Two friends' wedding (part I)

Just got back from Amherst last night after spending the weekend with friends in a frenzy of activities around the wedding of Gary & Elise B. For this joyous event, the bride and groom assembled the old IVCF worship team:

(navigating the chaos of setup and rehearsal -- this really took us back -- notice the Rao's coffee cup in the hand of the guitarist on the left)

(practicing with Sarah)

(during the processional: Come thou fount of every blessing, with Matt)


(The guitars, happily back home!)


The songs:

Prelude - County Down, slow
Processional - Be thou my vision - a new arrangement (as of the Thursday before the wedding) in key of C, played on the DADGAD guitar
Bride's march - Come thou fount of every blessing - I played melody in DADGAD, while Matt strummed chords. Key of D
Special music during ceremony:
Blessed be the name of the Lord (key of A, strumming & singing, standard tuning)
How deep the Father's love for us (key of G, I just soloed tastefully in the background)
Recessional - instrumental reprise of Blessed be

The music went quite well - sound was a bit spotty, but our audience was not picky about this. Now I am looking ahead to the next friends' wedding later this summer.

Saturday A.M., 10:10 - Practiced a little over an hour: cello prelude, a little Sonata VI, the 2nd Law, and some Merrily Kissed the Quaker. Very unfocused - I am quite sleepy still from this week (and last night - it was another ~midnight bedtime). Hands felt moderately achy and swollen this morning when I woke up. I should ice them again today (I also iced them last night).

The cello suite prelude, like many of Bach's compositions, provides a great way to strengthen scales and arpeggios in a very musical way. In DADGAD particularly, it affords an opportunity, mostly towards the end, to practice the harp-style scales that give this tuning its distinctive, piano-like quality.

8:34 am - Practiced 10 mins x 2: D and G major scales in DADGAD, review of Sonata VI pages 1 & 2, and Toy for Two Lutes.

We are in our new apartment in Framingham! It is a very open, benevolent space. It welcomes us; more generally, God has gone before us and welcomes us into his world.

My practice space is now set up:

(Enticement:)


(Prospect & Refuge:)


(The Muse:)


Practiced for about an hour yesterday - unfocused. DADGAD - Toy for Two Lutes, Invention #4, County Down, Dance of the Capricorn, Rakkish Paddy, Merrily/Cunla, & a new Jig out of O'Neils. Spontaneously played the first few bars from the Prelude to Bach's first cello suite. DADGAD triumphs again! It is obscenely right for this piece - transposed, of course, so that the first note becomes a D. I am looking forward to adapting the rest of this beautiful piece to DADGAD steel string.

Need to pick up new nylon strings today to begin practicing for weddings. I am going to take at least two days off from playing to let my body recover from the move, all that lifting and such. This is a good (and necessary) discipline, I've found. About a week is the peak interval - after one week of inactivity, I long so much to play music again and the relaxation produces an incredible freshness and energy, so that picking up the guitar at the end becomes a celebration!