Well here we are, its the end of the year, and what progress have I made?
Obviously, we have been having a lot of fun. This year we have started regularly practicing together, starting out as a three man group, with a little eclectic composition. 2 Voices, a guitar, a ukelele and a harmonica. Then we played every month in front of a small audience (20-40 persons) many of whom are also amateur players. Then a 2nd Harmonica joined the group, and the song choices became ever more multifaceted. It kind of continued, when I met a female vocalist at a choir workshop, who was interested in singing the Blues. Then we planned a concert for ‘friends and family’, found a nice location and invited everybody over. The ukelele player invited another female singer, and I managed to convince a bass player at the last moment to help us out with some of the songs in need of more ‘body’. We managed to get a 20 Song setlist
together and perform it. It was a wonderful experience, because many present hadn’t heard us play before, and were genuinely surprised.
It was a big learning opportunity, playing together, working on quite a number of new songs, outside the usual Blues background, some more Jazzy, some more Folky. Also, setting up the stage and using a PA system and mixing board, trying to get the sound balance organized. Trying to make sense of the set list, and establishing some logic in the sequence. And finally, even though these were friends and family, to establish contact with the audience and try and entertain them during and in between the various songs.
Some of the stuff I described as being work in progress in my earlier posts we managed, and got incorporated in the set (For instance Hey Hey, and Call me a Doctor with the Harmonica). Three particular challenges remained, and had to be tackled in the last month:
Moondance : Van Morrison
Chan Chan : Charlie Musselwhite
These were particular desires/challenges from the Harmonicaplayers, and
At Last : Etta James, which was a challenge I put to myself and the female vocalist.
All of these songs were rhytmically challenging, full of 16th notes, and in part requiring intro’s, little runs etcetera.
I will edit this post later and provide a few links to a few video segments, to give you a sample feeling of how it actually went… Unfortunately the video’s do not cover entire songs, but you’ll get the gist…