Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas Show Dress Rehearsal

Yacht Rock played our 10 High gig last night--it happened to be the big dress rehearsal for the Big Christmas Show We're Not Quite Ready to Play.  Traditionally, we've kind of sucked real bad at the 10 High the night before a big show, and then we play the big show and nail it.  Last night was kind of…fine?  No disasters…I for one am just not comfortable with the everything yet.  I kind of know my stuff, but it feels like I need another week or two to digest it--my brain's not there yet.  Like, I can't spot anything on the set list that scares me (except for hearing my voice on We Are the World--I can't wait for that to be over), but I don't feel like I know what I'm doing.  The past month has been such a blur that this show feels like something else to get through.

So…my alto was wildly out of tune.  I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm going back to an older mouthpiece (a Chinese copy of a Guardala).  It's more comfortable.  I feel like I've been fighting the ARB for a while, and the pitch thing is driving me crazy…left hand is flat, right hand is sharp.  I think I probably just need to aim my pitch better, but I recorded a few things last night and I sound BAAAAAD…like so bad that I'm not posting them here!  You know that's bad, since I love to share my latest failures.

My tenor had a great reed--it's a great reed that's still new, so it has a little resistance that you can blow through and then the sound is there.  I love it.  Too bad my tenor solos were both so damn vanilla…no horrible wrong notes, just boring boring boring boring boring.  Felt great, played bleah.

Tonight will be better…or else!

If you're looking for something to do, the Third Annual Yacht Rock Holiday Special is tonight at 9 PM at the Buckhead Theatre.  It only happens once a year…

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