Just a bit of a status report here for the curious. Barbara and I took a three week long vacation this September in Turkey, which was quite amazing. I am in the process of writing up my journal about this, and at some point when I get it right it will up as part of the main brain transfer website. Sure there is music stuff in there, but you will just have to wait for that.
Back to here tho, and back to the new found funnest thing in the world to play, my clarinet. I was pretty charged in Turkey, since the clarinet is a big deal over there, and couldn't wait to get back and play some more.
One thing I found out, these highly worked pieces of grenadilla wood don't like to be ignored - the horn sounded just terrible for several days when after I returned. Not only that, it felt like I lost most of the things I had learned, very clumsy.
At least I know the cure for this, and its just practice, practice, practice. I decided for a few weeks just to play the scales, so that I could feel comfortable in all the keys. This is back to my long standing practice, back to the time when I was just a kid finding my way around the trumpet. I don't know how other people approach this, but until the scales feel right, nothing feels right.
Of course, you can't do this forever, and by now I am working thru an ancient (1923) clarient instruction manual I picked up at an estate sale, complete method for the Boehm clarinet, by Gustave Langenus. Just for the heck of it, I googled it just now and would you believe its still in print! Somehow, I am comforted by this, that there is a timelessness about the classic western instruments. I still have my sax method, that I bought twenty years ago, that was about from the same period. Love it.
I must contrast this with all the synths I have owned, now all gone except my ER1 and that is probably going the way of the rest of them when I get around to it. That, and my broken Juno 106. It feels at this point, that I have totally run the other way from what I did for the last 10 years, sit in front of the computer and write music by myself and only pick up real instruments when I needed them for a song I was writing. Again, maybe its my age but I am getting much more out of playing a real instrument, rather than a virtual one - or a hardware box and a keyboard.
Its not like I am uninterested in writing any more songs, but I just don't get the satisifaction that I used to, from working with just my own brain. I did have a bit of fun working with Jeff, but that project has fallen through. No doubt a good thing, since Jeff lives an hour and a half from here now, rather than 1 mile away. And I just don't think at this point I could get the enthusiasm for it again. I recall reading the other day, drum loops ( or their variant, midi drum files) should just die. Yeah, couldn't agree more.
At this point I could sit here and wallow in regret at all the time and money I spent working by myself, but what would be the point of that? I did learn lots of esoteric things about making music, so its good in that sense. And when I meet other musicians that I may want to play wiht, having my self produced CD is a great calling card. Just call me serious, OK?
On that front, I am still looking for some people to play with, but not stressing myself too much about it. Especially if I want to pass myself off as a clarinet player, having a bit more time to become decent at the instrument is a good thing. Also decided to treat myself to having my beloved late thirites Martin tenor sax completely rebuilt. I have owned this wonderful horn for over twenty years, and never had the money to have it totally fixed. What better use of the funds I got back from selling those synths? And I really feel like what I want to do in any band is play a wind instrument, unless someone was just dying for my guitar playing. Leaning way toward the acoustic side of things too, another result of all the brass band music I have been listening to for so many months now.
I did actually play for an audience a few weeks ago, amazing to me to say the least. I think my favorite Jewish holiday is Simchat Torah, which literally means rejociing with the Torah. It commenmorates the giving of the Torah to Moses and the Israelites. Its also the end of the yearly reading of the Torah, and when you start again.
One of the reasons I love this holiday is that, as my Rabbi would say, its short on discussion, long on partying, including at one point in the service the entire scroll is unrolled.
Anyway, you can read about this at any Jewish website. What was quite special about this year was that I actually played along with the synagogue guitar player and the Rabbi for the service. We have a very talented guitarist, JD, that plays along with our services, and our Rabbi has a really wonderful voice.
It was rather scary for me to bring along my horn to the practice the day before, since I really didn't know if I was comfortable enough on my horn to make this work. I got to JDs' house early, with my clarinet and my newly acquired doumbek - I finally got a good excuse to buy a decent drum. We cracked a few beers and JD said, hey it won't be a problem most of these songs are in like one of two keys, and I know all the songs from singing them for years.
He was right, it wasn't a problem. JD was amazed at how loud my clarinet is - he has no idea, should listen to my tenor sax, but things started working right away. JD has a big, hard surfaced living room and the horn just bounced off the ceiling and walls like crazy, sounded great.
When our Rabbi came over, it just got better. How could I not like being Jewish when I can play music and have a beer with my Rabbi and my good friend? We went thru all the songs a couple of times, so I would know which ones would work best with the horn, or my drum or my guitar. Heck of a lot of fun, and I could actually play my horn and not embarass myself. Amazing!!!!
The next night at services things went really well. Of course, all the notes I had made on what to play on what went out the window. JD would just say, hey grab your clarinet or the drum or whatever. Of course he had brought some of his own drums, and this turned into a party. At one point, Barbara and I were both playing hand drums, and that was great. As at every Simchat Torah, at one point that Torah is danced outside the building with most of the congregation, and I got to see what it was to have the hall empty out and then fill back up with all the great people in my shul. Very cool, like the audience leaves and comes back for a second helping.\
All too soon, the service was over. Of course, I made mistakes, and some nasty squeeks, but no one noticed but me, and I got a lot of nice compliments.
Like they say, live music is best. Wish me luck in finding some kindred spirits here in Portland.