Hi guys,
how are you all ? busy with your amazing little adventures ? I am.
my lip is recovering !! ergo I have time to write.
funny how most of this blog was written when my legs were recovering.
I am on a crash course for playing sousaphone. 'wood-shedding'.
It's been a good year for me - quit work - retired, ran hundreds of kilometres inc a marathon, joined another 3 bands, started teaching music in a Korean Community - 12 - 15 children and 10 adults.
I have 3 practises today - small jazz ensemble - I'm playing sousa, bass, and piano. I've had to pick the piano skills up for teaching - fits in well whilst resting the lip.
I was intending to study this year but wasn't sure what. now I know - sousa.
What's to say ? it's a brass instrument. therefore music is made from within the body - our temple ! I look forward to it.
I can practise 3 x 45 mins a day. the lip prevents much more than that - it becomes tired.
I have my first ucb marching band practise this afternoon. there's a slight adrenalin buzz involved. we start playing at pageants in 3 weeks. something like 10 charts, maybe 10 opportunities to play them. I'm told it's a good way to learn.
A slight digression - maybe to the largest tv audience I've played to - around 2 million.
In the early days of unley concert band we scored a marching gig for a dutch reality tv show. about 12 of us marched in single file on to the unley oval. we had to snake around various mud patches and ended up in an arc formation in front of the stadium and tv cameras. a helicopter landed on the oval and out jumped three tv celebs. they had to take turns to sing 'waltzing matilda', to our backing. I was playing bass drum. the highlight for me was marching around the mud patches - like something out of a beatles movie - the trombone leading the way, bass drum next, and an assortment of brass and wind behind.
it was a fun gig!
here's a segue to the sousa - in the beatle's 'yellow submarine' movie, animated sousa's fly accross the landscape with a menacing demeanor. they are huge instruments but light, mine is made from metal and plastic. it has a great tone - warm and deep. can be very loud and brash.
I'm just speculating where playing brass might take me - I also have a tuba and an invitation or 2 to play in bands. playing sousa opens the door for other brass instruments - eupho - trombone - french horn ... where do I want to go? rio !
I have some great gigs coming up, notably turning on the xmas treelights in the city square, and at arguably the number 3 hall in adelaide - norwood concert hall.
I played 8 gigs in 6 days last week, most to sights unseen.
amazing !
I need to clean up a bit before some visitors arrive !
cheers dears !
have a great christmas :)
go Santa !
