Meeting Notes #9

Who: Glenn H, David K, Victor M, Dev R, Dave T, Terry T
When: August 25, 2002, 20:15
Where:Ultimate Self Defense Studio, South Boston, MA.

The meeting began with our bringing our attention to our left hands. Then we were asked to put part of our attention on our aim. And thirdly, to put some of our attention on a visualization of a circle with a triangle inside, each of its points touching the edge of the circle, pointing up. It was noted that this visualization could represent our division of attention with each of the points representing one of the domains that we were aware of, our physical presence, our aim, and our visualization. It is possible to look at each of these realms of attention from the perspective of one of them, or to make one of them the dominant realm at any given point in time. As a theme for the session, it was suggested that we look from the notion that every process has a beginning a middle and an end. (There is also the beginning of the beginning, the middle of the beginning and the end of the beginning, the beginning of the middle, the middle of the middle, and so on.) The triangle in the circle can represent this also. The idea that one can have a distinct impression of the qualities of each of these phases of a process was put forth. Each member of the circle may have trouble with the energy needed to work through one or more of these phases, depending on personality. For example, meeting at the end of the day, on the last day of the week, may be good for some, and hard on others. This is something that we can learn about ourselves. Bringing awareness to this may help to compensate for our bias/weakness. Victor said that he thinks we are probably around the middle of the beginning of this project, and that there is a certain effect that can happen at this phase, where we have not yet tasted what we came for, but our own pessimism starts to overshadow our initial enthusiasm.

We played Eye of the Needle. My impression was, that despite a few flubs, we were listening to each other and playing as a team, rather than as a collection of struggling individuals.

We moved on to Third Relation. The remaining parts were handed out, including the Dancing Ds, the alternate lead sections after the middle descending line, and the concluding descending line portion with alternate pattern. We played through sections, but not through the entire piece. It was pointed out that we tend to come into the F# middle descending line a bit more forcefully than we need to. The piece should be played with all notes having the same duration (fairly staccato. As practice, start very staccato, then fill in.) and no notes should "stick out." The piece should have a continuity of feel, even when switching between registers. It was suggested that this piece was written with the idea of beginnings middles and ends as parts of a process, as a conscious compositional impetus, and that each part of the piece embodies the energy inherent to that phase. It was noted that there is a mirror symmetry that occurs at several levels in this piece.

Dev showed up about the time we were wrapping up with Third Relation. He is just back from a performance project in Germany. Welcome back!

We took a short break.

After the break, we started learning the "Lark's Thrack Intro". The first 8 bars (12 notes each, 5+5+2) were presented. (See Lark's Fingering) Victor said that many of us will probably not be able to master this piece at full tempo (aprx 120 bpm) but that he wanted each of us to give it our best shot. We worked with saying the fingerings out loud.

The meeting ended with us bringing our attention back to our left hand, our aim, and the visualization. Victor requested that for this week, we pay extra attention to the beginnings, middles and ends of things that we do in our lives, from very small, like drinking a glass of water, to larger, like going to work.

For next week: Eye of the Needle, Third Relation (whole thing), Larks Thrak, Thrak Polyrhythm.

GH

Meeting Notes #8

August 18, 2002
Present: Glenn H. and Terry T.
Place: St. Ann church

The meeting began with tuning then we played the first 8 bars of the 16 bar
exercise for approximately 7 minutes.

Eye of the Needle
After playing the piece one time through we worked on the transition between
chords. Glenn showed me his solution to the transition from the upper frets
to the middle of the neck. His solution was very inventive and efficient.
He should share this in our next meeting.

Third Relation
We went through the bass lines and the sequence of the phrases. Glenn
presented me with the A B B A patterns and we worked on it for a little
while. I discover this to be difficult to grasp for me. Nevertheless, I
think I got the essence of it.

Thrak
We began tackling Thrak by tapping polyrhythm with both hands to see if we
are familiar enough with the pattern and how it sounds. Then we move to
assigning one rhythm to each of us, Glenn had the 5 and I had the 7. Glenn
suggested that we should do the polyrhythm continuously without the 4 bars
of 5 in between. The first couple of times through were quite rough because
we lost our place and not quite sure where the first bar of the polyrhythm
was. Then we counted out loud in 7 while tapping our parts, which helped us
to know where we are and how many rounds we successfully completed. Then we
decided to put the 4 bars of 5 in between the polyrhythm. There were small
amounts of the pushing/pulling in the polyrhythm but over all it was pretty
solid.

