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.