Chaos in Minnesota

musicians from Champlin Park High School -- Steve Lyons, far right.

How do I begin to describe my trip to Minnesota? It was a wild, whirlwind experience, and there are so many memorable moments... Thursday morning began with a rehearsal at Anoka High School -- in front of the orchestra AND choral students! It was like a performance at 8:30 in the morning with no rehearsal and no time to warm up! But all in all, things went well, and I think we put on a pretty good show for our makeshift audience... the challenge was to come later on that evening, when I blew the amp halfway through the third movement of Chaos Theory! For a moment, it seemed kinda mucho-macho-rock-n-roll to overpower an amplifier, but after that romantic notion had passed (which took about 1.5 seconds), the reality was, my screaming-loud guitar was now totally inaudible. But here's the best thing about playing in a band of 60 people -- they all find ways to adjust. And without dropping a beat, one of the percussionists slid over to the piano and played my guitar parts (albeit with a LOT LESS distortion), while I feverishly wiggled plugs and flipped switches in a desperate attempt to revive the amp. The conductor continued to conduct with one arm while returning my sign language with the other. The measures kept ticking away and soon the big unaccompanied cadenza was upon us, and I was still holding the world's quietest musical instrument! And so, at the exact moment I was supposed to wail out -- unaccompanied -- on the highest note on the guitar, and begin this frenzied, high-speed-two-handed tapping extravaganza, I stepped forward and said to the audience:

"Now normally at this point in the piece, I'd play something REAAAAAAAAALLY impressive."

The audience got the joke immediately, and started to laugh. I apologized for the technical difficulties, and said we'd get back to the concert as soon as possible. We tried CPR on the amp for a few more minutes while the band parents held a raffle -- a raffle in the middle of Chaos Theory! The concept was hilarious. Finally we plugged the guitar into a nearby bass amp, backed up a few bars, and we roared through the rest of the piece with great success. Immediately following this, I conducted the band through my piece, Reflections in a Tidal Pool. I warned the musicians earlier in the day that I conduct with my left hand instead of my right, and if I got lost, that they should still watch me for the entertaining interpretive dance that I would be performing. The ensemble was really great about the last-minute interpretive changes I put them through, and played with great conviction and expression. I hadn't conducted outside of a rehearsal or a recording studio in about 7 years, so it was a great experience to waive a baton onstage and share that piece with them.

The next day started even earlier -- and let me tell you folks, it ain't easy to rock at 7:45 in the morning! The band jolted me back to life, without caffeine or an electric cattle prod -- there I was, back in business. Rehearsal went very well, and afterwards, Steve Lyons (the director at Champlin Park) and I popped over to the Fleet Farm (or was it Farm Fleet? I keep mixing them around...) to check out the terricota pots for TranZendental Danse of Joi. It seems their percussionist had already broken several of them in rehearsal, so they were hoping for something a little... sturdier. We found one that had just the right sound, and bought two of them, just in case the percussionist managed to break another one during the dress rehearsal! The rest of the day was similar to the day before at Anoka -- doing question-and-answer sessions with the students in the other ensembles. The most asked question?

"What kind of car do you drive?" (asked no less than 4 times!)

Evidently, this is a major pre-occupation with high school students in the Greater Minneapolis/St, Paul area. Too bad I still haven't replaced the car I totalled a year ago, or I could've impressed them with something snappy like "a Honda Civic" or "a Toyota Corolla".

The most random question?

"Have you ever been arrested?"

I don't know if the student was trying to establish my "street cred" (a la 50 Cent), or if he was looking for pointers on his future life of crime; but I think he was genuinely disappointed by my answer. The cool thing was that at both schools, I got a chance to get to know some of the students better, and they got to see that not all composers are dead guys.

Near the end of the day, two low brass players -- Josh and Kyle -- approached. They had a proposition for me. Star Wars 3. 11:00 PM show, after the concert. Why? Because that's how they roll. What did I think? I thought that sounded awesome.

The concert went very, very well. The band was rhythmically tight and very energetic, and that was exactly the kind of interpretation Chaos Theory and TranZendental Danse of Joi were looking for. And also during the concert, I played an electric rock guitar solo of "Happy Birthday" -- not exactly Jimi Hendrix' "Star Spangled Banner", but it did the trick.

Finished the concert, packed up my gear, ducked back to Steve Lyon's place to change clothes. And sure enough, when I arrived at the theatre at 10:58 PM, Josh and Kyle and posse were saving a seat for me. Very, very cool.


Two of the musicians from Anoka High School. They performed the first night, and came back to watch on Friday! Thanks guys!!

I can't thank the guys at Anoka HS enough: John Lace, Mike Halstenson, and Andrew Richter -- your positive energy and grace under pressure made all the difference that day -- YOU guys rocked!

And at Champlin Park HS: Steve Lyons, Helen Suhr, and Sieglinde -- thanks for hosting such a great time and a great day.