About Time...

Time is utterly precious. Time is essential to the creation of recordings. Most musicians have very little. Time, that is.

Today, I got up at 6:30 a.m. to make breakfast for myself, my elderly Dad, my son, and Diva the Cat. I also made lunches and enough food to get me through a day of driving to compass points in the city. I drove my son to school through thick traffic, finding an unexpected shortcut and delivering him at exactly the very last possible moment. Then my Dad and I attended an hour long house inspection for my new abode and I fielded several calls from people wanting to offer me mortgages. I contacted designers, painters and movers. I cancelled my single student for the day, feeling it more important to secure financing for the new house (sorry darling!). Then I took my brave old Dad to lunch, then returned home to pick up my son's choir music that he had forgotten in the morning. Then I checked the memos from the choir and realized that today was a photo shoot for the chorus, so I went back and got my son's suit bag but realized that he lacked black socks and dress shoes. I raced across town to pick him up at school, then we went to his Dad's house and hunted for socks. The we got in the truck and drove north, stopping at 4 stores looking for dress shoes, found some, and arrived exactly on the hour of the rehearsal. We learned that the photo shoot was postponed until October 23 ---great, so we are ahead of the game! Then I sped back south and arrived just in time for my workout session with my trainer, then called my manager and arranged newest publicity and a programming meeting. Drove back up north in the oily dark sheeting rain and parade of red tail lights, found a parking spot and ate my supper in the truck (so much for the new truck smell!) then fetched my son. We stopped to buy beer for my Dad who needed a reward after a day of sitting in my truck (he said it was fun but he needed a beer)... the store was closing but the kind lady waved me in and locked the door behind me. I loved her for that. Then home and Dad heated his own supper while I tried to help my son screw the motherboard into the computer he is building. We failed and got a little sad. Dad took apart another server and it might work for the motherboard but my son decided to crash after a long day. Dad came downstairs to see if he could help clean up, but I was desperate to practise after a long day with not music and sent him to bed (sorry Dad!). So I will play for another hour then go to bed and get up at 6 to start all over again. Teaching from morning to evening in two cities, ear glued to the cell phone between times, fetching my son and trying to spend time with my Dad. Sometime this week, I must finish the editing for our recital CD, plan the release of my solo CD and finalize the recording sessions for the Canadian Conceri CDs... the time must be found in corners and behind other seemingly solid obstacles.

Talking about recording

I was part of a very interesting focus group discussion on the necessity and viability of recording art music of all genres.

I was very touched that this large government group asked "How important is it for you to make recordings?" and never once asked, " How do you justify the large number of recordings that you have made and continue to make?"

I was also touched and puzzled by my invitation to this event, since I have rarely been successful in my grant applications... maybe one in 10 applications has received any funding. The big advantage is that I use the experience to focus my ideas and I have learned to keep trying and not be bitter. It is a passionate process though, and my voice shook embarrassingly as I spoke (very briefly) about my experiences in pushing through big projects.

I will tell you more (I took copious notes) about this day-long symposium though I suppose the most interesting thing was that the wide variety of musicians represented at the table (flamenco, ojibway, south indian, jazz, celtic, accordianist and, well, me) all agreed vehemently that recording was integral to our living breathing creative lives as fully functioning artistic musicians.

CBC Concert Recording of music by John Beckwith

Tonight I had the fun of playing in a Toronto concert of music by John Beckwith. Among the many intriguing works on the programme, I played his 'Solo' for bassoon, written in 2008 for George Zukerman but never previously performed. There were duos, a trio and a quartet and the larger group also played 'Eureka,' a complex, fluid nonet for three trios which move around on the stage. Ken Winter's review in the Globe and Mail is a good description of the full concert, though he did not realize that my 'Solo" was indeed a premiere (I'll forgive him this time).

It was a real privilege to have 4 serious rehearsals with John Beckwith. He is an exceedingly gentle yet searching individual... demanding yet flexible. There is enormous variety in his music, but nothing flirtatious or coy... it is oddly lyrical and intriguingly unique.

Next Recordings

Home again to Toronto...

Before leaving Berkley, my engineer (David Bowles) played several tracks of the Braun Solos on his incredible surround sound system. This in-depth sound allowed me to hear all of the nuances that I achieved in the music, and really made me ache for the ones that I did not fulfill! But really, it is amazing to hear my ideas reflected back through a state-of-the-art playback system. This is really the gift of our period in history.

Anyway, hearing my interpretation played back to me through a sensitive, detailed sound system left a lingering and surprising revelation... the ideas mattered enormously, and the musical thoughts that I had, each and every one, could have been the exclusive intense focus of my preparation, far above any technical concerns. Musical inventiveness, phrasing, timing, gesture, all of it. Technique automatically comes to the service of these principles, not the other way around. At least, this is true at my advanced age.

Now it is time to rapidly pull together the Canadian Concerti (solo and double concerti written for me and Guy Few in the last 2 years) project for December and to plan the Vivaldi Concerti project with Nic McGegan and my wonderful string band.

This means schedules, emails and phone calls since I am putting these projects together at the last minute... years of planning have gone into them but the money has only materialized now. I really prefer to undertake these recordings when I have the dough... the ROMANZA project was financed by an eleventh hour line-of-credit and I never want to repeat that experience!!!

24 Invitations (to Imagine)

This is my working title for the Braun Solo project... we'll see if it sticks when I go to production in a few months.

We finished the recordings today at 4:00, a much shorter day than yesterday!

