[Weekend Preview] Uncomfortable Discoveries About One's Own Brain
So, everybody who knows me well knows I'm an absolute horn FREAK! (Right? *Right?!!*) Big band, latin, funk, r&b, drum corps... if it's got horns and tight harmonies, I am all over it. (Especially trombones.) Now, over the years I've observed that musicians usually focus in on the things they do themselves more than other parts of music (or at least *first*), when they listen to music that has their main instrument in it. So a bass player always hears bass lines, guitarists hear the guitar parts, and so on, and they tune into the rest of it later or to a slightly lesser degree. Me, I have *always* heard horn lines first. (Vocal harmonies second, vocal leads third, rhythm guitar slightly after that, then keyboards. Lead guitar, at least in rock songs, might as well be industrial noise to me.) For awhile I thought my horn fixation was because of my drum and bugle corps background, but I can remember being transfixed by horns long before that, and in fact, my first concert was Blood Sweat & Tears @ the Denver Coliseum. When I was 3. So I dunno...
Anyway, when I joined Booty Vortex, this "horns first" thing became painfully clear as I demonstrated my lyrical knowledge of cover tunes right up until the horns got going. Then I only knew the horn parts, and was a little bit vague even on the vocal melody, as well as downright ignorant of the actual words to such songs. Hilarious, but a little bit inconvenient for a singer.
Then at Wednesday's rehearsal, I found an even more exciting side effect of this little phenomenon. My usual sax player doesn't deign to rehearse, and any practices I've had with my band over the last 18 months have been very far apart and with just the rhythm section. Wednesday I brought in my lovely horn section to get together with the rest of us, and I discovered that every time they started to play something I hadn't heard before with sax & trumpet, my brain totally short circuited and I couldn't remember what I was doing. Couldn't sing, couldn't remember chords, couldn't find relevant information on a music stand *right in front of me* where I have everything written down, either. WTH, brain!!! Please to be firing all neurons, need them for gigs! Actually, I need them for *these* gigs:
Saturday, September 12 - 8:00 PM
Parish Center For The Arts
10 Lincoln Street
Westford, MA 01886
978.692.6333
http://www.westford.com/pca/concert_rock_blues_details.htm
with Booty Vortex
Sunday, September 13 - 1:00 PM
HEATHERFEST!!!!
http://www.heatherfest.com
The PCA gig... BV has played this venue before and it was a lot of fun. It's a community center in an old church, and they are dedicated to the arts. Wonderful place and people, but I think the show is already sold out. (Wow.)
Heatherfest... if you've been there before, you know what a crazy party this is and you don't want to miss it. My band is on at OMGo'clock (1 PM), but it's totally worth it to get there for our set. :) Bring your own food, chair, and booze. (It's a pot luck so bring some to share, too.) Also, every other band on the bill is great, so don't miss Brian Templeton and Kid Bangham, Toni Lynn Washington, Chris Fitz, The Delta Generators, Racky Thomas, and Evan Goodrow.
Fun!
Anyway, when I joined Booty Vortex, this "horns first" thing became painfully clear as I demonstrated my lyrical knowledge of cover tunes right up until the horns got going. Then I only knew the horn parts, and was a little bit vague even on the vocal melody, as well as downright ignorant of the actual words to such songs. Hilarious, but a little bit inconvenient for a singer.
Then at Wednesday's rehearsal, I found an even more exciting side effect of this little phenomenon. My usual sax player doesn't deign to rehearse, and any practices I've had with my band over the last 18 months have been very far apart and with just the rhythm section. Wednesday I brought in my lovely horn section to get together with the rest of us, and I discovered that every time they started to play something I hadn't heard before with sax & trumpet, my brain totally short circuited and I couldn't remember what I was doing. Couldn't sing, couldn't remember chords, couldn't find relevant information on a music stand *right in front of me* where I have everything written down, either. WTH, brain!!! Please to be firing all neurons, need them for gigs! Actually, I need them for *these* gigs:
Saturday, September 12 - 8:00 PM
Parish Center For The Arts
10 Lincoln Street
Westford, MA 01886
978.692.6333
http://www.westford.com/pca/concert_rock_blues_details.htm
with Booty Vortex
Sunday, September 13 - 1:00 PM
HEATHERFEST!!!!
http://www.heatherfest.com
The PCA gig... BV has played this venue before and it was a lot of fun. It's a community center in an old church, and they are dedicated to the arts. Wonderful place and people, but I think the show is already sold out. (Wow.)
Heatherfest... if you've been there before, you know what a crazy party this is and you don't want to miss it. My band is on at OMGo'clock (1 PM), but it's totally worth it to get there for our set. :) Bring your own food, chair, and booze. (It's a pot luck so bring some to share, too.) Also, every other band on the bill is great, so don't miss Brian Templeton and Kid Bangham, Toni Lynn Washington, Chris Fitz, The Delta Generators, Racky Thomas, and Evan Goodrow.
Fun!