Sunday 17 November 2002

Chicago O'Hare airport. I don't like O'Hare much, too many people in not enough space. My abiding memory of being here last time was pushing my way through the crowds coming in the opposite direction on my 20-minute walk from the duty free shop to the gate, and being aware of someone farting very loudly as they went past.

Anyway ... it's been an eventful couple of days. At Case Western we played in the wonderful Harkness Memorial Chapel, with a very generous and bass-friendly acoustic. It was hard to believe that Jamie wasn't playing through an enormous PA rig, as his bass actually got louder the further you walked from it. Simeon didn't bring his full drum kit, so for the kick drum in the reggae section of 'Macdonald's Salutation' he stamped on the rostrum in his socks - it sounded fantastic. 

Mid-rehearsal we broke off for a while for Chris and I to give a masterclass to some baroque chamber music students, and the gig itself was good fun despite a few temperament problems (that's tuning temperament not artistic temperament). I'm going to have to start factoring in tuning practice time for myself before tours, so that I can just tune the harpsichord myself as a matter of routine without panicking that I'll screw it up.

Off for a Greek meal afterwards to celebrate Ronn MacFarlane's birthday, complete with cake. Ronn is playing a lute with a very discreet jack socket built in, for his equally discreet amplification in the second half of the gigs. I've never seen an electric lute before ...

So far, so good, I got up yesterday morning in Cleveland and our hosts made us a wonderful breakfast, I played their harpsichord for a bit and gradually woke up to the fact that my sore eye wasn't jet lag but felt suspiciously like iritis, which I haven't had for about 10 years. The prospect of being unable to open my right eye for the pain wasn't really what I wanted on the day of a big concert, and the day before a 19 hour journey on 3 planes. So I skipped the rehearsal and Kathy Ayres sat patiently for me in the waiting room while the kind people in the emergency room at Pittsburgh university hospital waited for the ophthalmologist to come, look in my eye and say 'hey, you got iritis'. 

Two hours later I was back in rehearsal clutching my two bottles of eye drops, and with one red and artificially-dilated eye. Now I know how it feels to be David Bowie. Well, hardly. Given my concern to make it through the gig, unfortunately I lost the plot on the tuning front again, and we had another squiffy temperament. Better than the previous night though.

The gig for the R 'n' B society (still makes me laugh) was a sell-out in another great venue, Synod Hall in Oakland. We opened with Oswald's 'The Thistle', and the whoops and cheering that followed led us to think that we might just be about to have a good time. Not the most technically correct of performances, but some great vibes, and most of the audience on their feet at the end. In the second half I joined in some pipe tunes that I'd never actually heard before let alone rehearsed, and at one point earlier in the set I'd turned to Ronn and said 'Is this is F?' 'D.' 'D. Really?' 'Mm.' 'Good. Thanks.' I just had time to move my hands before playing the first note. It would have been even more fun if I hadn't been so ill! Still, we had a great (and long) Q&A session with the audience afterwards: I'd told them about Corri's note in Duncan Gray that 'The 6th variation may be left out if it is too difficult for the performer.' The final question of the night was 'When are you gonna learn that 6th variation?'

Adrenaline rush kicked in twice in the course of the night, once for the gig and again for the beer drinking afterwards which was particularly joyous. I'd only intended to have a token quick one, but once everyone arrived a good time was soon on the cards, and the huge scary doorman made my day by insisting on seeing ID to prove I was over 21. 'How old do you think I am?' 'Where you from?' 'Scotland.' 'Hey, great, my mother's Irish.'

So now having this morning enjoyed both the luxury of sleeping in without being jumped on by my kids, and a fascinating conversation about the future of classical music with Russ Ayres, I'm one flight down, two to go, feeling exhausted, ill and with very sore eyes. It was worth it though. On the way to Pittsburgh airport this morning, my friendly volunteer driver from the Society (and originally from Barnsley) said 'So your group's Concerto Caledonia. I bought one of your CDs last night because it had a dog on the cover.' Isn't that great?