Flow

A few more observations on the process of choosing from the many takes:

During the recording sessions I learned something about how my mind works.  My producer's usual procedure has been that once the first take has been recorded he gives me comments and feedback on how he heard it and what he'd like to focus on in the next take.   He's a man of great precision and detail, which is absolutely needed in his line of work, so he would give me very specific tasks to focus on at specific times in the music.  

I started to notice a pattern in my own response to this method. Generally, my first take would be somewhat exploratory and even a little hesitant, and perhaps a chance to remind myself of the possibilities of the piece which I had usually not played in a couple of days, due to the structure of the recording schedule.  This means that I would be in a "right-brain" mode while playing the first take, but not necessarily fully at home.  I noticed that in taking in the producer's comments, I would start to get more into "left-brain" mode, thinking more than feeling.  Invariably, the second take would not go as well as I habitually play, as my mind would be distracted with thinking and judging in a more micro way.  

As an experiment, I suggested playing the first two takes without any commentary from the recording booth, no matter what.  I really started to feel more successful immediately, as I was able to play much more from that place of "flow" that is the subject of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book, aptly titled "Flow".  Enjoyment and concentration. Joy and focus: a combination that I have discovered might well be the antidote to Doubt!

Now, as I listen to the takes recorded a few weeks ago, I hear the wisdom of altering our process during the sessions.  The first take often offers something special and magical, although not always as convincing as subsequent takes.  I hear that as I progress through the recording days, the second takes become more interesting and less self-conscious than at the beginning of the sessions.  

The next phase

Back from my little hiatus from blogging. 

It has now been a couple of weeks since the recording sessions.  Last week there was a need to take a bit of a break from the project.  I played a couple of performances and tried to take some family time and rest in between the concerts.

Now, it's on to the next phase.  There are actually two main aspects on which to focus right now: edits and raising funds.  I find both of these areas somewhat daunting and overwhelming, and in fact struggled somewhat this past weekend to get rolling on the edits.    

My main task regarding the edits is to make choices, so many choices.  Not to diminish the magic of sound recording, but I think this process is much like quilting.  I recently completed my first quilt, which was inspired by the great textile artist and colourmeister, Kaffe Fassett, who launched me on the project at a workshop.  The satisfaction in creating the quilt was to make all the "right" choices regarding the colour and design of fabrics and how they are positioned in relation to each other, so as to create the optimal effect of beauty as a whole.  As there are several takes of each piece of music, one has to choose which portions of which takes to put together for the final product.   This choosing is my task.  The actual "piecing together" of the takes is done with great precision and sensitivity by my brilliant producer, Earl McCluskie.

My first self-created obstacle in starting this process was a bit of a block while I tried to figure out a process for keeping track of which takes I liked or disliked, and to retain the aural memory of what I had just heard while listening to the next version of it.  In constructing the quilt I was able to lay out all the squares of fabric in front of me and play with them.  With the recording, I do not have the technological equipment to do the equivalent audio-wise:  the placing of different "swatches" of takes side by side and listening to the various options.  I have to rely on my ears and my memory.  As with many things, there was a feeling of overwhelm in getting started.  I decided to use coloured markers to designate different qualities that I was hearing, and once I could envision my strategy I was able to jump in and get started.  

As I began listening to the many takes, I was relieved and happy to hear that the sound quality is indeed as very fine as we had hoped and intended.  The instrument has such an immense range and the acoustic resonance of the space sounds natural and beautiful.  There will be no need to add artificial reverb of any consequence.   

This next phase will no doubt be a slow and steady process, and will demand large chunks of time in conjunction with good energy and an alert mind.   A side benefit of this phase that I am already enjoying is that I now have a set of decent speakers in my house, something that has been sadly lacking for some time now.  My intention was to rent the speakers just for the duration of this project but I am now tempted to just purchase them.  A musician without a sound system at home? Enough of that!

Grieg Songs

I'm looking forward to the recital performance tomorrow at Grebel.  The program includes pieces from the 1st CD as well as some I recorded last week, as well as 6 of Grieg's songs, performed by my good friends Catherine and Mark Gardner.

The songs of Grieg are truly the height of beauty.  I really look forward to delving into learning both types of Norwegian ("book language" & "Nynorsk")  soon, so that I will be able to coach the songs with some degree of authority.  

What a joy it was to hear the Vinje settings when I was in Florida in January; they really are some the most beautiful music anywhere and were performed exquisitely by Njal Sparbo and Einar Roettingen.  And what an honour to learn from and get to know two of the internationally known experts on this repertoire:  William Halvorsen and Beryl Foster, both of whom have been generous in their praise of my work.  I very much look forward to continuing to learn from both of them.

