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well, that was a thing
Feb. 3rd, 2008 10:35 amBruce's memorial was yesterday, and came off pretty well. I may have other things to say about it later, but at this moment I'm happily remembering this last gift he gave me: Last night I got to play the harp on "Hot Summer Day" with It's A Beautiful Day.
Bruce told me years back that when they'd recorded that song (MP3 of the original is here, BTW), it was sort of experimental--he'd played all the way through from beginning to end, and then they decided in the mixing process which bits of his playing you'd hear and which you wouldn't. He said (I'm editing this down from a much longer e-mail), "Harp and violin can have a scarily similar timbre (basically of the second-harmonic, sawtooth persuasion, due to the physics of their generation) and they tend to work well together... but there was a lot of clobbering going on along with some sweet fits. Ultimately, it's supposed to be a violin-led band, so what you hear is the result of some painful editing during the mix that pretty much kept the harp in its place, largely in that classic intro and in the duet in the ride-out at the end... I'd kill to hear the harp solo I laid down in the same place where the violin solo finally prevailed in the middle of the tune."
So I'd been practicing it for a few days, and was able to play along with the record reasonably well. Checked with the band beforehand that they still play it the same way they do on the record, and David LaFlamme assured me they do. But then! All through the song we kept coming to places where he's supposed to play a violin fill between verses, and he'd look over at me and give me a "take it!" nod, and I'd have to make something up. Or I'd be playing a bit that is on the record, and give David and Linda a big dramatic leading tone for their next line of singing, and it would turn out that, enh, they weren't actually planning to sing for a while yet, so why don't I just keep on playing...
He was pretty much cool with whatever I did; the only time he signaled me to stop was before he got to the "they told me that the sun turned green" bit (and I was already planning to).
By the time we were halfway through the song I'd stopped freaking out when this kind of thing happened and started having fun with the improv. And apparently I did okay, I heard nothing but praise afterward. I hope the tapes came out. (Unfortunately the pictures didn't.) Just a lovely, lovely experience.
I felt a little strange about having such a good time at a memorial service for someone I loved... but hell, Bruce woulda. As I was saying to his daughter last night, I've never really had any conviction on the subject of there being a life after this one. I mean, it'd be nice and all--I hope for one--but I don't expect it. And if that's the case, then the life we do have after this one is in the copies of ourselves we leave in the people who love us. Bruce, whether he thought about it this way or not, was always backing himself up. And on the whole I think he succeeded at that about as well as anyone could.
This past few weeks of planning the party, designing a front cover and back cover for the mix CD we gave out as a memento, and then finally playing his harp solo, it was like running an (alas, greatly-reduced fidelity) instance of him in my brain. It's been a really good thing to be able to do. Thanks again B*.
Bruce told me years back that when they'd recorded that song (MP3 of the original is here, BTW), it was sort of experimental--he'd played all the way through from beginning to end, and then they decided in the mixing process which bits of his playing you'd hear and which you wouldn't. He said (I'm editing this down from a much longer e-mail), "Harp and violin can have a scarily similar timbre (basically of the second-harmonic, sawtooth persuasion, due to the physics of their generation) and they tend to work well together... but there was a lot of clobbering going on along with some sweet fits. Ultimately, it's supposed to be a violin-led band, so what you hear is the result of some painful editing during the mix that pretty much kept the harp in its place, largely in that classic intro and in the duet in the ride-out at the end... I'd kill to hear the harp solo I laid down in the same place where the violin solo finally prevailed in the middle of the tune."
So I'd been practicing it for a few days, and was able to play along with the record reasonably well. Checked with the band beforehand that they still play it the same way they do on the record, and David LaFlamme assured me they do. But then! All through the song we kept coming to places where he's supposed to play a violin fill between verses, and he'd look over at me and give me a "take it!" nod, and I'd have to make something up. Or I'd be playing a bit that is on the record, and give David and Linda a big dramatic leading tone for their next line of singing, and it would turn out that, enh, they weren't actually planning to sing for a while yet, so why don't I just keep on playing...
He was pretty much cool with whatever I did; the only time he signaled me to stop was before he got to the "they told me that the sun turned green" bit (and I was already planning to).
By the time we were halfway through the song I'd stopped freaking out when this kind of thing happened and started having fun with the improv. And apparently I did okay, I heard nothing but praise afterward. I hope the tapes came out. (Unfortunately the pictures didn't.) Just a lovely, lovely experience.
I felt a little strange about having such a good time at a memorial service for someone I loved... but hell, Bruce woulda. As I was saying to his daughter last night, I've never really had any conviction on the subject of there being a life after this one. I mean, it'd be nice and all--I hope for one--but I don't expect it. And if that's the case, then the life we do have after this one is in the copies of ourselves we leave in the people who love us. Bruce, whether he thought about it this way or not, was always backing himself up. And on the whole I think he succeeded at that about as well as anyone could.
This past few weeks of planning the party, designing a front cover and back cover for the mix CD we gave out as a memento, and then finally playing his harp solo, it was like running an (alas, greatly-reduced fidelity) instance of him in my brain. It's been a really good thing to be able to do. Thanks again B*.
