The July 7th performance

Last night's Tuning the Air show felt like a milestone of some sort - and not simply because it was our largest audience (38) in this venue. The evening had a feeling of a milestone. For me, the audience seemed much less passive - as though they were beginning to accept that they have a role and can contribute more than just their listening, (though 'just' listening is quite a lot too.)

This season, we've been experimenting with seating and this experiment includes inviting members of the audience to shift the position of their chairs about mid-way through the show. It is a strategy that works well because the audience usually ends up huddling together - almost intimately - in a fashion they would be wary of submitting to if we had placed their seats in that jumbled arrangement to begin with. It is usually Jaxie that offers them the choice, and when we have had folks sitting on the perimeter of the circle, she typically makes it clear that this option isn't available to them and jokes that they should arrive earlier next time so they can get a seat in the center. This transition in the show is always a wonderful moment because you find people generously allowing total strangers to move into their personal space so they can share the delicious experience of the music in movement.

Because Jaxie is in Spain this week, Curt made the invitation. Curt doesn't like to do the talking. Rather than referring to it as 'addressing the audience' in the setlist review, he called it 'yakity-yak' and it is clear he'd rather not. So his delivery lacked Jaxie's sure and direct approach. He told everyone they could move their chairs. So they did. Nearly everyone. And that included the people on the perimeter who huddled their chairs into the center of the room. It was borderline mayhem for a moment as people tried to optimize their position without stealing too much from the others, but in a few minutes, the audience had clearly found a new equilibrium and settled, ready and waiting for more music. This new arrangement included packing the performers entrance/exit aisle on one side of the circle. Curt was utterly gleeful as he watched the scramble and grinning hard, muttered something like 'Be careful what you wish for.'

This was also a clapping audience, they clapped after every piece where there was enough of a pause for them to do so. And at the end of Music for a Found Harmonium, when the lights came back up for the performance team's departure, they clapped and gave the team a standing ovation. Curt rewarded them with an encore of Where it Goes (SteveT's request) and 49 Notes. I wondered how this exuberant audience was going to handle the stillness of 49 Notes. They were impeccable.

~~~~

In November if 2005, when I sat in a Tuning the Air circle for the first time, I thought, 'People must know about this.' Last night, as I drove home from the show, I found myself thinking, 'People now know about this.'

~~~~

Now to prepare for Saturday's gig. A special Seattle Circle presents Music from Tuning the Air presentation at Good Shepherd Chapel. The team will be performing from a stage in the more conventional arc configuration. I have to figure out a way of describing how this show will be different from a Tuning the Air performance without making them feel gypped. Wish me luck.