Good to play with musos

This week I have been truly blessed to play with two working musicians.

Number 1.

I make the trip to Melbourne each fortnight to play with the Brunswick Old Time String Orchestra. Last session was held by Andy Baylor and what a professional muso he is. He brought along three of his own compositions and taught them to us and that was wonderful. All songs sounded different to each other and had a rich life to them. He played each section once or twice and then we were into it. Fabulous.

Number 2.

I attended the Fiddlehead Festival in Yinnar and had the exceedingly good fortune to attend Andrew Claremont mandolin workshop. Andrew is a working muso and it shows. Bright eye with heaps of licks to share. Wonderful. I showed him my arrangement of 'Parkers Band' to which he added some really tasty extended chords. In return Andrew showed me some chord positions I wasn't familiar with. Good exchange.
Andrew played each of our instruments and except for one improved them enormously and well as giving us all good advice.

Result.

It's just great to play with musicians that can actually play and make a living from it. All of their advice is practical and clearly 'learnt on the road'. They have a real spring in their step and a twinkle in their eye, very sharp people, hence, good to be around. I'm a firm believer in osmosis.

Miss playing with experienced musos.