Friday, the final day of the five-day project, gives us all the first glimpse of what the entire project has been like. That the opportunity to work with four real musicians for a whole day is valuable is to greatly under-state the value put on the experience by the composers: for several, it was a life-changing experience and for all it was rare if not unique. Rarely have 'Mr McFalls Chamber' felt so cherished!
My main observation as a player is that none of my bass parts were even remotely challenging: guys, you can write far more complex music for the bass! On the other hand, the musicians were there to provide sounds for the electronics to treat: this was, after all, a workshop and so a 'performed outcome' was never part of the objective: we were not trying to 'write a novel' this week, we were trying to 'expand the dictionary' - to find more words and definitions that may be employed to 'write a novel' in the future.
Finally, it was a very pleasant week for the players: the location was serene, relaxing and inspiring, and the chance to just be together without the usual deadlines and pressures was a new experience! The 'en-suite cooking facilities' were eagerly seized on by several people, particularly as the nearest chippie was several hours away, or so it seemed.
Would I do a week like that again? Yes - definitely!! I'm looking forward to hearing the completed mixes one day and I'll be curious to see what, if anything, changes if we get the chance to do this again.
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