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From the ground up...

SOTSDO

Old King Log
Staff member
CE/Moderator
Well, I've gotten to the point where I'm going to try to assemble a new group and start in again. Maybe not as a musician, as I still haven't found a synth solution for the Yamaha wind synth stick, but as the leader (and a silent one, as my voice departed with the ability to use my tongue and lips reliably) who will rehearse the group to the point that it will function.

The builder (general contractor) building our new house is an alto player of reasonable skills (I let him fool around with the family silver (my antique, silver plated (and lovely) Conn "artist" alto from back in the day), and he participates in a church based group that will provide the basic rhythm elements. So, if they all bite, that's both the foundation for the group, and enough to be able to start the audition process.

We have a "major" university in the area (although you would never know it as it's hidden in the ravines north of the city), a private college and a public four year college, so I will be trying the flyer route as well as the ad in the local "arts" publication.

I have always picked a series of "common tunes" in the past, stuff like Fever, Mac The Knife, Johnny B. Goode/Great Balls of Fire, Georgia, Knock On Wood, Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue and so forth. However, this time will be different as I don't have the sidemen trained yet.

What I will need to do is to rehearse things up with the boys, and only then send the vocal parts and the keys that I have available out to the vocalists who respond, and then have the donut party to see who measures up. With the much more vibrant music scene that we have here in the 'Redneck Riviera' (as opposed to the huge Houston area but far fewer pop and rock groups relative to the population), I'm looking forward to culling quite a few from the mix.

Stay tuned...
 
For almost all jobs, I always ended with Funny How Time Slips Away. Sure, it was country (and an Elvis hit to boot), but it was a nice slow dance for those who wanted to cling to their spouse/sig other one last time on the polished wood, and I always had a male vocalist who could bring home the goods on that one.

The only problem was getting the tenor soloist to quiet down under the farewell statement from the band. Of the tenor players that I used, only one took the request with grace.
 
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