A week of rehearsals

This has been a week of rehearsals. On Monday morning I worked with the musicians for about 2 1/2 hours and then with Danah and Jess (BGVs) in the evening for a bit over an hour. Gabre shot and edited some video of the evening rehearsal so I’ll post it soon. Having that kind of history will be interesting. On Tuesday we all got together and ran through most of the songs. It’s coming together. I’m really liking how “Afternoon” has evolved in particular, so I’m looking forward to the reactions to that one. We’ll perform about an hour of music on Sunday at the official launch of There or Thereabouts. 

It’s been a bit surreal as it’s been coming together. It feels like I’ve dreamt parts of it before and every now and then I have to remind myself that it’s really happening - which usually brings a moment of panic and the realization that I have a lot of practicing to do. 

I was able to lay out my vision for ToTa before we started rehearsing on Tuesday. It was good to get some reactions and a bit of feedback. I’m delighted that everyone is enjoying the songs as much as they are too. That’s really encouraging. So we rehearse again tomorrow and that’s it before Sunday. I’m definitely getting more excited as the day draws nearer. I was practicing a couple of songs this evening (accompanied by Maia on her pink and yellow drum) and just trying to make sure I’m comfortable with them vocally. My biggest concern is that I’m not going to get in much time practicing playing and singing into a mic, so I’m hoping I can manage to deliver fairly well none-the-less. Sometimes I drop my mouth below the mic when I’m focusing too much on my guitar, but the only solution is doing this more. 

There’s still a lot to do but a lot of the big pieces are in place and I’m looking forward to unveiling There or Thereabouts. We’re praying for good weather. We’ve had a couple of showers this week so far but God is in control of such things. Hopefully I can get some video shot on Sunday too.