Recording Session Slideshow on Youtube

I just posted a humble little slideshow composed of scrappy photographs taken with a $4 disposable camera.   The purpose of the photos is simply to give one an impression of the space and the feel of the recording sessions.  As a "soundtrack" you'll hear a couple of pieces from Grieg's Opus 12, which we recorded a few weeks ago when I did a dress rehearsal for a recital. These two pieces are among the two dozen or so that we recorded this past week for the CD.

Starring in the slideshow are St. James' Anglican Church, the Yamaha C7, producer Earl McCluskie ("The Earllustrious One"), production assistant and baritone extraordinaire Mark Gardner ("The Marknifiscent"), organic snacks, and yours truly.

Day Off

Took a jaunt to Toronto today and had a complete day off.  A nice change of rhythm and focus.

Must get back to practising tomorrow already though as I have two recitals this coming week.  On Wednesday, Earl will give me CDs with all the tracks/takes and it will be time to start listening in earnest and working on the edits.  

In the next couple of days, I'll also be working on a little slide show documenting the recording sessions and I'll hope to post it very soon.   (And then there's the house that needs cleaning as it has been completely neglected for the past week or so...)

Day Three (2)

Day Three was a very full day.  There was an extra piece to record after the delays of Day Two, and that was on top of a slightly fuller schedule to begin with.  When devising the recording schedule I categorized all the repertoire into small, medium, or large designations.  I then spread a roughly equivalent assortment of each category across the three days.  As I knew that Day Three would be the day with the least setup time, the larger large pieces ended up there.  So as it turned out, the day ran a couple of hours past the estimated schedule.  I dearly appreciate both Earl's and Mark's patience and dedication to making this work so well. As I had imagined would be the case, Earl and Mark made the perfect support team for this phase of the project.

We encountered only slight delays:  a tiny bit of pedal squeaking which Earl sorted out quickly, and an inexplicably cold sacristy/recording booth.  Poor Earl and Mark sat through the entire morning with coats and scarves on.  After lunch, when the room still had not heated up, it took only a few moments for Mark to get a space heater from his lovely in-laws just across the street, and that problem was sorted out as well.

There was a lot of learning for me in this process; particularly Day Three (which felt a little more pressured than the first two days) gave me lots of opportunities for noticing things about myself and my internal struggles.  The differences between live performance and recording are clear. The task of the musician in both cases is to move the listener in some way, but the route to doing so is vastly different and calls on completely different aspects of artistry and ways of working.  I will be reflecting on this further, no doubt.

Once we were finished recording, Earl and I worked for close to an hour to take down equipment and return St. James' to its usual order.  I was surprised to find this take down process extremely satisfying.  We came, we turned the place turned it into a recording studio, we recorded, and then we were done.  I am so grateful to have had the use of that beautiful space and piano, and so grateful for the support of the parish through this time.

Some photos and video was taken on Day Three, and if something comes of it I'll certainly post it somewhere on this blog.

Day Three (1)

Ahhh.  Phase One is Done.  Three days of recording finished.  

It feels good to have that task accomplished. But at the same time, I am well aware (having done all of this before) of the challenges that are to come:  raising the funds, doing the edits, and then the marketing!

After a bit of a breather tonight, I'll post some more about how things transpired today.  

Day Two

I am not going to lie.  Day Two of the recording sessions did not go completely smoothly.  I guess it turned out fine in the end, but I was feeling quite some anxiety when the morning didn't go according to plan.

I was doing a little playing on the St. James' Yamaha before anyone else arrived and I noticed a squeaky noise that was coming from the pedal.  I tried fiddling a bit to see if I could minimize it somehow, but to no avail.  So I gave my trusty piano technician, Brad, a call to see if he could advise me over the phone.  Just as when one takes one's vehicle in to the mechanic, the problem immediately went away once I had Brad on the phone.  I tried again and again to get it to squeak, but the noise was completely gone.  Sheepishly I insisted that there had been a problem moments before and I thanked Brad for his miracle long-distance piano-healing powers and hung up.  

After a few minutes, however, the problem arose again.  I called Brad back from under the piano and tried to describe what I thought might be happening.  With Larry Davis' help once again, the problem was somewhat alleviated by a bit of WD40.  Again the squeak returned. This time it was producer Earl's turn to get under the piano.  After some tinkering he finally isolated the exact source of the squeak and solved the problem for good.   Whew!

