Just arrived home after possibly the concert of my life.
We played in the awe-inspiring Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg to a crowd of 2000 people.
I felt genuinely shocked after we left the stage.
I really feel blessed to play this music alongside my dear friends in Ancient Infinity Orchestra and I'm so proud of Ozzy and the band.
Hearing friends individual musical voices resonate out into such an astonishing space made me feel emotional after years of bedrooms, basements and living rooms- Ozzy's opening 'Hymn' was the perfect song to draw the best out of the enormous hall.
We also played a new piece entitled 'Iran' dedicated to the bravery and resilience of the Iranian people which was an surreal experience to have with 2000 extremely attentive listeners.
Music is what I will commit my life to.
And I will be there everyday for it, and going forwards, I will try my best to ask for nothing in return.
Another thing we got but didn't ask for were these boiled easter eggs at the bar:
They were a suprise hit with most of the band.
Alas, I have such a strong aversion to boiled eggs I couldn't even manage a politeness-egg.
PS. To any AIO members reading this, thankyou for your patience with my allergy induced pre-concert fatigue and for helping me along when my phone decided to conk out on me.
*EDIT* @ 15:30PM The guestbook is now back online- please go and sign it and say hi! The guestbook I used is based on the one made by 'Baccyflap' who has a cool website here.
This is my workstation currently. Getting my ass kicked by Joe Henderson's music. It's quite a reality check. We can only strive towards greatness. Maybe we'll never make it there. Getting my ass kicked by just looking at Charles Ives' piano music. I have a long way to go. But I'm doubling down on my efforts. I wish I could afford piano lessons. I wish I could afford a space to make loads of noise.
My days outside of playing concerts are made up of piano practise, japanese study and meditation as well as general household stuff. (no one ever mentions this part). I wonder how much time McCoy Tyner spent washing dishes. Busy periods are coming so I'm trying to remain focused.
We went to see 'Project Hail Mary' last night at the big screen. It was a fun time- there were plenty of laughs and silence from the cinema goers- communal silence is a nice and powerful thing. And although I was braced to dislike Ken in Space, I actually thought it was really good.
Have been enjoying watching Deathnote in the original Japanese.
To my surprise, I could undestand some basic phrases and learn how they might start to be used in conversation.
More motivation to carry on studying- apparently it gets a lot harder after you have the basics...
Music wise, it was more Joe Henderson repertoire for the upcoming gigs and also working on rhythm each day as its definitely my weakest area.
I also spent some time skateboarding and exploring lesser trodden paths around my area today.
I think these things will be important this year. It felt like real life.
Off to London this weekend to see friends and art (hopefully) and spend some nice time with Issy.
The meditation timer now has these nice 3D mangoes I just made in Blender. More music this week, comprising of several new compositions. -'REAL TEETH' for a friends trombone recital. -Some 'crystalline' music for cello and piano which I tried with Mick Bardon- some fertile ground there for a lot of good music I believe. -tidying a handful of pieces for Mu Quintet's third album which we will record in June. I have also been working on some game dev with Jake @ Unseen Forms- will hopefull share more on that soon. Listening to Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. Piano practise: now working on left hand dominant chord formations, scales wise, I'm going through 1-2-3 1-2 fingering of all scales three keys per day and repertoire wise- Naima by John coltrane in the keys. It has been revealing to see the beauty of that piece in the different key universes. I have also tried meditating with the keyboard under my hands and trying to just place each chord mentally before physically playing. There is an interesting phenomenon when you do this where you can weirdly 'feel' the connections being formed between your brain, ears and hands. I think this practise is helping me to 'hear' ahead. And also to be more patient. Maybe letting the chord fully decay before striking the next. Thinking alot about the beauty of touch for each note too. Does it come from beauty of intent / the freedom in the physical act?
Quick update to say that my piece 'plants' is now live on the site. I'm really liking just laying everything out together- it helps me to see the whole picture of the things I'm making and how they might inform one another. It's quite motivating and very satisfying. Some works wont fit on the homepage obviously and they might need to have their own little satellite pages if necessary. Let's see. Today, did more japanese with Teruki. Went to the greasy spoon diner, 'Ugly Mugs'. Practised and taught - ate some delicious leftover curry and some chocolate cake kindly made by Issy's mum. Issy's parents have been up visiting which was lovely and Pansy-cat turned 1! パンジー猫、お誕生日おめでとう ! (Rainbow text generated at https://charlesstover.github.io/rainbow-text/
This is yet another test blog post. Because my old site *STILL* didn't feel simple enough or authentic to me. Hopefully this one sticks. I want to make this site a magical place to be. I have added section on piano practise and mediation to the site. Check them out if these topics interest you!
Quick late night update.... Been working more on TV Dungeon (our 8-bit dungeon crawler) with Jake and Cieran. Been teaching piano and practising a lot too. Trying to be slow and honest with playing and improvising too. Realising I have spent a lot of time in my life rushing around in music. And true development happens when information is absorbed slowly and consistently. Speaking of which... Japanese. I am now ...almost there with memorizing the main Kana with a fair bit of work still to do on Katakana, but it is coming along
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