Guitar Last Night

Last night I played at the Ives Hill Retirement Community's monthly birthday & anniversary dinner. It took me a little while to settle into the scene and gain my confidence because I have not played anywhere for anyone since Teaism closed this past August. I have been too busy with other matters to set any other gigs up. So this opportunity came up and I jumped at it. I noticed on man there paying particularly close attention to my playing. A little later I over heard him sya to the woman that hired me, "This guy's the most professional musician we've ever had."
Later in the evening I introduced myself and learned that he was a piano p-layer, and also sang with a barber shop quartet for many years. So his compliment is more meaningful because he is a musician.
I also got nice comments from numerous others, including the kitchen staff that heard me play while they were serving dinner.

My assessment was that I did OK. I started out a bit shaky so I played several short pieces by Francisco Tarrega, repeating certain passages to both fill up some time and get myself warmed up.
Other pieces I played: Lara's Theme from Dr. Zchivago (Somewhere My Love). I did OK with this until I hit a certain 3 chord progression which I fumbled up. There is no reason for this other than I need to practice the chords. This one short part has given me trouble forever ONLY because I have been to lazy to take the time to polish it.
Larry Beekman's arrangement of Your Song by Elton John was pretty good but I became exasperated when I had a mental block and fumbled in a spot that I had never fumbled before. I'm not real confident with that piece anyway because I have played it very few times for people.

Bach's Prelude N. One from the Well Tempered Clavier I played extremely well. Probably the best I've ever done. This is a transcription by Christopher Parkening and is truly a virtuoso piece. The chord shapes are physically demanding, requiring considerable strength and dexterity to execute. It is also a most beautiful composition, music from Heaven.

The Beatles tunes that I normally play each suffered from their respective spots that I have gotten rusty with. Normally if I have not played these pieces in a while I would revue/rehearse them the afternoon before the performance, going over those spots that tend to fade quickly from my memory. THis usually results in a satisfactory performance. Then, if I do not play them again for 2 or 3 months, I simply must revue them again. But on the afternoon before this performance I did not do that. You see, I have an apartment house that I am putting a new roof on and it has taken up my time. I spent the morning taking my Mother to the hospital for cataract surgery and the afternoon on the roof job. I permitted myself no rehearsal time.

I also played Bach's Prelude from the First Cello Suite as transcribed by Julian Bream very well. This came off very well because for once I took pains not to start the piece out at too fast a tempo. I slowed it down a little and the result was excellent. I wish I had a recording of this evening's playing, but, I don't. I was more pleased with myself than normal.

The people in attendance at the dinner are retirees. They live in an upscale community, some have assisted living, some their own apartments. With this demographic in mind I found it interesting that Estudio Inconcluso by Augustin Barrios Mangore went over very well. It really seemed to grab the attention of quite a number of folks. For me it is a fun little piece to play and one I find I can be rather expressive with.

So those are the high lights. It was a most enjoyable evening for me and I was home in time to watch Survivor on CBS.