Then it was time to go back over some of yesterday's pieces to get some clean and silent WINDLESS beginnings and endings of pieces.  We were yet to start on the list of repertoire for today, but the clock was approaching noon when we would have to stop during Peter Ryde's Chimes Concert which he gives twice weekly on the Bells of St. James'. We went for lunch to the fabulous York Street Kitchen.  As much as I enjoyed the sandwich, I was feeling quite anxious about having accomplished nothing and here it was lunchtime already.

This tension started to interfere with my focus as we finally got started on today's list of repertoire.  I decided to skip ahead to begin with some slightly easier music so that I could feel at least some sort of satisfaction that at least something had been recorded.  This proved to be a wise strategy and the recording session began to flow along quite nicely.  We again ended a little later than planned, but we managed to record all but one of the pieces slated for today.

Provided we start on time, and there is no noise issue left to plague us, tomorrow should prove to be a fun and satisfying time as we complete this phase of the project.

Day One (2)

Day One of recording is done.  We accomplished what we set out to do.  

I had devised a schedule for the entire session, dividing up the repertoire over three days. Today's load was a little lighter than the next two days will be because of course I had to allow for setup time.  Perhaps I was a tad optimistic regarding how long the setup would take, so we began about a half hour late.  I am happy to report though that we successfully made it through the whole list of repertoire scheduled for today simply by ending a half hour later than planned.

  

As the weather was super windy, it meant quite a few little delays waiting for some gusting to subside. The odd creak of the roof or a tree branch and a few noisy vehicles also intruded into the silence that we needed.  Before we started we were quite concerned about the wind whistling through some cracks by the front doors of the church.  The phenomenal caretaker at St. James', Larry Davis, generously spent some time attending to that with masking tape, so that problem was solved.

Working with Earl and Mark, I felt very supported and confident that we are covering the material thoroughly.  The piano remained in good condition throughout the session and Brad Selves came back this afternoon for another tuning to make sure it is set for tomorrow.

Hoping for a good sleep tonight and quiet weather tomorrow!

Day One (1)

Coffee, breakfast, and record!  Day one will be a lot about setting up, but I hope to get a few pieces recorded by mid-afternoon.  

Yesterday, I finally had a chance to hear the recording we did three weeks ago in that space and it's most encouraging.  The sound of the piano in the space really is wonderful, I think.  Producer Earl McCluskie did a brilliant job placing mics and whatever other magical things he does.  We notated that placement and took some cellphone photos so that we can replicate the setup exactly.

Here we go!

Silence and Sleep

Tomorrow.  Recording tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to it.  

Today.  I've decided that today has to be about silence.  I won't be playing at all today.  I will be trying to carve some quiet time out of the day for rest and reflection and to do the mental practising: what I call "hear-see-feel".  This type of practising is for me one of the most important parts of the learning process.  It's actually miraculous.   

I really don't know if there's any one word that can convey what one does in that process.  It is equal parts hearing the music in one's head, seeing the score (and the keys) in one's head, and feeling the keys under one's fingers doing the "choreography" in one's head.  I'm not really one to play "air piano" though.  What I'm describing is more of an internal process of focusing.

Another really important part of the learning process is sleep.  A lot of processing goes on during sleep.  I think I heard a radio interview the other night about memory and sleep, but perhaps paradoxically, I don't really remember much about the interview as I was half asleep. Apparently though, some scientists have been studying this subject and concur with this point connecting sleep with memory integration.   Especially when I am working on the memorization process, I find naps to be very helpful.   Ideally, what works best for me is to work at the data input process for a while, and then lie down for 20 or 30 minutes to let the music integrate before trying to learn some more.  Clearly, life doesn't often allow for this luxurious type of process, but wouldn't it be lovely if it did?

Generous Pianists

I want you to read something.  It has been around for a few months, but only came into my world this morning. Please be sure to read this address by pianist Karl Paulnack and pass it on to your people.  I find it to be right on, and hugely inspiring.  It hits the nail on the head regarding the matter of why I do what I do.

While I'm here, I just want to thank Chris Foley, another pianist, for his generosity in posting one of my slideshows to his blog today.  Chris has been faithfully running his blog for quite some time; you'll find an impressive array of thoughtful and useful things there!

Getting Ready

All of a sudden, this project feels VERY imminent...not in a bad way, just in a wow-how-time-flies kind of way.  I'm really keen to get rolling but there are still a few practical matters to take care of in the next couple of days.  

