Tres Gique 2.0

[mdlbear]

(Takes deep breath. Jumps off cliff.)

"My" Toastmaster concert at ConChord this year was actually a Tres Gique concert, and it went off remarkably well considering that we really only had two rehearsals together as a group since last May, and that the set included three songs we'd never done as a group before.

It wasn't awesome. Parts of it came close, though. Quiet Victories, even with a couple of flubs and my flagging voice, was very close to awesome. I don't usually tear up listening to recordings.

Callie's partner, Naomi, pointed out that we could be awesome, consistently, if we got together every 4-6 weeks for a weekend of intensive practice. So that's what we're going to do. Or at least try to do -- we'll get together sometime in mid-November and see how it goes.

This is going to mean some big changes.

The biggest change for me is that we're not going to be "Steve Savitzky and his occasional backup group" anymore. We'll be doing a mix of my songs and other people's songs -- we won't even stick to filk; Joyce has been singing folk since forever. We'll try writing stuff jointly -- I have some ideas about that. I won't always be lead singer (I can hear the cheers from the audience already). I won't get nearly as many concerts as just me -- that's part of the price. But I'll learn to be a better performer, and my concerts, with or without TG, will sound a lot better -- that's the payoff.

For Callie and Joyce, the big change will be that they'll have equal billing as performers in the group, not just as part of some singer-songwriter's backup group. That's what happened to Callie with Echo's Children: she was many people thought of her as just Cat's backup and never became known as the fantastic performer she is.

Jordan, our drummer, will stay in that role at least for a couple of years; eventually he may move out, go into impoverished college student mode, and we'll have to worry about what to do next. Kat, who's performed with us a couple of times, won't be able to make it down from Canada for rehearsals; she can sit in via streaming audio if she wants, but mostly will become our Webmistress. Things will sort themselves out.

Joyce's husband Dave, who has been doing live sound for her and others for years at folk dance camps, will be the official Sound Guy. Colleen is, of course, Catering and Hospitality, and possibly logistics.

Now, about that version number. Back around the end of last year Kat and I came up with a version-numbering scheme: I was 1.0, Callie and Joyce were 0.1 and 0.2 respectively; Jordan and Kat were 0.0.1 and 0.0.2 respectively. Add 'em up. Wwll, we're not playing mix-and-match anymore, and I'm not the main performer anymore. So, Tres Gique 2.0.

If this comes off, we'll have our first concert at Consonance or Baycon.

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Good luck! It sounds exciting!

(I really should do more about playing with others. It's always fun, but I have such a big hang up about it.)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

For Callie and Joyce, the big change will be that they'll have equal billing as performers in the group, not just as part of some singer-songwriter's backup group. That's what happened to Callie with Echo's Children: she was just Cat's backup and never became known as the fantastic performer she is.

I certainly never thought of her that way.

[mdlbear]

But apparently most people in the audience did. I know I did, until I got to know her better. People associate EC very strongly with your songs, and don't generally think of Callie as anything but a part of EC. She's getting away from that now, of course, but it's taken a long time.

Filk is unusual in the music world because the audience are generally more interested in the songs, and especially the lyrics, than in the performance; more attached to the songwriter than to the performer. And because most of us who write mainly perform our own songs, that pushes performers like Callie who aren't as prolific into the background.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I tried hard to treat Callie as a full equal and a full member of the team. I certainly always gave her equal billing as half of Echo's Children. I'm sorry things didn't work out to everyone's satisfaction. I hope that you enjoy working with Callie and that this new arrangement more successfully gives her an appropriate amount of recognition.

And hopefully the new performance group will inspire Callie to write more songs also, thus getting at what you suggest may be the root of the problem.

[mdlbear]

I know you did, and I'm not saying that Callie wasn't satisfied with that billing. I know she enjoyed singing with you very much.

