This time the practice was in town. Age, illness and Covid are slowing us down, so only three of us managed to turn up. This meant a practice that focused almost entirely on instrumentals. We also took the opportunity to measure the length of some instrumental sets. Not out of nerdiness, I must add. Depending on whether a set is two or three tunes, the average length of a set is slightly under 3 minutes or 4 minutes. The playlist we’ve put together with instrumentals, songs and mixed songs and instrumentals should take at least 90 minutes. Maybe a bit over-ambitious. I went to a local music school to ask about mandolin lessons. No mandolin tutors. I also left my number saying anybody interested in playing Irish music could call me: no takers.
Staying motivated is a real problem. Covid seems to be one step forward and two steps backwards. The news is grim at the moment, and things seem as bad as they were in March. New lockdown measures or the euphemistically named circuit-breakers will almost certainly fail. And then what happens? More of the same or try something new? Although Greeks are alarmed by current increases in cases, so far the county has done a wonderful job in containing the virus. As of today, 15th October 2020, Greece has had only 482 deaths since the start of the pandemic, 13 of whom died in the last 24 hours. The death rate is 46 per million. Compare this with Germany’s 117 deaths per million and the UK’s 637 per million.
Anyway, going back to the music, our productive practice was followed by a relaxed seafood lunch. Good music, good food and good company. One reason for optimism.
A little treat to finish. I saw this trio in Caceres, Spain, in October 2017. This clip is from Germany in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ov0RWJDV30