Performing Live:
A pie in the face comes with the job.
The Daily News
1 So…this is a continuum of yesterday’s DN.
2 The lessons went great, except for when I stepped up to the mic and had to sing…
3 =/
4 I had forgotten how frightening it is to sing and play guitar in front of people.
5 Add to that I woke up at 4 a.m. yesterday, in keeping with my new early-to-bed philosophy.
6 For around three weeks now I’ve been going to bed really early, like 9 p.m. and have managed either to sleep right through to six, or perhaps to awaken at somewhere near 4 a.m., since good ol’ 4:20 USUALLY wakes me then anyway.
7 Well, I conked at around 9, straight up, and awoke at some hour close to 4 a.m.
8 I took the DN I had thrown together the previous night and as always, I tried to goose it so that it would sound somewhat intelligent.
9 Well, I do believe I did that, and that I achieved all that needed to be written, so I tried like heck to sink back and go to sleep.
10 I wound up going against my own advice, which really is this: you can’t solve anything in the middle of the night.
11 Instead, I found myself worrying about virtually EVERYTHING that I had needed to take care of. When you can’t get back to sleep, you always think of things like that, right?
12 Earlier this week I told everyone: “Can’t be done. You will NEVER solve challenges by lying awake worrying.”
13 I suggested that you get yourself into a meditative state by repeating a “mantra”.
14 In my case it was the word, “sleeeeeep”.
15 It has ALWAYS worked. I accept that I have a million worries, like everyone. I also accept that in the middle of the night, I will seldom be able to solve things.
16 The challenge comes with getting a good night’s sleep. By 4 a.m., I had already logged in seven hours of sleep, so my mind told me I was plenty rested.
17 I tried the mantra, but to no avail. This seldom fails. In fact, this NEVER fails.
18 ‘Cept yesterday.
19 Eventually, six a.m. came around, and my entire being was a bit out of sorts.
20 Part of it was that I had to get down and bring my amp, my Ovation, Cheyenne <a wonderful gift from the Class of ’05, love youse!> and some other things to help create a nice coffee house atmosphere.
21 On the way to school, I hit a huge traffic jam on Capitol Expressway. I reversed field, turned around, and got back on 280, and headed south, past Tully and on to Yerba Buena Road turnoff.
22 Everywhere I looked there were crazies and zanies on the road, not signaling, tailgating, and weaving in and out of lanes. It stopped, then went, just that sort of traffic day. I feared for my life, because I’m really superstitious about being forced to drive a route I hadn’t planned. Call it a destiny thing, but I truly feared for my life.
23 Anyway, by the time I got there I was rushed to get the floor lamps and my amp out of the truck and to set up the classroom.
24 I don’t know about anyone else, but I like being all set up and having a little chill time before I go into the madness that is each day. Well, I got the room ready, but had absolutely no time to breathe. The bell rang and I hit the ground running.
25 The lesson went beautifully. On the board, I had written “Mr. H presents The Songs of Paul Simon”. It was organized, and the first song they listened to was the immortal The Sound of Silence. The majority of students had never heard these songs before, and even the most hardcore and facetious gave a listen.
26 I went through the others, telling stories of two boys from New York who traveled through life together, fighting, not talking, getting back as friends, and who to this day remain old friends.
27 The students listened, and then responded on paper to the poetry. I gave a brief history about the beats, the coffee houses, and the Greenwich Village scene back in the sixties. Very hip lesson, done over a mic, adding a nice tonal quality to the history.
28 They discovered, all in one day the following songs: The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair, Cloudy, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), and America, which at this point in my life I could play in my sleep.
29 I had practiced the song over and over for around an hour after school the day before, setting the amp to my liking, tuning my beautiful guitar Annabel so that it sang, so I wasn’t too worried about performing it. The first four songs were iPod versions by the artists, but when it came time for America, I again moved to the mic.
30 What I had forgotten to do was to warm up my voice. The awakening at 4 a.m. had a distinct physical impact, and it was immediately apparent as soon as I started singing. My voice shook, my body shook, and it sounded quaveringly “pitchy”. I became nervous, but kept a look as though it wasn’t happening.
