Threnodies

late report from the composer
....the drive to shelbourne was lovely but did not prepare me for the vivacious kids at the school where susanne did a workshop ... susanne,with rhonda's assistance, had those kids in the palm of her hand in about 5 seconds, and doug cameron (drums) and i on guitar worked like crazy cats trying to keep up with the endless flow of ideas and energy susanne gave  out for everyone..so amazing i wish every school could be so lucky...
we found great food as susanne mentions in her blog and then off to set up at the the theater...mike the tech and susan hoover our guide ( the heart of the south shore art scene) made sure all our needs were met and in no time we felt at home and we were ready to perform for the shelbournites !
after a supper of nuts and chocolate (our lunch was still with us !) doug rhonda and i warmed up ,me playing scales and long tones, doug breaking up every quarter note into the most microscopic beats and looking over rhonda busting out some awesome yogic flying headstands ! unreal and set us in a perfect space...
we had to arrange the dance and music for one dancer and drum/guitar duo but with the aid of my trusty eventide looper and doug's perfect beats we gave 100% to two threnodies ...i knew we were loud, i knew we were captivating but susanne,being her own outside eye, did have some important notes about the power we brought to the stage...and that was just 3 of us ! we need to harness this stuff,point it in the right direction and wow what a show !
today was the first music run with Ron Hynes,bass,Tim Crofts keys,Doug Cameron drums, and me on guitar. we ran thru the work that susanne had set and it sounded so good.it was the fisrt time ron and tim had played this stuff together and look out...they are both great musicians and bring their creativity to the forefront...we warmed up on threnodie 1,2 and 3 and then the band was patient as we worked through sketches of new ideas....threes and sevens ! tap tap ! ....again holy triple wow this is already sounding wicked and we have only just begun,can' t wait for next week and to bring it to the peeps ! yeeha ....