It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:39 am




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next
 Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost) 
Author Message
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
jstorm1031 wrote:
About half of the 12 songs were improvised on the spot...
Jim


Wow! I am now quadruply impressed. That is exactly what I want to be able to do. I am pretty good at spontaneous lyrics with meaning and I would so love to be able to just sit down and play, shift to harmonizing with spontaneous lyrics then shift back again. All on the fly. That is exactly what I want to be able to do.

I have been learning songs (which I will continue doing) but I realized that though the hands are doing different things nicely they are actually still quite locked together. Yesterday I practiced for just over 100 minutes and never played a single note other than "G". I was working totally on the first two exercises in Chapter 5 (Independence) in the StickBook and mixing it up.

Great Job times 10. I think the reason this thread is a bit more inactive is because it is tucked away off the beaten path. Sorry that it took me so long to respond. Actually I saw your post, listened to two of your songs and wanted to respond in a way that time did not allow at that moment. I have been a bit busy lately.

Keep posting. Since you are so good at improvising, I'll tell you what would be very cool. Perhaps a video where you sit down and basically say OK I am going to just improvise something and I have no idea how it will turn out. This is what is in my head right now (be it a chord structure or whatever). This is how I typically build on it.

It would be very interesting to see someone articulate what is going on inside before and during an instrumental improvisation. I am sure this is different for everyone to a degree but it would surprise me if there were not some common threads.

-Curtis


Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:42 am
Profile
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
(From the Open Mic thread)

CurtisAbbott wrote:
I spoke to Jeff at "The Magic Bean" tonight and sounds like I may be playing at the Open Mic on Thursday at his place next week.


Wow. That was even harder than I thought. I was so shaky it was nuts. I promised I would share but I warn you it was pretty bad. I will have to be a ton easier next time.

Good news is there were some amazing artists there. I was very impressed. Almost everyone there was fantastic. The person running it said it was one of the best Open Mic night's they have had for a long time.

One guy plans to order a Stick. I probably won't be going back there anytime soon simply because of the smoke. In fact, had I thought there would be smoke I would have never gone.

One girl there spent half the night preparing a list of additional places that host similar events regularly.

Here is the link to my little fiasco...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_fSBj8X9Q

Hopefully no one stumbles across it because I would hate for that to be any more people first exposure to the Stick.

Having said all that, I do plan on doing it again soon. I must conquer those virtually debilitating jitters.

Any tips would be appreciated.

-Curtis

P.S. Even though the shaking hands were a serious challenge to control my even bigger issue was the total mind freezes. It is hard to even not so gracefully recover from a "train wreck" when the track is completely gone.


Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:10 am
Profile
Multiple Donor
Multiple Donor

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:24 am
Posts: 565
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
Curtis you just DIT IT! That's the important thing, and the audience was great and supportive.

My first (and only) public performance was almost a year ago at the E-tap (european tap seminar in Belgium) and it went really well but I took a few security measures:
- The piece was REALLY easy (deep inside my confort zone) and I knew it very well.
- I did play with a clarinet player (a very talented young girl) how did the impro / soloing part while I was comping, we did the intro / theme / outro together.
I really started cool and relaxed but by the middle of the song I got the thoughts, 'Hey, what am I doing?' and then 'No mistakes so far I hope I will not screw it', 'Please I want to end it now'. At that point I'd manage to think in something else (food, drinks, etc) and went through it (I guess that my playing became more mechanical but I don't care).
Somebody filmed that but I didn't see it and I'm not sure that I want to see it ;-)


Congrats for your first step, Daniel


Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:54 am
Profile
Multiple Donor
Multiple Donor

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:24 am
Posts: 565
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
CurtisAbbott wrote:
Any tips would be appreciated.


Ok, this is one of the 'Do as I say and not as I do'.

Try playing with a metronome, and when you do a mistake try to recover in the next measure (or two). Hopefuly it will become a reflex and it will take less an less time to recover (two mesure, then one, then half...).



Cheers, Daniel


Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:01 am
Profile
Resident Contributor
Resident Contributor
User avatar

Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:08 am
Posts: 261
Location: UK
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
woaaah! well done Curtis! I felt nerves just watching. You did great to get up and have a go, I just can't imagine ever having the guts to play infront of people. I'm totally cr*p at playing any instrument infront of anyone, let alone an audience, and the stick seems so much more complicated to get right in one go.

_________________
My music videos http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Golchen&p=r


Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:34 am
Profile
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
arsacane wrote:
CurtisAbbott wrote:
Any tips would be appreciated.


Ok, this is one of the 'Do as I say and not as I do'.

