Minutes for Oct 29th

Attendees: Glenn, MaryBeth, Martin & Victor

The meeting began with V, M&M as we were there from the beginners circle. We began with Askesis and looped the C# section. Martin and Victor began working on Third Relation and after this Glenn arrived. We worked more on Askesis playing through then looping the G# and C# sections. We continued with repertoire working on 3rd Relation, Growing Circle, Moving Force, Hommage a JSB, Larks Thraak, EoTN and Chrysanthemum. We spoke of the upcoming performance requirements and schedule. Victor said we will probably not have circle the night of the 12th as we have a rehearsal at 3rd Life that morning. As we broke up Martin asked a question about dealing with physical irritation during sitting.

Minutes for October 22

Attendees: Victor, David, MBAH

The meeting began with Victor asking us what we have been working on. David had been working on the arpeggios for the Colrain course. Mary Beth had been attempting to practice for four hours straight. Although she has logged maybe three hours at a time (with breaks) on two occasions, being able to complete four hours has been an elusive achievement. We then played Third Relation. Victor listened to us loop the melody line. Then, Victor gave us some coaching on our right hands. Then, we worked on Askesis and a discussion followed. Victor talked about knowing the map of a song (this includes knowing the counts, patterns, changes, etc). The next stage is to experience the whole song at once so that playing isn’t a linear exercise, but holistic one. In this way, the songs (particularly the repertoire pieces) can teach you things -- such as what the middle of a moment is or feels like. We also talked about the personalities of playing (i.e., playing authoritatively), and about the need to meet players in the middle – for example, a stronger player can soften to blend with a softer player and vice versa. We attempted the Arpeggios but MB was not up to speed. Victor noted that having smaller circles is probably valuable right now as it allows us to work on finer points of our playing for the greater good of our playing as a group.