Friday 4 December 2009

Juggling

Just a few days remain before my next gig. It's the one that I've been focussing all my attention on...or rather, had been focussing all my attention on until the last one came up which required a different approach entirely.

I just had a run-through of two alternative sets to play. Well, each version comprises the same set except for the last piece. I've got a new one which I do like but which isn't quite there yet: the last piece will either be that one or a tried and tested one which I've played a few times now.

Generally speaking, I'd rather play a completely new one with all its flaws and rough edges, than rely on one which I'm familiar with. Having said that, I'll be opening my set with a completely new one anyway, plus I've shuffled the order around and I've got another one in there which has only been performed live once before. The thing is, ending the set with the tried and tested one, as it were, does seem to make the whole thing more homogenous, more of a solid unit (if that makes sense), and when I played that version through it gave me a lot of confidence.

I've the weekend to play around with it all, but it feels like a luxury to be in such a position. Particularly when the night of the gig promises - as an event in its own right, regardless of my contribution - to be a really good night anyway.

I've two more days of work in my daytime job, then the gig, then I'm off for my break in Berlin.

I should make the most of this particular moment in time. There are shadows, but some of those, at least, are because the lights are brighter at this precise moment than I've known them to be for a while.












ps
The new track that I'll be opening with - though largely an interpretation of someone else's music rather than my own - was completed in a couple of hours in the middle of the week, based on the following formula:











You can see why I'm excited about it, I'm sure.

5 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

We'll take your word for the formula you invented. Enjoy whatever you decide to play. Music is a gift from the soul, never to be mistaken for a routine act.

Zhoen said...

The thing about shadows.... how they are more edgy when the light is searing. That sort of thing?

tattytiara said...

My motto is that I've always got to do what I'll enjoy the most, polished or not, because that's always what reaches the audience the most. Have a great show!

Alexandra MacVean said...

Well, speaking from a vocalist and musician's point of view, we all question,work on, and "tweak" our list until a few hours before the show. LOL

I just know that things will "click" exactly when you need it to. :)

trousers said...

Thanks lv (hope you don't mind me abbreviating your name). Yes, I do think the key is to enjoy whatever I'm going to play. Yesterday I was 100% decided on what and how it was going to be, today I'm not so sure: but this is more around details than anything else. I think.

I think so Zhoen. Contrasts and all that, certainly.

tattytiara, yes that makes sense: more wise words :)

...and a big yes to all that, Sophia. As regards your last point - I hope so, these things usually do happen even when one least expects it :)