Try playing with a metronome, and when you do a mistake try to recover in the next measure (or two). Hopefuly it will become a reflex and it will take less an less time to recover (two mesure, then one, then half...).



Cheers, Daniel


I am going to have to force myself to do exactly what you said. That is very good advice.

Curtis


Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:48 am
Profile
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
(From the parallel post)

Thank you everyone for your comments and support. I am determined to push through this and am looking for a smoke-less venue to do it again as soon as possible while the experience is still fresh.

My wife has never been around smoke in her entire life and I teach wellness and try to live what I preach. We were tempted to leave early but had to stay to respect all those amazing musicians that were so supportive. I am very glad we stayed and also very glad that we left our nursing baby at home sleeping which was a first for us. (It went great my 12 year old sleep near her with all the other children in their beds.)

I will try to get a repeat experience coming up here and a fresh report.

robmartino wrote:
"Inner Game of Music"

Interesting you mention that Rob because I was just thinking that reading and applying that book (I am on page 45 of it and have applied nothing yet) would make the difference. We making such a huge deal out of it and really "trying hard" has bound me up and amplified the inner voice of criticism. Some things the hard you "try" the harder they are. In fact, often the very act of trying restricts the flow from the well of ability.

I will take your advice and go to work on that by reading and applying that book.

gpoorman wrote:
what a great room to do your first performance in. They sounded like a really supportive group and, if at all possible, I'd brave the smoke and go back again at some point.

First hurdle ... gone. Way to go.


They were probably all so supportive because they had all at some point been in my shoes at least to a degree. I am still amazed at the caliber of musicians that were there.

Thank you everyone,

Curtis


Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:51 am
Profile
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
twizzle wrote:
woaaah! well done Curtis! I felt nerves just watching. You did great to get up and have a go, I just can't imagine ever having the guts to play infront of people. I'm totally cr*p at playing any instrument infront of anyone, let alone an audience, and the stick seems so much more complicated to get right in one go.


Twizzle,

I figure the reward of pushing though it is worth the pain of the process. Also, the worst the failure on the front-side the better the story on the back side.

So, I comfort myself with, "Hey, I am building a better story." Like in my work, I was one of the slowest to get started and it took me 10 years (now granted I got way too lazy at times) to get to where some others did in one year, but just yesterday I was notified that I had to rent a tux because we are in the Top 20 for 2007 out of over 500,000 people worldwide.

I think allot can be said for simple persistence.

Go build a story,

Curtis


Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:00 pm
Profile
Member
Member
User avatar

Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:04 pm
Posts: 76
Location: Paris
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
Quote:
The above process can also be used for goal setting, the acquisition of new
material, or even "live" improvisation experience. For instance, announce that you
will be playing let's say "Autumn Leaves" on January 1st @ 2pm. Then, the video is
posted by evening come what may.

I play (or try ) to play Autumn Leaves: go visit my site below. You can leave any comments you wish, here or anywhere, of any kind: I will read them. I have been practicing Stick since the day I received it , this means August 2007 the 1st, more or less ...

But what you propose (this above training!) looks like a therapy: I don't really believe in this. Might be efficient for some (or for yourself) but I don't feel like it.

Maybe not yet !!!Image
Maybe I am not ready ... I'll tell you later.

_________________
http://www.myspace.com/stepphane

"I have nothing to say and that's what I am saying" (John Cage)


Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:51 pm
Profile
Contributor
Contributor

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:15 pm
Posts: 200
Post Re: Virtual "Live" Performance Practice (Join In)...(repost)
stephane wrote:
...looks like a therapy: I don't really believe in this.


To each his own. I wish you the best.

***********
Now that I have discovered Open Mic Nights the "virtual thing" is tremendously less effective comparatively. I am quite thankful for these opportunities to become aware of and face the challenges head-on. I like to think of it as taking charge of yourself and I was certainly not fully in charge of my hands or even my thoughts.

Jim Rohn once said, "If you can be the leader of one, then you can be the leader of many. But if you can't be the leader of one then you can't be the leader of any." I do a pretty bad job of that oftentimes (just ask my kids) but I am trying.

-Curtis


Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:12 am
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 35 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron

board3 Portal - based on phpBB3 Portal Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. Designed by Vjacheslav Trushkin for Free Forums/DivisionCore.
Heavily modified by Stickist.com. Stickist.com is an authorized Chapman Stick® site. The Chapman Stick® and NS/Stick™ and their marks are federally registered trademarks exclusively licensed to Stick Enterprises, Inc., and are used on Stickist.com and NSstickist.com with SEI's permission.
Click here for more information.