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jazzfishThis past extended-weekend has been Orpheus, for which I provided some music and a small role.
Musicking was originally going to be just me and G, which would have been fine. I got to jam with her for awhile last spring at Rainforest. We're both, mm, acceptable amateurs, I guess, as far as that goes, and we work alright together. Then sometime this summer she got word that Alexander James Adams was interested in helping out with the music for the festival/ritual. Which, um, yes please, I will happily play third fiddle to a Real Live Musician.
Working with Alec was an absolute delight. He's technically accomplished, which one would expect, and also just a decent guy in general. He not only played well himself; he raised the bar for G and me, just by being himself. By about the second time through the main theme (in, um, either B or E major, because G had written it for her Hardanger which has some very weird tuning) I was comfortable enough to improvise a bit of harmony instead of sticking to the basic drones I'd been doing, which was a lovely feeling. And then, during a joyful procession, Alec and G both had drums and I had instead carried my tenor recorder (picked up a couple of days earlier, because why not), and so I shrugged and started making up a march as we went.
We (the three of us plus Dogwood who plays punk-ish ukulele and sings) got to jam for awhile on Saturday afternoon, too, and that was just fantastic. Towards the end we broke out "John Ryan's Polka," one of my favourites and one that Alec's apparently used as a session closer for ages. He's got a tradition of, after the first couple of times through, everyone playing the first two notes of the first three bars of the A section, and someone soloing on the rest of those bars, which is just so much fun I can't even.
He's expressed an interest in getting more involved next year, with more intricate ambient musical cues and such. I'm pretty excited to see how that goes.
Musicking was originally going to be just me and G, which would have been fine. I got to jam with her for awhile last spring at Rainforest. We're both, mm, acceptable amateurs, I guess, as far as that goes, and we work alright together. Then sometime this summer she got word that Alexander James Adams was interested in helping out with the music for the festival/ritual. Which, um, yes please, I will happily play third fiddle to a Real Live Musician.
Working with Alec was an absolute delight. He's technically accomplished, which one would expect, and also just a decent guy in general. He not only played well himself; he raised the bar for G and me, just by being himself. By about the second time through the main theme (in, um, either B or E major, because G had written it for her Hardanger which has some very weird tuning) I was comfortable enough to improvise a bit of harmony instead of sticking to the basic drones I'd been doing, which was a lovely feeling. And then, during a joyful procession, Alec and G both had drums and I had instead carried my tenor recorder (picked up a couple of days earlier, because why not), and so I shrugged and started making up a march as we went.
We (the three of us plus Dogwood who plays punk-ish ukulele and sings) got to jam for awhile on Saturday afternoon, too, and that was just fantastic. Towards the end we broke out "John Ryan's Polka," one of my favourites and one that Alec's apparently used as a session closer for ages. He's got a tradition of, after the first couple of times through, everyone playing the first two notes of the first three bars of the A section, and someone soloing on the rest of those bars, which is just so much fun I can't even.
He's expressed an interest in getting more involved next year, with more intricate ambient musical cues and such. I'm pretty excited to see how that goes.