The Final Score
Posted on February 28, 2010 with 0 comments
Dear friends and Adam Cole Watchers,
Round about 3 PM they started arriving. Billy Rossbottom with his bass. Alan Connor, Brad Kaegi, Philippe Bout with their guitars, my fellow Feldenkraiser Louise Runyon, old friends Mark and Sylvia Davis, and synagogue companion Gil Grodzinsky with their voices, my daughter's cello teacher Marie Pantina with her cello, fellow elementary music teacher Craig Gendreau with his Djembe and recording equipment, and the formidable William Rossoto with his video gear, capturing the whole thing on film!
A couple of them were seasoned musicians, a few were amateur players . Some didn't even consider themselves to be musicians at all, or even musical! They just came to sing the best they could...what bravery!!! Gil, Craig and Marie hadn't even rehearsed last week, but came and dove right in.
And so we rehearsed about 30 seconds of each song, took a break for me to get my vocal mike, and then we did it. One take per song. Straight through.
It was great. Sure, we made mistakes. Some of the endings are panicked. One of the tunes has a false start. But who cares? Everyone just kept on going, and at the end, there were smiles everywhere! I never could have dreamed we'd pull it off like this.
My wife was unbelievable. She organized the cleaning of the house, cooked two pots of soup, watched the baby, and even took these amazing photos!!! I was able to offer her a small thank you by playing a song that I wrote just for her, which the whole band sang. It's on the record.
So we did it. And hopefully soon, when Craig and William are finished, you'll be able to see and hear what we did.
The best part is that the day belongs to everyone. I think folks were a little surprised at what the experience was like. Everyone was a little subdued at the end, like "Wow. That was interesting!" I can only imagine what it must be like for the folks who don't even feel like they can sing to be able to say to themselves, "I helped record an album today."
Last but not least, thanks to those who were our audience, especially David and Andrea, Shonda, Scott, and the several hundred children who were running around our house during the whole thing!
I'm going to call the record "The Best of [Both] Worlds," after Billy's thoughtful comment from last blog.
Keep checking in. I'll have more news about the record, and other things, soon!
Love,
Adam
Round about 3 PM they started arriving. Billy Rossbottom with his bass. Alan Connor, Brad Kaegi, Philippe Bout with their guitars, my fellow Feldenkraiser Louise Runyon, old friends Mark and Sylvia Davis, and synagogue companion Gil Grodzinsky with their voices, my daughter's cello teacher Marie Pantina with her cello, fellow elementary music teacher Craig Gendreau with his Djembe and recording equipment, and the formidable William Rossoto with his video gear, capturing the whole thing on film!
A couple of them were seasoned musicians, a few were amateur players . Some didn't even consider themselves to be musicians at all, or even musical! They just came to sing the best they could...what bravery!!! Gil, Craig and Marie hadn't even rehearsed last week, but came and dove right in.
And so we rehearsed about 30 seconds of each song, took a break for me to get my vocal mike, and then we did it. One take per song. Straight through.
It was great. Sure, we made mistakes. Some of the endings are panicked. One of the tunes has a false start. But who cares? Everyone just kept on going, and at the end, there were smiles everywhere! I never could have dreamed we'd pull it off like this.
My wife was unbelievable. She organized the cleaning of the house, cooked two pots of soup, watched the baby, and even took these amazing photos!!! I was able to offer her a small thank you by playing a song that I wrote just for her, which the whole band sang. It's on the record.
So we did it. And hopefully soon, when Craig and William are finished, you'll be able to see and hear what we did.
The best part is that the day belongs to everyone. I think folks were a little surprised at what the experience was like. Everyone was a little subdued at the end, like "Wow. That was interesting!" I can only imagine what it must be like for the folks who don't even feel like they can sing to be able to say to themselves, "I helped record an album today."
Last but not least, thanks to those who were our audience, especially David and Andrea, Shonda, Scott, and the several hundred children who were running around our house during the whole thing!
I'm going to call the record "The Best of [Both] Worlds," after Billy's thoughtful comment from last blog.
Keep checking in. I'll have more news about the record, and other things, soon!
Love,
Adam