabilly). Nice enough guy, but the drumming part is not happening. Also, kind of annoying how he demonstrated his commitment to the drums by carrying a drum pad and sticks with him on break so he could mindlessly bang on it. We needed some groove out of him, but never got it.
The leader of the second church gig called me right before I left to ask if I was still planning on going. I guess there were grave concerns about the weather. I went and she went, and we played the gig. It turned out to be a lot of fun! Without the other people in the group, we were free to play. She played piano and sang, and I did my thing. Easy.
I cannot for the life of me play in tune right now. I "feel" close, but not exactly in tune, but I can't hear which way I need to go. I wonder if my sense of it is more heightened and I'm always this far out, but normally can't hear it, or if I'm just really bad at that moment? It feels like half the instrument is flat and half is sharp. I'm all bad.
Also, the Christmas carols kicked my butt. I could remember most, but never all of a melody. When we did God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, I played lots of extra notes not because I was embellishing, but because I was screwing up. Same thing happened last night--I knew most of What Child is This, but I played lots of funny stuff around it. I hate that. It's kind of like screwing up The Star Spangled Banner. Everybody knows when you play a weird note. You can't hide.
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