There is still preparation to be done for our performances at the Experimental Sound Studio and the Chicago Bass Festival.

Done:

• Scheduled a couple of rehearsals to work on Autogenous Mining.
• Provided a more or less complete equipment requirements list to ESS, and
• a slightly less complete list to the Bass Festival.
• I’ve been working on my part … getting the locations of all those harmonics drilled into my fingers!
• Sent an e-mail to my “bass players” list, working on setting up a reading session in March.

I'm glad it's labeled "Double Bass Ensemble;" it's a better explanation of what we are, until we're world-famous.

I had a really great feeling of kind of “floating” through the performance. In the past, I’ve often felt that I had to be working really “hard” to perform successfully. I think that I didn’t really believe I was playing unless I was sweating bullets.

But I prepared a little differently for this performance. I spent a good deal of time, especially in the last week, practicing slowly. My goal for the week before the performance was to play each piece once each day at half tempo. The theory behind this is that if you can’t play a shift or a rhythm properly slowly, there’s no way you’ll be able to play it fast. Train your body to play accurately at a slow tempo and when the tempo is fast, muscle memory will take over for you.

I’m pleased at the outcome of the concert. I had worried that we hand’t truly had enough rehearsal time, and while there were a few slip-ups (you know who you are!), I think we played well. The concert was well-received by a good-sized audience. Ken Whitney, the Music Director and our contact at the church was pleased with our presentation and complimented us on Facebook. I was very happy to see work colleagues Vince Mease and Laura Claggett, and friends Ann Wilson and Dave Newcorn in the audience.

In an earlier post on this site, I discussed some of my thoughts on designing the concert experience. Here are a few reflections on what I set out to do about the design of the concert.

Understanding the Audience: I never did actually ask Ken what he considered to be the “demographic” of the audience for this concert. I played my hunch, and I think I got it right. I introduced most of the pieces with some anecdote or a bit of something to “hold on to” as the audience listened, and although I don’t have any proof, I believe that people appreciated that “softening” or “humanizing” of the concert experience.

Pacing: Good, but not great pacing, I think. The motets were possibly too lugubrious and softly played. rather than a chance to cleanse one’s sonic palette, they might have been a bit solemn. I didn’t get any specific reaction, but as we played Ultra-Rondo I wondered if I had kept my word that even the modern pieces we played wouldn’t be jarring. I certainly don’t consider that piece jarring–after all, it’s not atonal or serial music–but did it take the audience too far? Maybe someone will let me know.

Peak-End Effect: Here, I think I got it just right. Both halves of the program ended with exciting, upbeat pieces. A few people remarked to me that A Night in Compostela was their favorite piece, and in that case, they left the hall with it fully in their ears.

The bottom line? Success. I’m very pleased with the way this turned out, and I’m looking forward to our next two engagements. I offer my thanks to my colleagues Anton Hatwich, Julian Romane and Dan Thatcher as well as to Ken Whitney and the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights.

If you missed us January 15, First Presbyterian did record the performance, and has made it available on through a webcast: Chicago Bass Ensemble performance part 1 and part 2. (Regrettably, the microphones were not well-positioned for our performance, so the volume is low, but you can at least get a sense of the performance.)

What do I have to do today?

• Remind all the players about what to wear, when we’re meeting, that kind of stuff
• Perhaps, send a note to the mailing list–for instance, only to those folks who have set “Illinois” as their location. But maybe not; I don’t want to wear out my readers, and I’ve already sent a number of messages this year.
• Practice! A slow once-through of all the pieces, at least once today, perhaps twice.
• And take a nap to allow neural synapses to connect that slow practicing in my brain.

And what do I have to do soon?

• Work on setting up two rehearsals (minimum) for Autogenous Mining, which we’ll play on February 3 (not that far away!)
• Hammer out details of our needs for performance February 5 at the Chicago Bass Festival

• Got the handout printed
• Some good slow practicing (half tempo) this week
• finalized the program order for January 15
• finalized the program order for February 3

Handout created by Anthony Ponchelle

• de Victoria (Cameron) Three Spanish Motets
• O quam gloriosum est est regnum
• O magnum mysterium
• Jan Alm Quartet #1
• Hadyn (Hatwich) Adagio
• Purcell (Stoll) Air and Dance

INTERMISSION

• de Victoria (Cameron) O vos omnes
• Russell Ultra-Rondo [U.S. Premiere]
• Simón García A Night in Compostela [U.S. Premiere]

One of the things which struck me, both during the rehearsal and after, was a sense of nervousness I have about giving musical direction. I don’t think this is entirely a bad thing. I mean, it is and it isn’t:

It’s a bad thing

It’s a bad thing to be the leader of a group (any group or team, pursuing any goal or work) and not know what the direction is, that the end goal is, what is the best way to get there.

It’s a bad thing to be weak, wimpy, a pushover and accept every suggestion you hear uncritically.

It isn’t a bad thing

I’ve said (and I added it to my bio blurb on this site) that I want this group to be collegial. Colleagues give and take suggestions and criticisms from each other with respect.