We switch places, Glenn had the 7 and I had the 5. Glenn asked that we both
tap the 7 and count the 5 so that he could get a feel of how this might
work. We did that for a couple of rounds then we moved to tapping our part
in the polyrhythm with out the 4 bars of 5 in between and counting out loud
in 5. The first few times were rough but we got a handle on it pretty
quickly. Again, there were small amount of pushing/pulling but it was
pretty solid. Glenn had mentioned that the element that threw him off was
the pushing/pulling between the different rhythms.

Now that, more or less, we had a handle on the polyrhythm, we decided to do
it with our guitars. Glenn had the 5 and I had the 7. The first time
around did not go well so I mentioned that it could be contribute to the
strumming. So Glenn suggested that we play just the bass note of that
chord. This time it was more coherent. Then Glenn suggested that we strum
the chords but as lightly as possible. Again, it was coherent. So we did
that for a couple of rounds. We switch places and we did the strumming the
same way. It was coherent with small amounts of pushing/pulling.

Circulation
We did a 2-person circulation with any note in the key of C. That was
abandoned. Glenn suggested that we circulate on one note and it should be
in time. After circulating that one note for a little while Glenn
introduced another note. That followed by series of other notes that were
circulating back and forth between both of us. And without exchanging words
or eye contact, the circulation slowed itself down to an end. Glenn later
mentioned that there were a couple of times during the circulation, which
reminded him of "Blockhead".

The meeting ended with a brief moment of silence.

Next meeting will be this coming Sunday, August 25 at the Ultimate Self
Defense Studio.

TT

Meeting Notes #7 (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Thrak)

8/11/02
Present: Martin B. Glenn H. David K. Victor M. Terry T.

The meeting began with us bringing our attention to the soles of our feet, then slowly bringing the attention up through our whole body, ending at our head. At this point, Victor asked us, now having a deeper connection to our physical state, to ask ourselves "Why?".

We then put our guitars down and formed a circle away from our stools for some body-beat Thrak work. We got our feet marching in 1/8th beats, and proceeded to beat our chests with the entire polyrhythm of Thrak (one hand in 5, the other in 7). Some time was spent with us counting the 5's and then no (vocalized) counting. We then did them same thing, counting the 7's. Finally, we played the whole polyrhythm with our left hand hitting our chest and right hand hitting the thigh, with the right hand beating the 7 (and left hand beating the 5), which seemed to be the reverse for a number of people (in that some people normally do the 7 with their left and the 5 with their right).

We then got our guitars and returned to the standing circle. We again started out feet marching the 1/8 notes and Victor demonstrated that we should with some part of ourselves feel the 1/16 note pulse as well (likening it to your pinky on a Level 1 course; you have one, but you don't know it's there, but it is), and that feel can be extended to other pieces and other areas of life. We then divided into two parts (5's and 7's) and played the polyrhythm while marching the 1/8's in place.

We then took a short break.

We returned to the stools with our guitars and again took up the ployrhythm divided into the same two groups. We then worked on everyone counting in 7's, concentrating on each measure as to where the chors actually fell. So the first measure of 7:

Players in 7: 1-4-6
Players in 5: 1-4-6

Second measure:

7's: 1-4-6
5's: 2-4-7

We played just the second measure for a while until it was somewhat there, then did the first two measures, repeating until well blended.

Third measure:

7's: 1-4-6
5's: 2-5-7

Similarly, we played just the new measure (noticing that like measure two, the 5's played the beat after the 7's), the second and third, then all three. This was a bit messy, at which point Glenn suggested that after the third measure, we count two measures of 7, then repeat. This seemed to help (or at least give people a chance to recover gracefully :-)

Fourth measure:

7's: 1-4-6
5's: 3-5

Repeat as above, leaving one measure of 7 to just count at the end before repeating.

Fifth measure:

7's: 1-4-6
5's: 1-3-6

Again as above. Being played with this feel, we actually had a few times through that felt more "there" than ever before. Martin commented was made that for the 5's, the 3 came around quickly in ther measure which Victor confirmed. Later a discussion about where the beat was felt/played in Thrak directly related to this (the 3 tends to be short, the 5's tend to lay back). Part of this discussion was also around the fact that because say the 3's aren't being played in the same part of the beat, it has an effect on the entire piece.

We then moved to Eye of the Needle. After the first time throguh, Victor asked us to do it again, but this time with the feeling that your life depended on getting the transitions right. This led to a short dicussion on what it takes to make this happen, in that it may feel impossible, but each transition has been done correctly at least one time in the past. We then played it and then a third time. Victor commented that there were parts that were a lot better in that we were listening to each other (building on the work from last week). I commented that while I felt that, I felt that parts had also gotten worse.