Hopefully it will. But that's not the real root of the problem. Joyce probably won't ever be known as a songwriter, and she's comparatively new to filk, but her folk repertoire is huge; I'd like to see her get known as somebody who can jump in on anything in Rise Up Singing at the drop of a hat instead just somebody who occasionally gets up on stage with me. I'd like to get better known -- as well as just plain better -- as a performer rather than as a songwriter who, like Bob Dylan, can just barely sing if he plays the melody on the guitar.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Hmm. If I'm understanding right, you're suggesting that filkers generally should value performance skills more than we do?

I sympathize, but 1) I think performance skills are already valued, and 2) I'm not sure how that would fit in with filk's tolerance of people (often people with little performance experience) with very low performance skills but a genuine desire to participate. That latter characteristic is something I really admire about filk, even if I sometimes find it a little difficult in the execution. It makes filk a "safe place" to start out.

Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding, and it's not that you think we should emphasize performance skills, but that we should widen the repertoire of filk circles to include more folk music and other genres? I think that would be cool too.

[mdlbear]

Neither, actually. I love the way filk welcomes new people and tolerates limited performance skills -- I would never have gotten to where I am now without that welcome and that tolerance.

It's really more a matter of branding than anything else. For a long time, people only knew Callie as part of EC, and your songs were all that people expected her to sing. People know me primarily as a songwriter; even Callie was surprised when I told her that, no, I didn't write the tune we use for "The Owl and the Pussycat" (it's probably almost as old as the lyrics).

I'd like to get to the point where, when people see TG on the program, they aren't going to expect an hour of all my songs. And when people see me or Callie on the program, they aren't going to wonder where the rest of TG are. I'd like to make sure that, when people see Callie or Joyce or me in a circle, they aren't going to expect us to sing only the songs we sing in TG performances. I'd like there to be a clear difference between what people hear on a Steve Savitzky CD -- almost all my songs, and a mix of performers -- and what they hear on a Tres Gique CD -- the four of us singing a good mix of songs.

It really says very little about the filk community, only about our roles in it.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I didn't either, but a lot of people did, because they went looking for the songwriter and ignored how important her arrangement and performance contributions were. Something like the people who thought that after Dave Carter died, Tracy Grammer would never be able to go on performing because after all, she was just the sidekick who did his stuff, right? Except she never was, they were just too dumb to notice.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect her to go on to a solo performing career, but I never doubted she could hook up with another performer, or several other performers if she wanted. It seemed to me that with her talent, skill and adaptability, she could have her choice of partners.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of Tracy when I wrote this, but come to think of it, it applies to Callie too.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Nor I. [Edited, because the original seemed flip.] It always seemed to me that you both brought something to EC. But audiences are unpredictable animals.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I guess so.

[kshandra]

May you all be rewarded (beyond the reward you already get from simply creating together) by this new dedication.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Great news!

[mdlbear]

Thanks!

[aerowolf.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, Steve. I know you're going to improve (how do you improve on perfection? Throw more (hu)man-hours at it! </gag>), and I think everyone will be the better for it. :)

[mdlbear]

"...perfection"???!!

Right.

[aerowolf.livejournal.com]

Well, true. But it was as close to perfect as you were likely to get solo.

Let's see... you recorded and produced your own album, and did a lot of solo gigs -- many with the same backup band. And honestly, you've already got the appropriate lack of ego necessary to make a group work -- it probably doesn't hurt that you've been married for a long while, and you've been analyzing your behaviors and working to make them (and the communication difficulties that ensue) less of obstacles than they would be without the analysis.

of course, I'm also speaking from the POV of someone who hasn't seen you physically in a few years, and thus primarily has to read your blog posts. (and who is probably not qualified to say word one, honestly.) But, regardless... I still think this is a very good step forward for you.

[mdlbear]

I agree that it's a big step forward. But I'm starting from nowhere near perfection; at best I'm a mediocre performer. The album was, shall we say, a "learning experience", and I'm still nowhere near where I could be in that department either.

[brmj.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it. I bet you will see some real improvement with that level of practice. I would argue that some of the more recent recordings have been more than merely approaching awesome, but there is always room for improvement, I guess.

[filkferengi]

How exciting! Congratulations to one and all!

[mdlbear]

Thanks!