mp3 player and musical musings

Went out yesterday and purchased an MP3 player for my wife. She has been using crappy little ones. I just couldn’t get them to work properly to load up a couple of books on CD for her trip to California. I bought this at Walmart for about 40 bucks. It instantly worked. 

I am still struggling with not feeling so good. Yesterday I had depression as well physical stuff. My mom’s negativity was getting to me.

Unfortunately it and my physical illness bled into the rehearsal with the musicians for this Friday. Dang. 

But we had a good rehearsal. It is an interesting challenge to try to build a collaborative situation between these musicians. We are all very different but each has a unique piece to offer. Being the old guy, it falls to me to try and monitor how we are doing at communicating and connecting. It’s not that big a deal, but I have been so looking forward to this particular collaboration, that I would like to do all in my power to make it good.

Kevin the drummer suggested that we could benefit from a bass player. He is still feeling his way into openly communicating (especially with the scarey weird old guy… that would be me). He has a player in mind whom Jordan the sax guy also knows. It sounds very promising. The player is young (15) but excellent. And literate. Today we have an extra rehearsal at 3 PM. At least I have spoken to both Kevin and Jordan about it. I left a message for Jonathon. At this rehearsal I am hoping to have a brief open discussion with these guys and clear the air a bit. It’s tricky getting musicians to trust each other. But it looks promising.

Kevin had to leave early yesterday so Jonathon, Jordan and I worked on. We ended with looking at piece Jonathon is writing. It was fun for me to watch him work with Jordan and Jordan work with him. Jordan mentioned that he might do some writing soon. So encouraging to see people interested in the kind of thing I am. And also be a bit free of the blinders I have experienced and continue to experience in so many musicians. Jordan and Jonathan are extremely open to all sorts of musical and aesthetic experiences. This in and of itself is valuable enough for me to spend my time with them. Playing our set list on Friday is almost a bonus. But admittedly a sweet one. 

I am listening to John Kirkpatrick perform Charles Ives “Concord Sonata.” I was listening to Ives’ own performance last night (thank you Mark for connecting me with these recordings). I am reminded how much I like this music. Since it is so difficult, the idea of playing It has always overwhelmed me. But now that I have been successfully learning some of Messiaen’s piano and organ music it might be time for me to get some Ives in my fingers.

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