Open Mic and Thoughts...

Today was just an overall great day musically speaking, starting with service today and some great fellowship. During worship, some insight occurred to me or spoke to me, regarding the Cello. I've been writing a lot of music lately that includes acoustic guitar supported by strings, whether viola or cello and horns as well. I've been admiring the cello especially lately and watching more videos on Cello players. Although I've always admired the string section in general, I never thought of playing it myself. In fact, even though I write music with strings, I'd much rather have someone else with more experience and knowledge play that part. But today, a thought was planted, a thought that said more or less "YOU should learn the Cello." I let it kind of stir for awhile to understand it and process it, and as I looked into the possibility of really learning it, I found out that it really is possible for me to start learning it. What I mean is, it just so happens that a small music store down the street both gives lessons in and rents Cellos for students. And even if I don't take lessons and decide to teach myself, I can still just rent the Cello itself, which is well within my cost. Then it occurred to me, that while I'm learning the Cello and once I have it down fairly well, I can record an actual Cello in my music, since I have one in my possession! YES! And then I could really understand it from my own experience and knowledge, which would help greatly in my writing. But even if I come to a point where I can play the Cello well, I'd still rather have someone else play while I play guitar, but...I guess you never know what can become of all this until you get there or what it might lead to. Who knows if it might lead me in a completely different direction, but we'll see.

The open mic in Claremont went well. I got on the list this time, which was a great start, after waiting in line for a good half-hour in the sun. Blahhh But it was worth the wait of course, and I signed up for the second session. I sat next to a very nice gentleman, who ended up being the featured artist, of all people. He played a few nice tunes from the 20's and 30's. When it was my turn, I went up a little nervous cause it's been awhile since I've played in front of people, but tried to stay calm, played my music and sang, which went well for the most part, and got through it okay. But honestly, it almost felt like some horse race rather than a paced walk, so I felt a little disappointed with that. But I got some good feedback and compliments at the end, so I guess it went better than I thought, although I know I need more practice with this. The good news is, I found out about another open mic from several people, the Fret House in Covina, which has one every month as well. And it's already coming this Saturday evening, when I have Isaiah! So I'm not sure if it's going to work this time but we'll see. If I can take him with me and play, I may do that but I'll have to call and ask if that's going to be okay. Sometimes, you never know what kind of content is going to come from any one singer, so I need to be careful.

As a side note, I did some finger-picking exercises tonight. Not sure where that all came from, possibly my own conviction that I could use some more practice in that arena. :)