Another outing for the bayan at Topsham Folk Club. It was so-so. I'd practised a nice arrangement of Cailín Óg a Stór, the majorly old Irish tune used for The Croppy Boy, Lady Franklin's Lament, and many other songs. However, when it came to performing it, about half-way through I managed to complete lose my finger position in the basses, and had to restart one verse. After that, being a bit flustered, I rushed the The Bluebell Polka, and it was far less tidy than I would have liked. It wasn't a complete disaster, but it stresses the need for as much public practice as possible - and a sign that I need to practise more at finding the C bass (this being a B-system accordion, the textured bass button, for locating the key by touch, is a B). There are options: 1) get used to it; 2) glue a rhinestone or similar to the C button; 3) open the bayan and see if the buttons can be swapped. Hmm.
Addendum: And I played at the Drakes open mike night. I guess it was a better class of so-so. The majorly good point was that the performance anxiety is decreasing a lot; I got through Stranger on the Shore, and Stormy Weather without mistakes (and even managed to slightly improvise in the latter's mid-section). However, while I feel I played pretty well, the whole gig felt indefinably flat. In large part, I think it was because I was competing with the seriously good singer-songwriter resident artist Sam Green (who also played well-liked rock stuff such as the Steve Miller Band's tiresome The Joker) and a remarkable virtuoso guest performance by a guy playing didgeridoo. Plus I'd be the first to admit I don't have much stage presence.
- Ray
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