This project was a great experience... a return in concept to my first solo project (Telemann Fantasias, 2000) after a really hectic and tumultuous year. Yes, I played many recitals this past season and had some great musical experiences, yet the time to study and learn and consider music was entirely consumed with house renovations, sale, moving along with recovering from burglary, i.d. theft, divorce, festival problems and all that other bowl-of-cherries stuff that hits people every once in awhile. This recording project marks my new life in much the same way that the Telemann project did.

My engineer is a true musician with superb ears and early music experience. This makes him an excellent partner in the recorded performance. He passed on ideas and guided the sessions very efficiently. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have the beautiful new hall all to myself... the Green Music Center is still not finished, yet the hall is very ready for performances of any kind. Natural light floods in through high windows and is tempered with natural muslin coloured blinds... beautiful woods finish all the floors and seating areas, and I could glimpse the sky through various angles. I felt really privileged to be in this space.

Doing this project renews my desire to learn more about baroque music, but more importantly, to learn how far I can take my own ideas. Maybe I will return to my early process of practising daily by recording my work as it is amazing to step back from the printed page and from my own playing to hear the notes translated into sound. Many of the movements of the Braun required considerable invention and I wish that I had notated several versions in advance, rather than doing my usual thing of leaving it up to inspiration. The reason to notate them is to allow for multiple takes of whatever is the best variation... this can still be tinkered with on the spot (we spent a few hours with this tinkering during the last two days!) but there is nothing wrong with nailing down a few options.

A life in music is full of endless possibility... I can never be satisfied or 100% sure of my merits, yet I am always engaged, always intrigued, always looking forward to trying again.

14 hour recording day

Today went much better.

We left for the hall at 8:30 a.m. and returned 10 10:30 p.m.

David changed the microphone placement slightly... I move back one foot from the mics to let in more room sound and to get some elbow room in my tone... the previous mic placement was so close that I felt like a giantess, which wasn't working for the music.

I felt much freer but this meant we had to re-record the first 3 movements of the Braun Solos. that was fine because I felt I knew them much better after the time we spent working yesterday.

We got to #18 --- six more to go, plus I am going to take another swing at the spikey little Scherzo if there is time.

I made 3 new reeds yesterday morning... I blew out #66 after 6 hours of recording, moved to #68. By 7:00 this evening, David complained that it sounded fuzzy, so we took a break while I finished trimming #67. I trimmed it by the crow and went straight to recording... the new reeds have the best response but they get waterlogged quickly. I will need to trim one or two before tomorrow's sessions.

Anyway, some of the pieces have become sooooo much more musical from the recording process. I have been using them as studies for my students and it is really nice to revisit them as pure music. Some movements beg for extra inventiveness on the part of the player and my producer, David Bowles, is feeding me ideas when I need them.

My big piece of recording advice for today: always bring a pencil.

And don't injure your back right before the sessions... it is a big bother.

OK, good-night little bassoonists!

AAARRRRGGGHHHH

First day of recording... the Green Music Centre is an acoustically stunningly sensitive space and also beautiful to look at. We feel like the last humans on earth as the lobby spaces are still raw and under construction and the campus is deserted at the moment.

We managed to record the first 3 movements of the Braun Solos after arriving late in the day and setting up the the equipment and running the sound check... just 21 more to go Stated bluntly, my tone is beautiful (thanks largely to David's microphone placement) but I am struggling to find the flexibility and suppleness of gesture that is essential for this music. My immediate conclusion is that it is easier to prepare for these recording projects when my life is relatively stable. But the learning curve, or in this case, the response curve can kick in quickly. I still have two complete days to craft an inventive interpretation. Wish me luck because it feels like a distant goal from my present perspective.

In other news, on the long drive to the sessions, we noticed a large new sedan entering far too quickly from the on-ramp and fishtailing wildly before it executed two 360 degree pirouettes in front of us. David safely evaded by pulling onto the far left shoulder and all the other cars spread out around the cirque-de-soleil Honda sedan. After finishing a string of blue language, I looked in the rear view mirror to see the Honda sedately joining the orderly stream of slow-lane traffic. An interesting start to our adventure... a spectacular non-accident.

A New Way of Doing This

Today was a free day before the recording sessions start. And even then, the sessions will not start at the Green Music Center until late afternoon, a very civilized schedule.

In terms of preparation for the recording, I did many of the usual things, both practical and artistic that always need to be done yet the pace is much more relaxed than usual.

In the morning, I worked through all of the Braun Solos. I paid for the hall rental and copied and bound the music for David (I normally do this weeks before the sessions). I wrapped blanks just before dinner, ready to trim the recording reed in the morning.

In between, I have been thoroughly spoiled by my sophisticated and cheerful hosts. Engineer David Bowles and conductor Nic McGegan have some rare simultaneous time at home which has resulted in some excellent home-cooked meals for me and some nice rides in the Mercedes. And I must say, this is a new experience. Usually I am juggling many many practical things while getting ready for a recording and have never before had this experience of ease and pleasure prior to sessions. Aches and pains from moving and stressing about day-to-day life are fading away. I am really grateful and I am also wondering if this is something that could be aspired to in the other projects that are coming up.

I continue to aspire to some brisk tempi in the first Giga, the Scherzo and the final Bizaria... they also continue to slip away from me yet I keep imagining the ease in my hands and mind that gradually builds a reliable response... if I have to choose a different (slower) tempo for the recording, that is fine. I will still work towards my goals. Sometimes it all comes together in time... or it will later. Either way, it is useful to me to keep trying.

Right Before the Recording

Right before any recording project --- rarely is there any time for practising.

Usually the logistics have to be taken care of (chairs moved, cheques written, music copied, musicians picked up), or in the case of this project, the opportunity has to be enjoyed. A completely solo project is much easier to organize. Leaving Toronto at dawn and drinking a latte at Peet's in Berkley by noon.