31 At one point, I felt like I was going to faint, honestly. I stayed with it, and got a huge ovation. The students didn’t notice that it wasn’t as good as the day before, but I sure as heck did.
32 By my second class, I had warmed up, adjusted my capo down one fret so I wouldn’t need to reach for notes, and it worked better, but I forgot lyrics TWICE! I’ve played that song in my sleep, practiced it all week, and that happened! They didn’t mind, of course, but by break I was a wreck. I realized I had used the wrong amp, so it wasn’t set well, all treble. I quickly adjusted that and practiced all through break.
33 The next period is arguably my best, so I relaxed and did a much better job, but someone was filming me. All I thought was that if I choked on a note, it would be all over You Tube, and people who comment on You Tube are ruthless! I made it to the end of the song, pitched a little, but it sounded much better with the newer amp.
34 They liked it so much they asked for another. I accommodated with Scarborough Fair, which I also know pretty well, and which I had actually done better when I had practiced the day before. I had nailed the finger-picking and did fine on the vocals, surprisingly better than I had America, which is a much easier song. It surprised me because it is a tune that demands using head voice, which is a sort of falsetto that needs to be crafty to pull off. I did great, except midway through my fingers stopped doing the finger pick!
35 To a layperson it goes something like this: fingerpicking is similar to typing. Your fingers have practiced enough that they know right where to go. But for whatever reason, one of my fingers kept NOT plucking, right in the middle of the song! It just physically wouldn’t do what my mind had commanded. I kept going, but that had interrupted my breathing concentration, so again, I went pitchy, but this time I was able to sustain notes better.
36 After the bell had rung, I had to go shop for the fruits, juices, water, and goodies for today, so no real time to practice. My next class was my best behaved and arguably my most supportive. I did great except again I TWICE forgot chords. I’m certain it had to do with the 4 a.m. thing, because I NEVER forget chords in that song. The nightmare continued.
37 Finally my last class came in, and were uncustomarily quiet and focused. I felt like a baseball player who had gone 0-for-4. I stepped up, and this time delivered a much stronger performance.
38 In the end, the students all gave huge ovations and compliments. I was glad to have at least gotten it right for one class, but at my age, you can’t be “pitchy” when you sing. After school, when it got quiet, I moved the capo back up two frets, relaxed, and totally nailed the song. I haven’t sung and played for a group in a while, so I think it was just remembering warming up, staying relaxed, breathing,not tensing, and all of that performing jazz. I do think that if I hadn’t been awake since 4 that I would have gotten it down better.
39 Anyway, we all have days that don’t always work. This was just disappointing, because I had been thinking about it all year, practicing, and nailing it.
40 I know that almost all readers of the DN have performed live at some point, so this wasn’t so much about me as it was about what I used to tell Robert Morse, and which he would always tell me back: a pie in the face comes with the job.
41 Well, yes, and perhaps it’s a humble pie.
42 Not worried. After school I focused on setting the room up for coffee, food, lava lamps, and poetry today. I’ll play some Charlie Parker, or some Dizzie, Etta and Miles, and stay away from the mic! Last year the poetry reading went wonderfully; the students come in with amazing stuff, so it’ll all work in the end. That’s what’s important.
43 And MANY will leave this year with a love for both Shakespeare AND for poetry.
44 Oh, AND for Simon and Garfunkel. One kid said, “Hey Mr. H, I really like this Paul guy.”
45 It was all I needed to hear. The week was well organized, and to me it worked.
46 A pie in the face? It washes off with water.
47 And then you have a clean face.
48 Hope you enjoyed this one. It’s perhaps about humility. Perhaps it’s about practicing. Perhaps it’s about not worrying about the small stuff.
49 In a sense, it’s about losing a battle but winning a war.
50 Have a lovely weekend. I’m goin’ poetry today.
51 Go Sharks.
52 Peace.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
Performing Live:A pie in the face comes with the job.