Today I did some of the mundane stuff, which involved photocopying (sh! don't tell) all the scores a couple of extra times for my producer and my production assistant, baritone Mark Gardner, and numbered all the measures for ease of communication during the sessions.  Each of them will get a binder of scores to refer to as we work and they will make notes of things that we may need to do extra takes of.  

I should probably make a list of things to remember to bring to the sessions.  I think I will bring my "concert bench" from home because it doesn't squeak.  I will need a little rug to put under my feet and under the pedals to avoid any inadvertent feet noises.  Snacks might be a good plan too for all involved.

More interesting to me than these practical details, is of course the practising.  I had a good session tonight in the space at St. James'; I just feel great playing that instrument and I really look forward to sharing the recording with you once it's done!

Hoping for some good nights' sleep this week...

Learning

I started this blog as a way of honouring the sacred processes of creativity and learning.  My hope is also that by observing my own process, the experience will be deepened.

I really love "watching" the brain in action: learning, accepting the data into its files, and integrating.  Practising the piano (or any instrument, I suppose) gives one such clear feedback on where exactly in the learning process one is.  If the brain is not carefully programmed, the physical tasks of playing are not successful and signals abound: wrong notes, clumsiness, and just unsatisfying, unmusical playing.  The emotional signals of incomplete preparation and learning are also quite clear:  doubt and anxiety, which of course can lead to complete DISintegration in performance.

When the programming of the brain (otherwise known as learning) has been done in a thorough and effective way, the body responds with gestures of ease and elegance.  These two attributes are always my goal when practising.

Microfunding

I just came across this on a site entitled "The Goal Was So Near" :

"Surely there is no doubt to anyone who has been following cultural and entertainment news over the last few years that the music industry is going through a major restructuring.  But while the old powers that be are still figuring out how to adapt to the changing landscape, some forward thinking artists are already on top of the newly emerging possibilities.....Washington-based indie rock band Shane Hines and the Trance is the latest of those innovative creators to successfully apply the principles of microfunding to support their endeavors.  Their new CD, to be released next month, has been completely funded by fans who contributed over $34,000 to enable the duo to produce the record."

"Microfunding" - I like it.

The instrument

I just want to say a few words about the instrument that I'll be using for the upcoming recording. It's a Yamaha, not quite a full-size concert grand, but this instrument has such a glorious sound and responds beautifully.  I really am in love with this piano; what an incredible gift that it lives at St. James' Anglican in Stratford, where I happen to work.

And what an incredible gift that the clergy and parish of St. James' is so supportive and willing to let me use this piano and the space for this project.  

Last year, when I played the Grieg Concerto with the Stratford Civic Orchestra, I brought this piano with me for the performance.  A big deal to get it there and back, but the move all worked out beautifully.  It was around that time that I met piano tuner, Brad Selves, who has been tuning and maintaining the instrument ever since.  I am so grateful that Brad is making himself available to tune for the recording as well, as his work is excellent, and he "gets" what I need the piano to do.  He has an incredibly busy schedule in London next week, but will make time to come to Stratford each day to give the piano a good going over.   This is so hugely important to the sound of the recording.  When I recorded at the GGS, they had a resident tuner on call whom we had to page a couple of times during the sessions to make an adjustment or two.  My hope is that "my" Yamaha will behave nicely between tunings and all will be well.  

Hoping for some nice even-tempered weather, staying constant for a few days in a row...favourable, consistent conditions...that's what pianos prefer.

Support and Fridge Magnets

I just received another donation toward the costs of producing this disc.  A fund-raising campaign was launched at the February 21st recital and I'm thrilled to report that I have pledges and donations totalling over $2,200 already.  

For the first solo CD I am so grateful to have raised over $5,000 by pre-selling it and through doing house concerts in my home and a couple of other locations.  As well, many of my amazing supporters gave me cash donations. The total cost of putting out that disc was around $15,000 and I do hope that this second recording will cost a little less than that.  I had looked into recording grants but none of the programs were really applicable to this project. 

So I once again turn to my community, with a fund-raising structure that looks like this:

For a $300 donation (gold) you receive:

• acknowledgment in the CD liner notes
  
• a signed copy of the new CD upon its release
  
• a house concert at a time and place of your choice
  

For a $30 donation (silver) you receive:

• a signed copy of the new CD upon its release

For a $10 donation (bronze) you receive:

• a fabulous rainbow-Grieg fridge magnet (design by S. Stroobandt, visible at the top left of this blog)
  

Yeah, fridge magnets!  I didn't really set out to make fridge magnets.  It definitely happened by accident, but I can tell you that these fridge magnets are the best Grieg fridge magnets anywhere!  And the bonus is, every time you admire it, you can have this great feeling of satisfaction because you support the arts in Canada!  

