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Several Things!
May. 26th, 2025 09:50 amIt's been a busy few days! Let's take it back in order.
Friday:
In the evening Mary Beth and I went over to Playhouse to see Opera Memphis perform La Calisto again. We started by going to the pre-talk. The staging and performance was very similar to the one from last season (the reason they repeated it is because they were hosting the big national/international opera conference this past week and did a performance for that and needed something they could put together fast and were familiar with and all because of constraints related to all that, or something like that). Some of the performers were different due to differences in who's here this year vs last, but many were the same too. And the same thing with the musicians of the baroque period accurate instruments (I think the musical director Jonathan wasn't here yet last season and he joined them too, but my memory on that front is fuzzy, the string players I remember clearly). Anyway, the opera itself was still good and their production was still enjoyable!
Saturday:
I was smart to mostly break my equipment down and pack the night before. I was still running a little behind getting ready and loaded and heading out. During the time I was loading my car and carrying the gear up to Graham's place it was just pouring outside (pretty much those times contained the absolute worst of the storm). Graham's stairs up to the upstairs practice room aren't covered and in fact the little bit of overhang cuts the stairs in half so you've got the roof runoff coming right down the middle to make it even more difficult! You can try to keep valuable gear on the side next to the building and it will be out of harm's way but that usually puts you right in the extra water runoff. Oh god, and then I got there and realized I'd forgotten my tablet which is pretty much the brain for the whole thing so I had to run back home and get it!
Okay weather aside, practice was great! We did a full run-through of the movie. With some stops and discussions and break and stuff, but we did do it overall front-to-back. Very good exercise. We even identified some things to adjust (especially with dynamics, in a very few places where a little dialog and drumming were overlapping). I ordered a little bit of food for it as we met up during lunchtime and I think that was enjoyed. Just one more rehearsal...
Sunday:
Had the sole rehearsal with The Memphis Concrète Electroacoustic Chamber Music Ensemble. This is the little project of getting bits of classical music and everyone plays from different scores simultaneously, plus with some electronics (loaded up some public domain, wax cylinder recordings). We met up at the Crosstown Green Room. I lugged up the keyboard amp for the modular synth to go through. So we had there: Catie on flute, Alex on alto saxophone, Austin on oboe, and Karl on modular synth (Laura is playing violin with us but she wasn't feeling well yesterday). So we went through the thing twice. I "conducted" using a little baton I ordered. I think it went well. Sounds good to me. I recorded our second run-through. The musicians nailed it. They seem to get through about half of the sheets of music I provided so we had enough material. Cool! Happy with it and they seem on board. It was the first time I met Catie (Brianna got her as a replacement when her scheduled changed), but she works a lot at Crosstown and she's someone I see all the time though we hadn't met personally before. I made a little excerpt of the recording to put on the sampler compilation. Since it's a very late addition, here it is:
Had a little trouble falling asleep last night. I think I was a little amped up from all the activity, but also there was like a party or something happening somewhere not too far away and the noise was distracting me too. Then I woke up earlier than I'd wanted. Oh well. At least today's a holiday.
Friday:
In the evening Mary Beth and I went over to Playhouse to see Opera Memphis perform La Calisto again. We started by going to the pre-talk. The staging and performance was very similar to the one from last season (the reason they repeated it is because they were hosting the big national/international opera conference this past week and did a performance for that and needed something they could put together fast and were familiar with and all because of constraints related to all that, or something like that). Some of the performers were different due to differences in who's here this year vs last, but many were the same too. And the same thing with the musicians of the baroque period accurate instruments (I think the musical director Jonathan wasn't here yet last season and he joined them too, but my memory on that front is fuzzy, the string players I remember clearly). Anyway, the opera itself was still good and their production was still enjoyable!
Saturday:
I was smart to mostly break my equipment down and pack the night before. I was still running a little behind getting ready and loaded and heading out. During the time I was loading my car and carrying the gear up to Graham's place it was just pouring outside (pretty much those times contained the absolute worst of the storm). Graham's stairs up to the upstairs practice room aren't covered and in fact the little bit of overhang cuts the stairs in half so you've got the roof runoff coming right down the middle to make it even more difficult! You can try to keep valuable gear on the side next to the building and it will be out of harm's way but that usually puts you right in the extra water runoff. Oh god, and then I got there and realized I'd forgotten my tablet which is pretty much the brain for the whole thing so I had to run back home and get it!
Okay weather aside, practice was great! We did a full run-through of the movie. With some stops and discussions and break and stuff, but we did do it overall front-to-back. Very good exercise. We even identified some things to adjust (especially with dynamics, in a very few places where a little dialog and drumming were overlapping). I ordered a little bit of food for it as we met up during lunchtime and I think that was enjoyed. Just one more rehearsal...
Sunday:
Had the sole rehearsal with The Memphis Concrète Electroacoustic Chamber Music Ensemble. This is the little project of getting bits of classical music and everyone plays from different scores simultaneously, plus with some electronics (loaded up some public domain, wax cylinder recordings). We met up at the Crosstown Green Room. I lugged up the keyboard amp for the modular synth to go through. So we had there: Catie on flute, Alex on alto saxophone, Austin on oboe, and Karl on modular synth (Laura is playing violin with us but she wasn't feeling well yesterday). So we went through the thing twice. I "conducted" using a little baton I ordered. I think it went well. Sounds good to me. I recorded our second run-through. The musicians nailed it. They seem to get through about half of the sheets of music I provided so we had enough material. Cool! Happy with it and they seem on board. It was the first time I met Catie (Brianna got her as a replacement when her scheduled changed), but she works a lot at Crosstown and she's someone I see all the time though we hadn't met personally before. I made a little excerpt of the recording to put on the sampler compilation. Since it's a very late addition, here it is:
Had a little trouble falling asleep last night. I think I was a little amped up from all the activity, but also there was like a party or something happening somewhere not too far away and the noise was distracting me too. Then I woke up earlier than I'd wanted. Oh well. At least today's a holiday.
