catsittingstill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catsittingstill) wrote2012-03-08 08:35 pm
catsittingstill) wrote2012-03-08 08:35 pm
Rise Up Singing: Now With Extra Musical Goodness!
I had a pretty good day. I have been working on learning to meditate and I have finally figured out that what it is, is "playing attention" practice. You pay attention to something that isn't (usually) very interesting (specifically breathing), without letting your mind wander (well, noticing when it does wander and pointing it gently back at the subject) and without getting frustrated.
And while I'm still not very good at it, I think, I seem to be getting better. Which may have something to do with the fact that I mixed for two whole hours today, which requires paying attention to everything going past my ears every millisecond, and I feel like it went pretty well. (To be fair I can't hear things under 30 milliseconds or so very accurately. But I'm not very good at mixing either.)
I also practiced, and went for my walk, and finished _Fair Game_ about which there might be A Song presently, because Songs Happen Sometimes.
And then I packed up Lark and went off to Rise Up Singing.
When last we left our intrepid heroine I was being perturbed because the last Rise Up Singing turned into a worship service instead, fortunately with advance warning. I was concerned because some of the previous ones had been turning increasingly religious, and was wondering if the old Rise Up Singing was really long for this world.
Well, perhaps I was worried about nothing. This Rise Up Singing was GREAT. I brought a sticky note with nine suggestions on it and I only used about five of them. We had a great new guitar player, who basically shrugged at the book and just watched other people's hands to figure out the chords. Part of the time he seemed to be watching my hands; a guitar player who can read mando chords is rare. I think his name was Nate. John, the other mando player, came and so did Jon the fellow I've been talking about songwriting with, who brought a harmonica; I didn't know he played the harmonica. And the person who picked hymns all the time before came--but she picked like six things and four or five of them were regular songs! Maybe I just got the wrong first impression about her. And she does have a beautiful voice, which I already knew. And I heard her name and drat I've forgotten it, but next time I will remember.
It was wonderful. Nate plays a combination of rhythm guitar and lead, and he would often suggest an instrumental verse or just throw one in at the end; I even did a couple though I'm not very good, and John and Nate did some. Music that's entirely without words gets boring for singers and most of the people attending are singers. But the occasional instrumental verse adds a lot, I think, and I enjoyed it.
It was SO great. I am definitely not giving up on it.
And while I'm still not very good at it, I think, I seem to be getting better. Which may have something to do with the fact that I mixed for two whole hours today, which requires paying attention to everything going past my ears every millisecond, and I feel like it went pretty well. (To be fair I can't hear things under 30 milliseconds or so very accurately. But I'm not very good at mixing either.)
I also practiced, and went for my walk, and finished _Fair Game_ about which there might be A Song presently, because Songs Happen Sometimes.
And then I packed up Lark and went off to Rise Up Singing.
When last we left our intrepid heroine I was being perturbed because the last Rise Up Singing turned into a worship service instead, fortunately with advance warning. I was concerned because some of the previous ones had been turning increasingly religious, and was wondering if the old Rise Up Singing was really long for this world.
Well, perhaps I was worried about nothing. This Rise Up Singing was GREAT. I brought a sticky note with nine suggestions on it and I only used about five of them. We had a great new guitar player, who basically shrugged at the book and just watched other people's hands to figure out the chords. Part of the time he seemed to be watching my hands; a guitar player who can read mando chords is rare. I think his name was Nate. John, the other mando player, came and so did Jon the fellow I've been talking about songwriting with, who brought a harmonica; I didn't know he played the harmonica. And the person who picked hymns all the time before came--but she picked like six things and four or five of them were regular songs! Maybe I just got the wrong first impression about her. And she does have a beautiful voice, which I already knew. And I heard her name and drat I've forgotten it, but next time I will remember.
It was wonderful. Nate plays a combination of rhythm guitar and lead, and he would often suggest an instrumental verse or just throw one in at the end; I even did a couple though I'm not very good, and John and Nate did some. Music that's entirely without words gets boring for singers and most of the people attending are singers. But the occasional instrumental verse adds a lot, I think, and I enjoyed it.
It was SO great. I am definitely not giving up on it.