Punch brothers performance question

[mandopete]

Well it seems the Cafe moderators shut down the previous thread before I got a chance to ask this question of the people that have seen the Punch Brothers perform.

Do they play The Blind Leaving The Blind from memory or is there any written music in front of them? Listening to the recording it sounds as if it's a scripted piece and I don't really hear anything that sounds like improvisation. If that's the case I'm absolutely astounded that a human could remember that much music.

[Jason Holmes]

I saw them on New Year's Eve and they played at least a couple of movements of that piece. I didn't see any sheet music or anything, so I gather it was all played from memory and/or improvised. It does seem like it would be a lot to remember.

[John Hill]

Some of it is scripted and some is improv. I'd say they've played & practiced it into their memory banks by this point.

[jramsey]

I asked Chris Eldridge that exact question about a month ago. He said that Thile wrote the piece out in Finale and the sent everyone their part. C.E. said that he didn't read music very well, so he basically had to isolate his part on the computer and use the playback function to learn his part by ear. Pretty amazing considering the complexity of the music. There are improvised solo's, but the majority was written out.

Jordan Ramsey
myspace.com/crosspicker (http://www.myspace.com/crosspicker)

[Justin Carvitto]

They did all movements earlier this month in seattle without sheet music. Yes, impressive. Then Thile sat in with O'Connor's swing group for a majority of the his set. Yes, impressive.

j

[mandopete]

Wow!

[jefflester]

In interviews Thile has said it's about 70/30 scripted to improvised.

[adgefan]

As everyone has already said, it's all played from memory. I saw them a couple of weeks ago and there were definitely a lot of passages that were not the same as on the recording - Gabe said afterwards that around 40% is improvised. I've also heard Noam say he had to learn it in 30 second sections and it took weeks if not months to get the whole thing memorised.

It's fun watching them play it - they are concentrating so hard, counting out loud at times and watching each other's every move.

Here's an interview with Noam where he speaks about how the suite was written and learnt - http://ukbluegrass.com/?page_id=107

[kmiller1610]

It might interest those who don't know that PB started on the 4 movement suite before they recorded "How to Grow a Woman." So it was a long time in the making.

[jim_n_virginia]

somehow I am not surprised that it is all unscripted... ahem .. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

And it cracks me up everytime someone refers to their music as a "movement" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ... nuff said... LOL!

[Brandon Flynn]

somehow I am not surprised that it is all unscripted... ahem .. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

And it cracks me up everytime someone refers to their music as a "movement" # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #... nuff said... LOL!
Referring to the name of the songs, Movements 1,2,3, and 4, is not foolish at all. If you are referring to people's claims that Thile is starting a new movement in the direction of acoustic music, then you can think that is funny because you don't have a high opinion of the Punch Brothers. But the name of the song is what it is.

[Crowder]

somehow I am not surprised that it is all unscripted... ahem .. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

And it cracks me up everytime someone refers to their music as a "movement" # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #... nuff said... LOL!
You go on and keep doing what you've been doing....you've been so successful so far! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Chip Booth]

somehow I am not surprised that it is all unscripted... ahem .. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

And it cracks me up everytime someone refers to their music as a "movement" # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #... nuff said... LOL!
I think perhaps you misunderstood the poster above who said it is 70% scripted and 30% unscripted.

I'm debating whether you are being extremely rude or just funny with the second comment.

Chip

[jim_n_virginia]

I'm debating whether you are being extremely rude or just funny with the second comment.

Chip
If I put one of these http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif in there I'm trying to be funny http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

It seems I have failed in my attempt to be funny!

So I am over and out! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[mandopete]

I SAID NO FLAMES, CAN WE STAY ON SUBJECT?

(yes I'm shouting).

[kmiller1610]

somehow I am not surprised that it is all unscripted... ahem .. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

And it cracks me up everytime someone refers to their music as a "movement" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ... nuff said... LOL!
I have posted some of this before, but there is considerable structure in the whole record. Thile is actually a meticulous planner and pretty precise in his expectations while scoping out and rehearsing a piece (one of his own anyway).

Movements 1,3 and 4 all start out with the cascading riff that was suggested by the bassist during early rehearsals, then the theme for that movement is repeated. You will hear it later during the movement.

One of the most interesting structures in the first movement is the bracketing of the dream sequence around 7:40 and 10:30 I think. In the introit to the sequence, the music starts slowly and builds to a rapid mando riff, that is repeated at the very end of the sequence.

For a long time, I was really into the lyrics and meaning of the piece. Now, it's the music and how the tone of the music reflects on the story. It mirrors the emotion of loss very closely, unlike many country and bluegrass songs where the music is happy, but the emotion is supposed to be sad.

(For example, that song on Manzanita where Tony is singing about shooting this woman and getting caught by the police. The whole song is jaunty and energetic and I do love it, but as a piece of serious expression, the music and the story have NO connection at all).

Here, the pain sounds like pain (second movement). The temporary optimism about meeting new women sounds jaunty (third movement - part one), but is followed by deep blues (third movement - part two). This is exactly how one recovers from a lost relationship. It's a lot of back and forth.

[JeffD]

While it is a lot of music to remember - its not extraordinary. Classical soloists, especially some of the greats, frequently play without the music in front of them.

[mandopete]

Thank you Kim, that's the best review I have seen of this work!

[man dough nollij]

Why has nobody noticed: his hair sticks up, and stuff? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif