(no subject)

[realexplodingcat]

Another writing community post An edited, abbreviated, refined retelling of a previous post about the first performance with the band. Kind of a short story now.

Comments

[jkatj.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have been there. It sounds wonderful, even with the light problems.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. My second show was even better, and I solved the lighting problem with some Christmas lights. But I really couldn't have asked for a more positive experience for my first live performance.

[jkatj.livejournal.com]

You're lucky you can memorize the damn music. That was always my biggest downfall in every music experience. I have to have the music before me and concentrate on it all the way through. If I merely blinked too long, I was hopelessly lost.

Once I realized that my future in the music biz was crippled by my memory, I hoped to find some non-musical musical field to go into, but now I'm lost in corporate droneland hell instead.

I hope your band does well and gives you much joy. I'm rootin' for you even though I've never heard you. :)

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Remembering the music was always a worry for me when I got into this band thing. It still is, sometimes. I'm not completely weaned off all the sheet music yet. But I'm getting there. I'm finding that I have two very different kinds of memory. My ability of rote mental memorization is not very good. I can't remember phone numbers and addresses. I'm a also a corporate drone (in the computer industry), and I can't remember syntax for the programming languages I use everyday. I can't remember directions to get places.

But I've discovered that I have very good muscle memory. The more I repeat a motion, the more permanently it's ingrained in my muscle memory. I've been studying tai chi. I can't tell you the names of movements that make up a form, but I can perform all the movements in the proper order after only practicing a few times. Same with the music. I can't really tell you notes and chord progressions off the top of my head, but I can go right to the keyboard and play the song...recalling the hand positions and movements necessary to play my instrument.

I've noticed I can easily be a slave to the sheet music, too. That's why after several practices I need to toss the sheet music aside (whether I think I'm ready or not) and see how my muscle memory does on it's own.

Well...maybe you'll hear of my band someday. Thanks for the support. We're starting to record now. So, we might actually get some songs online and have a self produced CD available this spring. Maybe you'll hear us then.