Taking copious notes is key

There was a time back in high school that a music teacher encouraged me to try out to sing in Diocesan Chorus. I don't know how, but I made it. Vocalists from all over the area congregated early one morning and spent the whole day just learning one song after another. I remember there being a lot of Latin. The itinerary was very strenuous, allowing us only so much time to learn each song and then call it quits.

The final activity of the day is the concert. Our parents would have to come out and get us home anyway, so why not have a little performance before they go. And some other folks come for the concert too because it's been talked up in the local churches ahead of time.

Singing for that is a trip. You are standing next to some strangers, hoping they'll blend in with you. If you partake two years in a row, or three or four years in a row, you'll recognize some people. But I did it only the once, so I knew only the people from my school. And we were quite outnumbered.

So that's similar to the situation of meeting up with these guys when we're playing with Classic Albums Live. I knew Nick pretty well because we had played six shows together in December, and he's the guy who's been coordinating all the Florida shows. Other than Nick, I had met Joe and Marcus once each when they came out to those Zeppelin gigs last month.

One of the guitarists is Rob, whom I met very briefly under the same circumstances, but I also watched him play a Zeppelin show in November. He's part of the reason I joined this whole thing! So now I get to play with Rob and chit chat with him backstage. He certainly knows how to do voices. He was just doing Pete Townshend's speaking voice. He also speaks in a British accent, all prim and proper, when he's goofing around. He used that British accent to great effect when he handled the litany of "numba nine"s in a performance of the Beatles' White Album. And we were also sitting around talking about Van Halen, and the guy lets loose a perfect David Lee Roth vocal line.

Then there are the other three, exceptional players. Our female vocalist came in on schedule a day after everybody else, and she wowed me. Two other guitarists were there too, including one who's only 19 and whose dad drove him up. Other dude flew in from San Diego with less than a week's notice as a last-minute replacement. He was right on.

The difference between Diocesan Chorus and Classic Albums Live is we all know the material ahead of time. Diocesan Chorus shows up and learns the stuff all really quick. (Wait, I'm now questioning whether or not we did have the sheet music ahead of time. I can't remember.) Anyway, we've been practicing this rock stuff our whole lives, not to mention playing it on constant loop in the month leading up to a show.

I take copious notes. I jot down things that I'm learning on the spot. If we talk over harmony parts, I'm jotting it down in ink so I can refer to it at the show. Because the show is right after rehearsal. And then my notes are there for the second and third shows too. I would never remember everything we discussed without those notes.

What's funny is no matter how hurried we are in our little rehearsal time, we are so prepared by the time we take the stage in front of the audience that we can really relax. All we're doing now is keeping promises. We said we'd do such-and-such, and now it's time to honor those promises and follow through with it. No sense in talking a big game if you aren't going to provide the onslaught.

We brought it hours ago in Gainesville, I'm pleased to report. And next, Lake Worth is up for round No. 2 of Hotel California. Then, Jacksonville gets our third serving.