We finished up with three circulations in C Major. In my opinion, each was more musical than the last, with the final one especially having moments of real beauty.

No meeting next week, next meeting (presumably) August 25th.

DK

Meeting Notes #6

Date and Time: 8/4/02 20:15
Present: Martin B. Glenn H. David K. Victor M. Terry T.
Location: Ultimate Self Defense Studio, South Boston MA.

The meeting began with tuning using the "three forks" method.
Warm up: First 8 bars of the 16 bar "Third Relation" exercise.
Next drill: Cycling through giving accents to sub-beats in the measure,
first the downbeat, then the last 16th note, then the 3rd 16th, 2nd, and so on.
Eye of the Needle: First played in the circle. Victor covering burbles.
Split into pairs, facing each other, with Victor between.
First pairing: Martin B & Glenn H, Terry T & David K.
We played again focusing on relating to each other, eye contact,
and listening to each others dynamics. This was a theme of the entire session.
Dynamic listening: being clear about what you are presenting, and also
maintaining the ability to adapt to where the other player or players are
headed. Second pairing: Martin B & Terry T, David K & Glenn H.
Played EotN again. The issue of having a hierarchy of values was discussed.
For example, in the event of a mistake while playing with others, the flow
of the music might be deemed to be more important than beating up on
oneself. That can wait. We tried this briefly as applied to improvisation in the key of C.
Next pairing: Terry T & Glenn H. Martin B & David K.
This pairing had two bass players together. We looped one measure
of the piece, working on getting the bass rhythm and the blend between harmony and lead. Started off counting the "ee and uh" of the 4th beat in the measure.
Added other beats, counting all 16th notes. Dropped out all "ee and uhs" except on 4th beat. Dropped those so just counting straight. Just counted 1. Stopped counting. Rearranged stools back to a circle.
Brief break
Resuming around 9:45.
Work on Thrak rhythm. Started by playing "melodically" the 7&5 pattern in a loop without counting. Next, tried the "count 7 play 5, count 5 play 7" exercise, once in the circle, then as pairs standing. Dropped the counting and just clapped.
Back to Eye of the Needle. Played through with the idea in mind that we connect with each other as we had in the Thrak exercise.
Our attention was brought to our left hand.
Any questions? Some were raised about transitions, with as answer the idea of altering the fingering of the transition phrase to get between positions, and practicing just the transition notes in a loop, slowing adding more notes until the entire connected phrases are being played.
We are on for next week, off the next.
The meeting was complete at 10:15.

We are to work on clapping the combined Thrak pattern over foot tapping in 8th notes, while counting. We are to practice counting both 7 and 5, and be able to switch between them at will.

GH

Meeting Notes #5
July 28, 2002
In attendance: David K., Alex L., Terry T.
Meeting conducted by Alex L.

The meeting was a result of the three members that didn't check their
e-mails and not knowing that this week's meeting was canceled. After
learning the fact, we agreed to conduct our meeting at St. Ann church near
Symphony hall.

Meeting began with a brief moment of silence and then tuning.

Thrak
Alex L. suggested that we visit Thrak. Alex L and David K. played in 5 and
Terry T. played in 7. We play first 4 measures in 5 and then the
polyrhythm. First few attempts did not make it. Later attempts were better
and we kept it going for about 4 to 5 rounds. Alex L. suggested that we
should rotate the person who plays 7 after each round. Several attempts
were made and we successfully played at least one round of polyrhythm but
never more than twice. David K. mentioned that as he plays his part and
counted the other part, he could see how things fit together.

The meeting was paused for tuning.

Eye of the Needle
3 attempts were made for this piece. All attempts came out well except for
the last burbler section. It was not quite coherent so we worked on that
section. Alex L. suggested that we count our part as we play. The counting
seemed to help the burbler section to become more coherent. Alex L. also
suggested that the person plays in 5 counts in 4 and vise versa. Burbler
section was still coherent despite counting differently.

Third Relation
3 attempts were also made for this piece at a slow pace. The first attempt
revealed a few places that needed work. The second and third attempts went
well. We only played our part to the point where it was presented to us
from last the meeting. Alex L had made some suggestions to David K. on some
fingerings during and transitions between chords.

Circulation
Circulation was on C major scale and we end with 3 chords/throngs.

The meeting concludes with a small discussion on cascading circulation. We
did not attempt the cascade during this meeting.

This week's lesson:
1. Always check your e-mail.
2. The one who holds the tuning fork conducts the meeting.

Next meeting will be August 4th.

TT