News, October 2005
October 27, 2005
Sci-fi writer David Gerrold, in his book Yesterday's Children, quoted the I Ching as saying that change is the only constant in the universe. There have been a lot of changes in my career in the last two months.
First of all, I haven't yet started playing for Harmonia this season. I didn't get used all that much in performances last season, and anyway choral music has a tendency to demand that the accompaniment be as close to what's written as possible. Because I wear so many different hats as a musician, and my style is so improvisation-oriented anyway, I don't quite fit the bill. However, their current pianist is reportedly pregnant, and will eventually have to go on maternity leave, at which point I may be called to fill in. I haven't been approached yet for that, but in the meantime I'm glad to have my Wednesdays free for the time being.
Secondly, the Soul Review Board has disbanded. Because it was a twelve-piece band, it was difficult to manage, and not everyone was able to come to practice on a particular day of the week. We had a series of personnel changes over the course of my time with the band--we went through a string of bass players and were unable to secure a new guitarist after our original one moved to London, Ontario to study music there. As a result, we cancelled our Maverick's gig for October 7, and a New Year's Eve Gig we had been organizing, which would have been a charity ball at the Capital Music Hall, appears to have been scrubbed too.
That's a shame, because Stone Soul Picnic might have done that gig as the opening act. Stone Soul Picnic has fallen victim to a number of cancellations and rescheduled gigs in the last couple of months, but is currently in the process of setting up a gig at the Casino du Lac Leamy for late next month.
Hot Ice is also losing one of its singers as a result of personality conflicts between him and the other band members (Cathy especially) and a less than satisfactory performance from him. As a result, our November 19 gig has been cancelled.
The life of a musician is not always easy--it has its ups and downs. But on many levels, the down times present a good opportunity to develop ways to be more of a success in the future. As German soccer coaching legend Sepp Herberger put it: "After the game is before the game. The next game is always the hardest." And hard though my next game will be, I’m still working toward making it a success. Stay tuned.
Sci-fi writer David Gerrold, in his book Yesterday's Children, quoted the I Ching as saying that change is the only constant in the universe. There have been a lot of changes in my career in the last two months.
First of all, I haven't yet started playing for Harmonia this season. I didn't get used all that much in performances last season, and anyway choral music has a tendency to demand that the accompaniment be as close to what's written as possible. Because I wear so many different hats as a musician, and my style is so improvisation-oriented anyway, I don't quite fit the bill. However, their current pianist is reportedly pregnant, and will eventually have to go on maternity leave, at which point I may be called to fill in. I haven't been approached yet for that, but in the meantime I'm glad to have my Wednesdays free for the time being.
Secondly, the Soul Review Board has disbanded. Because it was a twelve-piece band, it was difficult to manage, and not everyone was able to come to practice on a particular day of the week. We had a series of personnel changes over the course of my time with the band--we went through a string of bass players and were unable to secure a new guitarist after our original one moved to London, Ontario to study music there. As a result, we cancelled our Maverick's gig for October 7, and a New Year's Eve Gig we had been organizing, which would have been a charity ball at the Capital Music Hall, appears to have been scrubbed too.
That's a shame, because Stone Soul Picnic might have done that gig as the opening act. Stone Soul Picnic has fallen victim to a number of cancellations and rescheduled gigs in the last couple of months, but is currently in the process of setting up a gig at the Casino du Lac Leamy for late next month.
Hot Ice is also losing one of its singers as a result of personality conflicts between him and the other band members (Cathy especially) and a less than satisfactory performance from him. As a result, our November 19 gig has been cancelled.
The life of a musician is not always easy--it has its ups and downs. But on many levels, the down times present a good opportunity to develop ways to be more of a success in the future. As German soccer coaching legend Sepp Herberger put it: "After the game is before the game. The next game is always the hardest." And hard though my next game will be, I’m still working toward making it a success. Stay tuned.
posted by Jamie at 1:13 p.m.
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