New member in the group
In the spirit of stretching the East Lothian Guitar Ensemble to the limit, I put together a new, extremely syncopated salsa arrangement in 7 parts for the Showcase Concert.* The first pupils to try their hand at it did so during lessons at Musselburgh Grammar School yesterday, sight-reading their part while the laptop played out the complete arrangement. After a few lessons, I found myself wishing that we could have the same facility at our monthly rehearsal. Suddenly it struck me - why not? It took quite a bit more setting up than usual (laptop, speakers, extension cable, putting furniture in place) but it was definitely worth it. The pupils made a really good fist of their three pages. The optimum performance speed is 200 beats per minutes (bpm). We started at 130 bpm, which had quite a nice relaxed feel. For a bit of fun before the break we tried 180 bpm which wasn’t the disaster we’d imagined. During the break our coordinator, Peter Antonelli, popped in and we then played it to him at 150 bpm. Then, for pure comedy value, we tried 200 bpm - which turned out not to be quite the farce expected. Bearing in mind that 2/3 of the ensemble hadn’t seen the music before, it was an impressive performance.
Driving home towards a fantastic sky, with Mozart’s Symphony No 40 in Gm blasting from the radio, I began to wonder why the outcome had seemed even better than expected. Apart from the obvious opportunity for the pupils ears to contribute as much as (perhaps more than) their eyes, I think that the key ingredient is confidence. A newcomer to a piece or ensemble can benefit from the confidence of more seasoned players. Until a sufficient number of pupils in an ensemble exude enough confidence (i.e. accuracy & volume) for more timid members to follow, this is a role which can be filled by the computer.
Why not just use a CD? Even assuming that the work has been recorded, it will be at performance speed and that is something to aim for rather than the place to begin.