I'm not even kidding.  The magnets look great.  I'll post the photo I took with my laptop, but it doesn't really show the full satisfaction of the glossy finish and the bright colours.  I'm sure they'd make great Easter gifts, Mother's Day gifts...

Seriously, if you are interested in supporting this project, you can donate through cash or cheque payable to me.  My mailing address is 207 Douglas Street, Stratford, Ontario, N5A 5P8. I'll hope to get the paypal option sorted out soon as well.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your support.

Choices

Today's practice session involved some "fine-tuning" of the repertoire choices, as well as deciding on a program order...these decisions will likely be altered several times before the final product emerges.  But for now, the CD will comprise a variety of Grieg's piano music chosen from the following collections:  the Holberg Suite, Peer Gynt, Lyric Pieces, his "Piano Pieces After His Own Songs" (such an awkward title translation from the original German publication), as well as Opus 17 Norwegian Folksongs and Dances, Opus 19 Pictures from Country Life.

I quite like the order or "shape" that I have arrived at.  This is one of the aspects of programming that I enjoy most; the challenge is to create unity with just the right amount of contrast, flow, and progression.  It seems to me that the feel of this CD will be a little more upbeat and exuberant compared to the more reflective mood of it's predecessor.

Next week!

The date has been confirmed! 

We'll be recording on March 11-13.  Wow, that's soon, but I do feel just about ready.  More and more, the music is getting integrated into my cells.  I don't have it all memorized, but that's an intentional choice at this point.  I do find I prefer to have the score in front of me while recording, mainly in order to keep track of things when communicating with the producer and my recording assistant.  Once we have the music recorded, that's when I start working on memorization.  As I move into the phase of doing more concerts of this repertoire, the music starts to inhabit different files in my brain and I will have the memorization down.

I have a few hours this morning available for practising; enough time to run the program a couple of times and address a few specific challenges.

But first, coffee...

One Thing Leads to Another

This is getting exciting!

Many of the aspects of this project are falling into place.  My next solo CD is starting to look like it will be a reality quite soon...much sooner than anticipated.

I hadn't expected that things would come together quite yet, but...one thing leads to another...

Here's the rough outline of how it got to this point, so far:

Because "Disc Number One" (SANDRA MOGENSEN: Piano Music of Edvard Grieg) received such a warm response, I had thoughts of following that up with another disc of some more Grieg, perhaps mixed with piano music of other Nordic and maybe also Baltic composers...sometime in the future.

I think the "chain of events" leading toward this happening NOW really began on December 13. That was the day I was doing some googling, searching for the lovely website I had seen previously for the Japanese branch of the International Grieg Society.  That site was no longer available, but in my searching I stumbled upon the "Grieg Festival" scheduled for early January 2009 in Winter Park, Florida.  It seemed an impossibility to try to even get to that event which was only three and a half weeks away, but as I said...one thing led to another...and by December 18, I was engaged to give a lecture-recital at the Grieg Festival!  Topic:  Grieg's own piano transcriptions of some of his songs, Opus 41 & 52.

Only three weeks to prepare for that trip, but it all fell into place beautifully.

The Festival was a joy; meeting and learning from so many internationally known Grieg experts! (And SUN! And four days without boots, coats, and mitts!)  More about the Festival later...

I returned home with a renewed motivation to explore more of the beautiful Grieg repertoire. One thing led to another, and a recital program began to form.  Then came the idea and plan to do a recital at St. James' in February.  Then I began to think of this recital program as the framework for a recording, and that perhaps I should aim to raise some money towards this project. Then, a more specific plan emerged regarding an actual fund-raising campaign.

One thing led to another.  I had a conversation with my talented producer, Earl McCluskie, about possibly recording the recital so that I could listen to it and gain some perspective on it. He was not available, but suggested coming the day before for a "dress" run, which turned out to be an even better plan.  One thing led to another, and now it has been decided:  the recording sessions will actually take place at St. James'!  The excellent quality of the piano, the acoustics, and Earl's brilliance means this recording will have a fabulous sound, measuring up to the quality of the first CD we did, which was recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio, CBC, Toronto!

February 21st's recital was well-received, and was an excellent chance for me to put a bit of mileage on the new program.  Such wonderful community support, and a good beginning to the fund-raising!