A Lotta Notes

Yesterday was great.  I went to the pool with everybody (I even brought Reggie and tied him to the fence).  Then I came home and practiced flute for a couple of hours.  Then I went and taught for a couple of hours (in there was a half hour of bass clarinet practice).  Then I came home and played with Jack and put him to bed.  Then I practiced for a few more hours.  I gave up at 1:30 this morning.  My hands are sore, but it was worth it.  Awesome, awesome day!

Messing Up

Bryan Lopes fixed my tenor. It's funny that I took it to him thinking that there were only a couple of leaks, and he went through and found a bunch of bad pads. How was I able to get the thing to play at all? I guess all those things happen so gradually, you don't feel them going bad. Lopes does an awesome job, and the horn plays really well.

One of the most common comments I hear from students and fellow band members is "You never mess up!" The truth is, I mess up all the time! I think the reason most mistakes go by without any notice is because I play them with the same conviction that I play the correct stuff, and I correct my mistakes quickly! Remember how your band director said to make loud mistakes? The idea was not that you would screw up at high volume...he's talking about playing all your notes (right and wrong) with the same confidence, so that even the bad notes sound like you meant them.

Rickie Lee Jones (and some Gadd)

The usual Monday stuff...laundry, vacuuming.

I got a CD in the mail that I haven't heard in a while--the self-titled album Rickie Lee Jones from around 1979.  You probably know it by the first track-Chuck E.'s in Love.  Interesting how much this stuff I hear in the female singer/songwriters of Decatur, not to mention someone like Norah Jones.  I love it, though.  Some of my favorite late 70s stuff, including some great horn stuff by Tom Scott, Ernie Watts, and Chuck Findley.  Anything where the saxes are playing in unison really gets me excited (Steely Dan does this alot, and I thank them for every note of it).  Love that sound.  Steve Gadd is also on this one (ahh that fill in the middle of Chuck E.'s!!!!!!!), and I'm in love with everything from the 70s that has him on it, so this one does me good.  (Here's a great Steve Gadd clip from YouTube from some clinic--he seems pissed about having to demonstrate something yet again, so he starts off like he wants to die, but about 2 and half minutes into it, he's lost in it and going nuts!)

Rickie Lee Jones has some cool things in her blog.  I can relate to the idea of bringing the music to life at the gig, and how sometimes you want to share it with the audience, and sometimes it's more of your own thing.  I think it's safe to say that most non musicians think that you show up to the gig and the magic happens, when in fact some nights you just can't get it there.  The notes are right and nobody's messing up, but it just isn't happening.  I bet on half my gigs I drive there worried about it not happening...what if I can't summon the spirit?  What if I try as hard a as I can, but the notes just don't connect?  I dread those rides.  It's a kind of fear of failure, but not failure like I'll play wrong notes;  more like the failure that I'll play the right notes, but it still won't be right.  What do you do then?

Wedding Weekend

Last night (Friday), I played a wedding.  Sunday night I am attending a wedding.  Due to my attendance, I am unable to play someone else's wedding.  However, I have no gig tonight (Saturday)!  Everybody's getting married on off nights to save money!  Weird, weird, weird!

Steve Cunningham filled in for our regular guitarist, Dave MacDougal.  I've probably known Steve around twelve years--we used to teach at the same music store.  The last gig we played together was probably one of mine at Sambuca about nine or ten years ago.  He's even better than I remember.  If you get a chance, you should check him out!  Wow!