It’s a lot of work to lead a group, especially in a “start up” or “early career” state. There is a website to be maintained, performance details to be organized, contracts and equipment lists to approve, rehearsals to be scheduled, music to be bought and more. If mine was the only voice giving musical direction, well, there wouldn’t be much musical direction. (For those who don’t know me, I also work a full-time job. The bass ensemble, my passion and my joy, is my second career for now.)

Chamber ensembles have to work together. They’re not dictatorships, at least I don’t believe so.

There’s value to be had by combining the wisdom of all the participants in an endeavor.

Consensus, Collaboration, Collegial?

I agree that there are endeavors in the world that should not be run by consensus. But I’m not sure that intimate musical groups are among them. There’s no way a symphony orchestra could run by consensus, but what about a string quarter like the Tokyo? And how does a small group dedicated to a unique repertoire like Kronos manage? How does the collegial aspect of such a group fare when a member has to be replaced? Note to self: see if you can answer these questions before someone does so in the comments!

Upcoming: rehearsals on Thursday and Friday mornings. Can’t wait!

Done:

• Sent a reminder to the mailing list. Respecting my subscribers desire for lightweight inboxes, I’ll only have one more opportunity to send to the list before our January 15 performance.
• Set up a Google AdWords account and campaign. Have you ever done this? Advice? It’s pretty fun to imagine that my ad is appearing on Google SERPs. Hey, if you see it, don’t click! It’ll cost me money and you already know about us.
• Got our rehearsal schedule firmed up, and arranged my holiday travel around it. It worked out *phew*.
• Had a good exchange of ideas with bassist and music thinker Steve Lawson on a subject similar to my “Opening the Kimono” post. Didn’t go far enough, and I hope it wasn’t because I was being pushy, but I got a lot from Steve’s response to my initial question.

Yet to do:

• Work out details (schedule and amplification) with the organizers of the Chicago Bass Festival.
• Work out further rehearsal time for Autogenous Mining, some time in January.
• Create a printed piece to hand out (I can do this now that the Experimental Sound Studio performance is confirmed).
• Follow up with the marketing guy at ESS.

And more than anything else right now, I need to practice, practice, practice! The notes are largely there now, but playing everything consistently and expressively comes only with a lot of repetition so that it’s all fluid.

Along the way in tonight’s event, each of the composers spoke some about their work and approach, and a Q&A session with Eighth Blackbird and the composers invited questions from the audience.

It was a really terrific glimpse into the process of creating new music. The composers talked some about the pressure of writing under deadline (it helps–otherwise pieces never get finished), about writing for specific performers (it’s better–you have a stronger sense of what’s possible) and the ensemble talked about the idea of “owning” a performance and of the drama and interest of live performance.

My own review – I very much liked Akiho’s piece, titled thE stReAm of conScious machinEry. In fact I realize now that I’m very much looking forward to hearing it again, since I just realized that some of the structural elements Akiho discussed went right past me during the performance. I am very interested to see if I can hear the erasure of the melody that takes place as the piece progresses.

Kurt Rohde‘s this bag is not a toy: a very short concerto for mixed ensemble without orchestra was my second favorite piece of the evening. He described the ending of the piece (before the performance) as having the quality of the sound you play in your mind after leaving a concert, and I agree that he pulled this off effectively.

I hate to say “least favorite” in describing Eric Lindsay‘s Town’s Gonna Talk because the word least has a connotation that the piece doesn’t deserve. It was a good piece; there’s no question it was written by someone who was a finalist in the competition. Separate from the music, I found Lindsay to be the least appealing of the composers while he was speaking. He had a smugness to his character that I found off-putting. Maybe it has something to do with being in the process of finishing one’s dissertation.

In contrast, Rohde was very entertainingly self-effacing. I thought he really hit on something when he said that being the composer was the most terrifying position to be in. As he put it, there’s nothing he can do once the notes are on the page, and if it doesn’t work everyone will blame him.

For the evening, nods go to Make Music (publishers of Finale) as well, for sponsoring.

Eighth Blackbird was given a champions of new music award by the American Composers Forum, and their picture on a box of Wheaties (courtesy of a General Mills executive who is on the ACF board). Oh, and they’ve also got three Grammy nominations. I should be so lucky to have the Chicago Bass Ensemble in such an admirable position . . . but it’s a great goal to have!

Done:

• solidified details for a February 3 set at Experimental Sound Studio
• gathered detailed schedule information from Dan, Anton and Julian, hoping to find common time(s) for additional rehearsal
• started an adwords campaign! Got a free $100 credit as a teaser, so I thought what the heck, I’ve got several things to promote now. The campaign has received one click!! (Which cost me $0.66)
• talked with the mar/com director at my daughter’s school about publishing a piece in the school’s public announcements (I know it sounds small-potatoes-like, but personal communities are the best places to connect, and this is a good community)

Still got-to-do:

• printed piece to hand out
• e-mail to list
• contact organizers of the bass festival to work out details there
• schedule January rehearsal with composer of Autogenous Mining here in Chicago