back on the sofa at Solomon House, Lunenburg, NS
I've moved house to the Butlers' place overlooking Mahone Bay. Sadly I got up just too late today to watch the whales who were feasting on mackerel there, but the hummingbirds at the window made up for it.  DG and I taught our daily baroque class this morning, which is becoming really interesting.

Yesterday was a bit of a milestone: I've been holding a listening class in the afternoons which has helped me to focus my thoughts and opinions on how I think good music works. And yes, it's about listening - but regular readers will know this already. But the whole of the day reaffirmed it rather clearly.

Last night's gig in the church was a huge pleasure, for me anyway. Pierre Chartrand and Anne-Marie Gardette did a baroque dance set with Gilles Plante playing, Bill Coulter played a solo acoustic set, then after the break Brian Finnegan let rip with Bill and various guests, including me. I got roped in during my listening class - we'd just started the exercise of sitting still for a minute and trying to listen in as much detail as possible to the sounds around us, when there was a knock at the door and Brian squeaked in on the shiny wooden floor to say 'David, fancy playing a couple of tunes with me tonight?' He looked a bit confused by the complete lack of activity in a room full of people with their eyes closed. I said 'Sure, and you're being listened to', which left him completely baffled as to whether I was going to show up for the gig or not.

I went along to the church for a quick rehearsal with harmonium - it wasn't until the first half of the concert was nearly over that I realised I hadn't played the melodica all week, so Jennifer Publicover gave me a lift to the Fire Hall in her hi-tech Toyota Prius to get it. I can't imagine what Brian thought when I produced it out of nowhere for the second set of tunes, after Nick had stolen the harmonium mic for his drum. Suzie got up to scat, and much fun was had by all in various time-signatures, with lots of active listening on stage. Music doesn't have to be micro-managed as long as the solutions can be found musically. It's where the unmanaged parts are logistical, that everything can go badly wrong.