ALICE AND TOY PIANOS

Well, today was the premier of Alice.

I've had a tooth ache for a few days, so getting there was hard. I haven't slept well because of the tooth, so everything has been difficult. But anyway, after an annoyingly crowded metro journey, I arrived at the theatre and waited for about 2 hours to set up and play.

The show went well. I missed a couple of cues. I'm using my clockwork metronome to make the noise of a lock, but today it was fully wound, so those sounds were totally missing.

The kids made me laugh because they said a few times "coupe la tete" which means "cut the head." This is a line from the play, but one kid kept saying it.

My sampler was broken today. I had no left channel. But after opening it and dabbing some solder inside, it works again.

The last few nights have been spent desperately trying to finish the Alice CD. It was a rush, but it was finished in time, and I'm really happy with it. The guy who made the posters also made the packaging for the CD, and it looks so great.

Apart from Alice, I have been composing for a concert with 30 toy pianos. It is my job to compose and to be the "chef d'orchestre." We will play this on the 12th February. We're doing 3 pieces that I've composed and one cover that I've arranged especially. It's quite amazing to hear lots of toy pianos at the same time, even though so far we have only practiced with about 10 or so. I'm not sure how 30 will sound... amazing I hope.

We're playing before Margaret Lang Tan. She was a student of John Cage, who wrote a famous suite for toy piano. So it's going to be quite strange. It's the orchestra, then me solo, then her. I hope I will get to meet her and talk about her experiences. Perhaps I will invite her to have a drink with me.