Rossmoyne Adventist Retirement Village: recital

Had the pleasure today to play at this venue to a room of enthusiastic listeners.  Concert went very well (IMHO) - perhaps is a first for many.  Concert was about 55 minutes in total.

Playlist:

Three songs from English Renaissance:

• Hit and Take It:  Robert Johnson
• Alman:  Robert Johnson
• Kemp's Jig: Anonymous

Three Dances from Terpsichore (Michael Praetorius):

• Courante
• Ballet
• La Volta

Vals no. 3:  Agustin Barrios Mangore

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring: J S Bach
Bouree from Suite in e minor: J S Bach

Searching for you searching for me: David McManus
And I love her:  Lennon/McCartney
Misty:  Errol Garner

Song for Laurence:  David McManus

Variations on a theme of Mozart: Fernando Sor

Link to download an mp3 of the concert:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~david.mcmanus/recordings/rossmoyneconcert.mp3

Ballarat work trip -  Day 2:

Work demands have allowed a day off for touring as hoped for.  This means a trip to Digby to see Steve and Bianca and kids if I can make it work.  Digby is about 3 hours from Ballarat so it meant either an evening drive Monday or early start Tuesday.  I opted for the latter and the recent insomnia has worked well so far in meeting that aim. On the road by 4.45 eastern time.  Clever goose I am calculated that if I woke early Perth time it would be extra early Melbourne time,  which it is exactly not so.


Made it to Hamilton by 7.00 and found a cafe that was open (McDonald's didn't qualify).  Nearly at Digby!

Big day out at the bustling metropolis of Digby! 

A great day with the Van Dyken family,  a few pictures shown here.  Their little hobby farm now boasts new fruit and nut trees,  a horse,  a calf,  a few lawnmowing sheep.  Lovely to see them all again and appreciated their hospitality.  Stayed until nearly 5 then stopped at Hamilton for fuel and Dunkeld for dinner at a nice bistro there. No sign of koalas nor wombat although not sure what is in the stew.  Think I'll order risotto. 

Ballarat work trip Day 1 (6th July) :

A travel day.  8:15 plane to Melbourne,  comfortable,  good passenger company in form of Australian Youth Orchestra member travelling to give concerts in Melbourne and Sydney.  Hire car pick up,  new Corolla-skate,  found way to Ballarat and to Quest motel.  Nap then out for tea.  Work had got on quite well without me,  so little work concerns.  Dinner was Thai Fusion, tasty and a short walk away. 

Ballarat appears a nice place,  looks a little like a cross between Kalgoorlie,  Albany and Fremantle.  Lots of old buildings preserved.  Clearly cannot afford new concrete and plastic like they do in Perth. 

Music Idea no. 2

Must say that creating blogs, though supposedly easy, is to me complicated - something in the method not quite connecting with the way my mind works ... nonetheless:

Music Idea no. 2

Restaurant gig/classical playing/recording etc. has a possibility of being moved forward due to the generosity of my friends Prabhakar and Subashini Rao in inviting me to play at their excellent cafe/restaurant "The Cutlery Drawer" in Manning, Perth.  I played there Friday night last and it went OK, but not well.  Lots of room for improvement but also encouraging.  Thinking of some targets to which I can direct my aim:

Outcomes:

• Regular weekly night to play
• Regular small part-time income for me from appearing
• Increase in revenue and esteem for the restaurant
• Sales of my CDs, with this leading to further recording
• Improvement in my playing: accuracy, tone, technique, musicality, memory
• Increase and broadening of my repertoire
• Significant improvement and simplification of the equipment used, so that I can easily play anywhere with little notice or preparation
• Future confidence and ability to widen performance opportunity, to create a genuine part time job from music, to move forward rather than backward with this - write, record, perform, broaden, collaborate, give, visit, earn

How can I achieve these?

• Improve my physical location in the cafe:
• Comfortable spot within the restaurant that gives me some separation space from the diners, so that no one table is blasted by music, and I can play confidently knowing that fact.  The corner with the lounge chairs looks ideal, but has a couple of challenges:
• Overcome challenge of no power point along that wall where the lounge is
• Come up with an elegant solution to find me a spot amongst the lounge furniture:
• Use table/box object as a high footstool?  Maybe not - custom build something perhaps
• Decide how to get amplifier/speakers in that space, so that amp is elevated and I can hear, and is directed correctly
• Consider different amp/speakers/monitors solution
• See if cafe's current audio system can be hooked into.  The sound from the ceiling speakers was good for the muzak, is there a way - wireless transmitter to receiver and plugged into aux of their stereo?
• Consider spending money to achieve the above!!!
• Decide upon site within the restaurant that allows eye contact and conversation upon diners leaving, and allows me to display CDs for sale, business cards
• Have iterative discussions with Prabhakar about what he wants for his restaurant
• Decide about the style and content and sound of what I play, what times I play, whether I play at all, if I can sell CDs, invite other musicians
• Urgently improve amplification of guitar
• Overcome the fact I could not hear properly
• Overcome tuning problems - in line pedal tuner, or simply be able to hear better, leave site to tune before playing
• Consider other solutions, e.g. small PA with speakers on stands/sticks, with monitor speaker back to me.  Also an effects box front-ending the amp
• Visit cafe a few times to work on sound, and on location within
• Broaden and improve repertoire
• Limit current playing to classical guitar only
• Expand on the music within a few months, once established, to provide variety and improvement and connection with customers
• Vary instruments (electric, steel string)
• Incorporate some use of backing tracks, especially for jazz/pop songs, classical concerto parts
• Invite other musicians, e.g. violin, vocalist, guitarist
• Improve appearance and professionalism
• Have a slick setup and packup
• Look the part
• Have backup instruments/amp/cables