New Musical

This morning, I took part in a rehearsal for an exciting project. Next month, Act3 Productions will present an original musical called By Wheel and By Wing. The script and music have been written by members of the Act3 family – mostly teens. By Wheel and By Wing is based on the true story of how one family endured, escaped, and survived World War II and the Holocaust.

Today's rehearsal was an initial read-through of the music with the full pit orchestra. Normally, the full orchestra begins rehearsing a week or two before opening night. Because this is a brand new musical, we needed to get together for an early rehearsal to work out any problems.

It was a long rehearsal. I won't attempt to recap the full rehearsal. Instead, here are some random thoughts and observations from the guitar player's point of view.

1. For this show, I only need an acoustic guitar and an amp. For the most part, we're mimicking a Gypsy family band. I'm thankful for a simple set-up…no pedals or special effects to worry about. As a matter of fact, I may not even use a pick.
2. It'll be interesting to see how (or if) we all fit into the pit. The last show was pretty tight, with two keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums. This time we have two keyboards, guitar, upright bass, drums, violin, a woodwind player, and a conductor. Should be interesting. Good thing I'm keeping my weight down. We'll need all the room we can get.
3. The guitar part was obviously written by a keyboard player. There are some sections where the notes are written out, but no chord symbols are given. This would freeze many guitar players in their tracks, or at least cause them to turn their volume down. This is a good example of why guitar players should learn to read traditional notation. There are other sections that could easily be played on, say, a piano, but are impossible on guitar, with unplayable voicings or long, extended harmonized runs. The orchestrator admitted up front that he wrote it on a keyboard. He even added the words "play something similar to" in certain sections, leaving it up to me to come up with my own interpretation. As long as I match the intent of the music, I have the freedom to play what I want. If I have the time, I may write out what I'm playing so that future guitarists will have a more guitar-friendly book to read.
4. Two of the numbers call for ukelele, which I don't know how to play. A friend let me borrow her uke, and I'll be busy learning the instrument over the next few weeks. Actually, I won't really be learning the instrument. I'll be learning the specific chords I need to know for this musical. I only brought my guitar to this rehearsal. I told the conductor that it was my "big ukelele."
5. I don't play on nearly half of the musical numbers. The musical term for this is "tacet." If you see a title followed by the word "tacet," you don't play that number. It's weird. Musicians love to play their instruments, but at the same time, there is a certain amount of joy in seeing tacet marked in your music. The orchestrator asked me if I was okay with the tacets. I told him that yes, I can do tacets. It allows me time for an extra bathroom break, and I can check my emails and text messages. While I was sitting through a few numbers, a chipmunk on the other side of the glass door offered some entertainment.
6. There is some very pretty writing in this music, and there are a few places where I get to shine playing delicate solo accompaniments, which is one of my strengths. Most musicals stretch me in new directions. I enjoy the challenge of learning new styles, but it's also kind of nice to play a book that seems tailor made for my style of playing.
7. My biggest concern was some missing guitar music. When we got to #11 in the book, it looked like I was missing at least one page of music. It turned out that I was only missing the last measure, which I didn't play. Crisis averted. On with the show.
8. One of the things I like about Act3 Productions is the mixing of generations. The pit orchestra is made of talented teens and old farts like the drummer and me. Okay, at the ripe old age of 45, I don't exactly qualify as an old fart, but I'm old enough to be the father of over 50% of the pit orchestra. It's refreshing to work with some highly talented youngsters.

Overall, I'm impressed with the music. I'm looking forward to rehearsing again after everyone has had the chance to woodshed their part, and I can't wait to see how it all works in the context of a stage production. I've been proud of every Act3 Productions show that I've played, and I think this is going to be extra special.

Performances are June 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and July 1, 6, and 7. Please visit www.act3productions.com for ticketing information.

Perfect Enough

I'm a perfectionist. I can easily spend 30 minutes practicing a short phrase. I proofread my emails, and I cringe if I spot a typo after sending a text. Don't even get me started on the misuse of the apostrophe with plurals.

Until recently, I've let my perfectionism get in the way of enjoying my work as a choir director at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation. In my head, I have an ideal of how I would like the music to sound, which is difficult to achieve with a small, amateur choir. You have varying degrees of musical experience, and attendance can fluctuate from week to week, making it difficult to build on previous rehearsals. This used to bother me, but it doesn't anymore.

I've discovered that perfectionism is my way of trying to control things. As a music engraver, this works pretty well. As a choir director? Not so much. As soon as you add one more person to any equation, there are certain things you're never going to be able to control.

What I'm really learning to do is to trust. I still set a high standard, and I run my rehearsals like clockwork, but I'm also trusting my choir to do their part. Every member of my choir is there because they enjoy singing. Regardless of individual skill level, they each want to make the best music they possibly can, and I do my best to show them how. Rather than trying to drill the music into my singers, I'm finding ways of coaxing it out of them.

Most of my Sunday morning rehearsals are relaxed. I rehearse my choir thoroughly on Wednesdays, and Sunday morning is simply a time to review the music and put my choir in a good frame of mind. When the service begins and it's showtime, my choir always comes through. They put in the work on Wednesdays, and they shine on Sundays.

By its very nature, live music is never perfect, but when my choir sings on Sunday mornings, it's perfect enough.

A Great Choir Rehearsal

I love my part time music director job at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation. While I have other responsibilities, the main part of the job is working with the choir. Wednesday night choir rehearsal has become a highlight of my week. You'd think that rehearsing in the evening in the middle of the week would leave me drained, but in fact, I leave most rehearsals feeling energized and uplifted.

Like most church choirs, the singers come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are strong readers and play instruments. Others have less formal backgrounds. For some, this is their first choral experience. Regardless of our individual backgrounds, we share a common love of music and a joy in singing with others.

Last Wednesday's rehearsal was amazing. The choir does very well with lyrical, flowing music, but they are sometimes challenged by more rhythmic, offbeat pieces. We were working on a piece called Look Up, Way Down. It has a lot of syncopated, offbeat rhythms. To me, it didn't look too tricky, because I play those rhythms all the time as a jazz musician, but the choir struggled. Last Wednesday was the final rehearsal before we were scheduled to sing this piece on Sunday, and so our goal was to sing the rhythms correctly by the end of rehearsal.

I rehearsed the choir thoroughly, section by section. As we continued working out the kinks, I felt the choir's confidence growing minute by minute. When we started rehearsing the piece, the choir was timid and ragged. Gradually, the piece came together. More importantly, they began to really feel the music. You can perform the notes and rhythms perfectly, but without style, it just sounds robotic. They were starting to sing with energy and soul! At the end of our rehearsal, we stood up and sang it all the way through. They were great! It literally sounded like a different choir. It was truly amazing to hear the choir transform over the course of a single rehearsal.

I drove home from that particular rehearsal buzzing with enthusiasm. There was no one in the car to talk to, but that didn't stop me. "THAT was a great rehearsal," I informed the steering wheel. On the way home, I also relayed this same information to the mirror and the radio.

At the end of rehearsal, the look on everyone's face was priceless. Their expressions seemed to say, "Did we really just do that?" Yes, you did, and you sang it just as well on Sunday.