The Summer Tiny Concert Series. Hmmm. The reason I started doing Tiny Deck Concerts last year was to get my violin playing out of Emily's and my studios and into the Universe. At all. Even if only the trees would hear it. I have a fundamental internal conflict with performance of ANY type, and even sneaky ephemeral Tiny Concerts with an invisible audience make me break into a sweat. You can see the incongruity. Music is meant to be heard. Sure, Emily counts, I count, and Ron counts, though he's an inadvertent audience. But why play music that basically no one hears? Tiny Concerts were my solution to getting the music out in the universe BUT without being seen. That's nutty, isn't it? You bet.
When Covid struck, even Emily as an audience was put on hold. I had seen videos of people playing music from their balconies during Covid shutdowns, and I imagined I could do my small part. I decided not only to continue the Tiny Concerts but to expand them to all of my instruments. But still in the sneaky way. Spontaneously, when I was ready. That's what I did. I'm pleased that I played them at all, and the playing was the best I could do at the time.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Boy, was I overly ambitious in scope! The Concert Season was May-October. My initial plan was to play one piano concert per month for a total of six concerts, and alternate violin and flute weekly for a total of twenty-four concerts. HAHAHAHA! I ended up playing four piano concerts, nine flute concerts and six violin concerts. Respectable, yes, but also humbly realistic! The consistent issue was having performance-ready repertoire. On each instrument, it took longer than I anticipated to have pieces ready to my satisfaction. Practice, and lots of it, was necessary.
BY INSTRUMENT
Though the repertoire I chose for flute concerts was familiar, it has been quite a number of years since I've played so nothing was at my fingertips. I also chose to play quite a few of the concerts as duets with myself, recording the second part then playing first part with my recorded self. When Sally and I played duets I always played first part, so I had to learn the second parts from scratch. The nine concerts I played were realistic for the constraints, and I was satisfied with their readiness. What pleased me most about flute concerts was what a BLAST it was to record one part, then play with my recorded self!
I planned to play piano concerts with the doors and windows around the piano open, since I can't take the piano outside 😏. In the summer, however, we open the house in the mornings to capture the cool morning air, then close it up. The house does a mighty fine job of staying cool until evening. Music is an afternoon pursuit in my schedule. During the long, hot summer we had this year, there was no way I was going to open the doors and windows in the heat of the afternoon and let our cool air escape, even for the Tiniest of Concerts! The four concerts I played were realistic for the constraints, and I was satisfied with their readiness. What pleased me most about piano concerts was that it was an opportunity to play the Hymns I had prepared in anticipation of playing with my Uncle Dwane.
I chose to experiment with several different violin combinations this year. I played Suzuki pieces accompanied by the CD that's provided. I played one Suzuki piece accompanied by myself on piano. I played fiddle tunes with a CD that's provided. My most ambitious attempt, and biggest bungle, was to play a violin duet with my recorded self, also accompanied by my recorded self on piano. YOWZA. How many ways can we say OUT OF TUNE? Being in tune with myself at all is a challenge, then to play out of tune with my recorded self playing out of tune, and all of it out of tune with the piano....dogs were howling!!!! Nevertheless, the six concerts I played were realistic for the constraints, and as good as I could do at the time. What pleased me most about the violin concerts was doing them at all! Violin is the instrument I'm least comfortable playing, even to an invisible audience.
Well, friends, this Wrap is the final Wrap for my Spring, Summer and Fall challenges. They were well met and enormously enjoyed. November 1, (that's tomorrow already!) starts my Winter schedule, and do I ever have some plans! You know I'll share!
"There must be a beginning of any great matter,
but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished
yields the true glory."
-------Francis Drake
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