Pan Ramajay Day 4

Pan Ramajay Day 4

Thursday was a good day to catch up on some individual practice.  I reminded myself that I'm supposed to be uncomfortable and that this is a stretch exercise. It's a little like running with faster runners to become faster. When unchallenged, people tend to progress slowly. I know that by playing with more advance players I will improve. I have only been playing for a year and a half, so I'm still pretty new.

Tom and Jim allotted part of their rehearsal time for working on sections of Ray's chart. This was helpful, because for once, we got to rehearse at a slower tempo.  Ray always rehearses at a fast tempo. By the time we got to Ray's slot, we finally ran through the verse and chorus sections. We also ran through the entire piece. We really must work on the transitions between sections. I'll probably play a portion of Ray's chart. It should be noted that this is a Panorama piece, that would typically be worked on for months by a steel band in Trinidad. We are doing a scaled down version of the chart in the span of a week.

Tomorrow is Friday. Final rehearsals ... sound checks ... last chance to work out tricky passages ... then the (free) show for the public. Light at the end of the tunnel.

Here is a clip of Jim telling stories about calypso from Wednesday:

http://soundcloud.com/biminiroad/ramajay-2012-jim-storytime