I'm glad to be asked to come visit the Startled Salmon to do some more recording. It is a great opportunity and I feel comfortable with the music and the ideas. I only wish I had some more of my own music to contribute. I have been lax of late.
I've performed The Swan by Saint-Saens with Tanya publicly on two recent occasions. She plays like a true master, constantly on top of the tone and the pitch, making each phrase speak volumes more than the notes on the page. She graciously agreed to play and squeezed me into her schedule. I don't know how she keeps up with all the things she undertakes, really. Bless her heart for effort but she is constantly overloaded and I personally wouldn't handle the stress as well as she.
I asked Margaret to read the Saint-Saens poem that opens the Swan in Carnival of the Animals. She was a little hesitant at first, but said she could do it so long as reading was all that was involved. I assured her all she had to do was show up. So she's on for Wednesday early early, I'm thinking 9am. It will be nice to have her voice on disc for eternity. I was talking with my wife and she said it would be nice to record all the stories and family history M is known for and put it down, too. I guess we'll see how she handles staring that microphone down.
The pieces I've picked are about half mine and half other pieces, about half solo acoustic and half songs where I will sing (the Swan excepted - it's the only arranged piece). The preliminary list is:
Gretchen - Just the Way You Are - Your Song - Malaspina and the Polar Lady - Visit Angoon - Green and Grey - The Swan - Broad Street - Just a Closer Walk With Thee - Lady Strong - Bright Baby Blues - Dune - Tears in Heaven - Homfeld Suite - Soliloquy - Yesterday. I will have to pare it back to what I can actually do justice to in the short time I have. It will be good to have my chops and head together before I go in!
I am planning to play on three guitars. Mostly I will use the Taylor 514c. It has the best response and is a wonderful instrument. For variety Tanya is letting me use her 1973 Ovation nylon string. I haven't decided which songs I will use it for, but I'm happy to bring out my new one-arm guitar which arrived yesterday. I've tuned it up as best I can, it has a lovely lower register tone-wise, very nice response and is a bit of a touchy little beast if I say so.
But as I say, which guitar for which piece is still up in the air. True excitement. I will have mastered recordings I can pick over to finish the long-suffering CD I started 5 years ago, Green and Grey. I want to do a work that incorporates Southeast Alaska and that is a mountain of experience to draw on. This will hopefully be a crack in the doorjamb, and much much more material will present itself. I'm starting to make notes to myself and get song ideas together again.
Excitement! A chance to make a record! I am sweeping together the pieces of a project I had all but abandoned and keeping the dust for proper collection and storage.
