Vision
Word
A report by Alessandro Bruno.
Centro di Spiritualità S. Lucia Filippini – Montefiascone 20/09/2006
Participants:
Alessandro Bruno
Alessandro Papa
Filippo Guerini
Stefano Simioni
Adriano Clera
Roberto Deiana
Attilio Songia
Paolo Marcon
Massimo D’Avanzo
Anna Cefalo
Mattia Clera
Massimo Di Giacomo
AAD Roberto Duse
The one-and-a-half-day-full-immersion-project-with-Robert was completed after lunch, so, when I left right after lunch to take R. to the airport, I asked Filippo and Adriano to prepare a list of pieces and take care of the rehearsal in the afternoon, to get ready for the Performance which would take place tomorrow morning at a primary school in the village.
I arrived back to the house just in time for dinner. Loredana and Aldo left, they had to go back to their commitments and so couldn’t attend the performance.
As I stepped into the Circle after dinner I found 11 players including me (Massimo Di Giacomo decided to stay outside and assist us with stage and security), and a list of 14 pieces. We went one by one giving more attention where needed; also practicing circulating in C Harm. Minor and C whole tone, and after a while the flow was pretty good, probably due to the work done with R. We’ve been sitting there for more than 2 hours no stop; everybody look quite tired. 2 pieces have been chopped off straight away: “Rescue in M.B.” and “Gymnopedie 1”. It was 23:30 when I called a half an hour break and a run-through at midnight.
I delegated to Filippo and Adriano the making of the set list; our audience for the performance would have been hundred kids from a primary school, not easy, and definitely we should have taken this into account in the making of the set list.
At midnight everybody looked even more tired, I guess my face was zombie-like too!
I timed the whole thing as we played with almost no gaps: it was over an hour: too much if we consider all the extra time between pieces, speeches and so on; we needed a shorter version of the show for the kids very likely wouldn’t bear it that way.
Mission accomplished: we made a shorter version of the set list and went to bed at half past one.
Centro di Spiritualità S. Lucia Filippini – Montefiascone 21/09/2006
The schedule:
06:30 Rise
07:00 Sitting
07:30 Breakfast
08:30 House Work Meeting
09:30 Meeting with guitars (worming up)
10:00 Guitars (and other instruments too) ready by the door
10:30 Sound check
11:00 Performance
We had to anticipate slightly the rise time and also to squeeze a bit so many activities before the Performance to let people leave in time to get their trains after the final meeting.
We succeeded only partially because the whole thing was a bit rushed and we could get to the school only 15 minutes before the Performance time; fortunately we sent Roberto and Massimo there before to prepare the room, but no time for sound check and we couldn’t even rehearse the coming in and out.
We encircled in the green room (a Chapel), I gave clear instructions about the procedure of walking on and off the stage, we collected ourselves, feet on the floor, right hand, I asked for help, off we go…
The set list:
Circulation C Harm. Min.
Saltarello
Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter
An Easy Way
Chanson Balladèe
Circulation C Whole Tone
The Eye Of The Needle
Nil Sè ‘Na Là
Thrak
Funeral March For A Marionette
Chenter
Tango Apasionado
Morrison Jig
Music For A Found Harmonium
In the pocket:
Sermon On The Mount
Hope
The kids in the beginning were surprisingly quiet, I decided to speak to them right away: “You’re very good kids, maybe that’s because your teachers are good too!” And a little girl from the front rows: “No maybe, that’s what it is.”
The first set was light and cheerful, the attention of the kids was full, no need for teachers and nuns to impose it to them; the only exception for me was “An Easy Way”, a small group piece being me too far from the other 3 players I had serious difficulties to hear them, especially the stick.
At this point I realised that the attention span of the kids wouldn’t allow us to play the whole set although it was already a reduced version, so I just cut off the second Circulation, and with TEOTN my feeling was confirmed. If this might be consider a limit, in other aspects the kids were of incredible help, the faces for instance: if you tend to assume a GC face and a kid begins yawning at you, well, you have an opportunity… We sped up on Funeral March but we got big applause anyway, as after every single piece so far. Massimo introduced the duo piece in Gaelic and suggested the audience to leave few seconds between the end of a piece and the applause so they could perceive something subtle going on.
They didn’t want to let us go away but I kept perceiving that the attention span’s light was on red, so I cut off Tango.
The Scottish ballad and Harmonium completed the set and let the audience in a lively mood.
As I was leading out a nun called us back because they absolutely wanted to know something about that strange instrument (the stick); we explained briefly and moved out.
As I said, kids respond in such a direct way that this make of them a very special audience; so, although in terms of my personal playing the number of mistakes was higher than usual, almost anyone of us was sure that that particular boy or girl will play guitar in the future, or the drum, or the castanets, by the way they looked blown away…
Then, after we collected ourselves and completed in the green room, a nun with the music teacher of the school came in and made us almost an interview; they were enthusiast and thanked us a lot.
We loaded the van with the instruments and walked back to the house in a collected state.
We then had our final meeting, Suor Teresa, the nun, came in and sit with us; she said so many good things about us that I was moved, I realised that we speak, if not the same, compatible languages, so we understand each other.
Could I foresee until not long ago that I’d experience full and satisfactory communication with nuns?