Don't look back
Last week's illness is pretty much behind me. Aprt from the irritating cough and dribbly nose I feel fine.
This week's trio rehearsal happened a day early and was a chance to play through the whole set to see where it's working and where it's not. The good news was that almost everything is working. The bad news: the same parts that were giving me trouble in previous weeks are still problematic now. Overall the set sounds great but we've now enetered a classic problem - playing too fast. The feeling of conquering arrangements, changes and improvised parts has produced that horribly common afflication of "we're playing well so let's play faster." To conquer this we're going to have one more (recorded) run through, then listen back the next day to attempt some objective feedback. The band's original album, recorded a few years ago with a full line up is now available here. I'm playing bass on all tracks and singing on a few.
Meanwhile, getting rehearsals for a much loved and more established band together has begun proving difficult. In the 'old' days we would meet on a Tuesday with almost every member present. Now I'm wondering if we'll get more than one rehearsal with everyone in place. Being more geographically spread out and having even more children born hasn't helped but at least we're all keen to play. Earlier in the year I witnessed a similar band collapse through the apathy and inflexibility of it's members.
The NaNoWriMo novel is still coming along. I'm hoping to write two chapters tonight and 'bank' one in advance of a weekend away next week. Wiser minds than mine have pointed out the trap of the voices that convince you to keep revising your writing. I'm only going to get through this if I don't look back.
This week's trio rehearsal happened a day early and was a chance to play through the whole set to see where it's working and where it's not. The good news was that almost everything is working. The bad news: the same parts that were giving me trouble in previous weeks are still problematic now. Overall the set sounds great but we've now enetered a classic problem - playing too fast. The feeling of conquering arrangements, changes and improvised parts has produced that horribly common afflication of "we're playing well so let's play faster." To conquer this we're going to have one more (recorded) run through, then listen back the next day to attempt some objective feedback. The band's original album, recorded a few years ago with a full line up is now available here. I'm playing bass on all tracks and singing on a few.
Meanwhile, getting rehearsals for a much loved and more established band together has begun proving difficult. In the 'old' days we would meet on a Tuesday with almost every member present. Now I'm wondering if we'll get more than one rehearsal with everyone in place. Being more geographically spread out and having even more children born hasn't helped but at least we're all keen to play. Earlier in the year I witnessed a similar band collapse through the apathy and inflexibility of it's members.
The NaNoWriMo novel is still coming along. I'm hoping to write two chapters tonight and 'bank' one in advance of a weekend away next week. Wiser minds than mine have pointed out the trap of the voices that convince you to keep revising your writing. I'm only going to get through this if I don't look back.
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