Feb 6th, Today my partners in spontaneity Jenny Kingsley and Matt Bowes and I played Bluegrass on our neighbors front deck, then proceeded down to the beach just down from Matt’s place on Gabriola to play for the ocean, and any passers by.
#6 This one’s a bit of a stretch. I created a Spontaneous Act of Music (SPAM) on the little ferry to Gabriola Island. It didn’t really go so well. Keep in mind that this ferry is only 30 mins long.The idea was to start playing for the passengers in the ferry cabin, but when we got there it was quite like a tomb and the people looked VERY intent on their books and newspapers. I decided to move outside, but the bass was still warm from the car ride and the cold ocean wind hitting it outside made me think of my broken double bass at home and the horrible sound of cracking wood. I played a little tune which I’m pretty confident no-one heard but lots of people saw. Then I chickened out and got the bass packed up just in time to make the ferry landing.
Feb. 4th, I committed a Spontaneous Act of Music (SPAM) by creating an outdoor rehearsal with Jeff Andrew for our gig that night. We played a bunch a tunes in the park on Kings St. near Cafe Fantastico. There was some kids playing in the play structure at first and a couple on a bench, as well as some people passing nearby on the sidewalk. I was focused on the practice so I didn’t notice what sort of impact we had, but I did notice that the couple stayed on the bench the whole time we were playing.
I committed a Spontaneous Act of Music by creating an improved bass riff for my musical invitation video. Squeeked that one in at the end of the day… I think that it was made at about 11:00 pm. Pretty sure that my neighbors (upstairs and downstairs) heard me too, so I guess you could say it was partly for them. Don’t know if it made them smile but maybe one of you did when you saw it?
I committed a Spontaneous Act of Music (SPAM) on the Ferry between Victoria and Vancouver with my friend Jim. On Double Bass and Oboe we sight-read celtic tunes out of a fiddle fakebook and some duets from a study book. It all went down in the stairwell where the acoustics were awesome and lots of walk on traffic could happen upon us. We had a great time… and put smiles on quite a few faces, one guy even stopped and recorded us on his pocket recorder. (I’m hoping he’ll send it to me any day… and if he does I’ll post it here.)
#24 On the 15th: Played bass for at work for a woman with Autism. She loved it and danced to my bass lines in her kitchen.
Here it is; you heard it here first. In the spirit of the Spontaneous Acts of Music facebook event I will be creating a Spontaneous Act of Music each day for the month of February.