Another busy week - tech week for Henry IV, Part II. For anyone planning on coming to see it, yes it does run on from Part I, so while you will enjoy the banter, the death scene, the fighting and the totties just as much whether you see part I or not, if you're into the political intrigue it's worth seeing them in order.

There was a little bit of time this week for socializing though - on Thursday I met up with Ann and some other friends to celebrate Canada Day. We went to Trafalgar square, where there was a huge celebration with Canadian Beer, Tim Hortons, Poutine, Bison Burger (had my first one in Saskatoon in 2009!) and guys in lumberjack shirts. It felt very Canadian, and was really nice to see so many people out - we played the fun game of "Spot the Canadians vs. Imposters." At the Globe, Hilary baked a banana-bread in celebration too, which was very touching and very tasty!

party on Trafalgar Square

Ian, Emma and Ann full of Bison Burger

By night, with a Great Lion and St. Martin's Steeple

It was a fun week at the Globe - always enjoyable watching a show come together. I think I've come to terms with my non-creative roll in this project - I realized the only thing I could change about it was my own attitude so tried to do just that. Now that tech week is over though, I will throw my creative energy into other projects which may or may not amount to anything beyond my own personal sense of fulfillment - I'll let you know.

Yesterday I finally managed to bike to the Globe using the route which bypassed the busy streets. Without stoplights, it did even seem faster - yey!

I've been reflecting this week on an idea proposed to me six weeks ago regarding "groove" being an element of music just as harmony is. It's interesting to think that a relationship to groove might vary with every piece- or with the same piece and a different way of playing it. In playing vocal music, locking into a groove is not something we do often - rather taking time or hurrying bits tend to enhance delivery by making it less rhythmically monotone. On the other hand, in complicated instrumental pieces, setting down a beat and sticking to it throws syncopation and other alterations into higher relief. We talk sometimes about being "on the front of the beat" or being "on the back of the beat" too - where there is definitely a groove but where our relationship to it is anything but square.

In rehearsing cues, I found myself wondering: Is groove important to this cue? Is it something to be settled into or reacted against (like in "panic" cues)? Or, in some cases, is it more important for the music to be like speech? Of course, in the theatre context there was not any room to explore these ideas, but I am grateful that working out these cues popped these questions into my head in the first place- a whole nother colour added to my palette of musician tools.

Yes. A whole nother. Happy Canada Day!

Now I'm going to go buy a Southwest trains railcard and use it, meeting Helen and Gawain for dinner in Shaftesbury - my first trip into the countryside since I got here. I also managed to get advance tickets back from The Lake District in August - taking my vacation time seriously this year! The network railcard will come in handy again in two weeks when I head to Cornwall to do a 5-day sea-kayaking course.