A short but triumphant performance.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 11 Mar 2009 11:12 pm

For those who don’t already know, last summer I was invited to participate in a chamber music concert. The concert was a series of duets played by a violist and a cellist. They needed a third instrument for one piece, and decided to experiment using me. The combination of viola, cello and pedal steel guitar proved so successful that we decided to form a trio. Last Monday we gave our first public performance.

The performance was before the St. Cecelia Music Society. St Cecelia is the patron saint of music. According to legend, she was beheaded for singing about Jesus, and her disembodied head continued to sing after being separated from her body.

The female-only society was started in 1890, and has been going strong all this time. Membership is by invitation only, and all members have to be performers of one sort or another on the Southern California classical music circuit. Most are members of symphony orchestras. (Our violist recently retired after 25 years with the L.A. Philharmonic.) There are some opera singers as well. All members are required to perform before the group twice a year, and half a dozen or so member perform at the monthly meetings. This month is was our violist's turn, so she brought the trio. (I was the only male an a room full of women.)

These women are extremely knowledgeable about classical music in general, and most of them were intimately familiar with 2 of the three tunes we performed. Carole (the violist) was really worried that they would pick up on the slightest mistake, and she was probably right, but we managed to get through both tunes without screwing up. I missed one note on the 3rd tune, but I don't think anybody noticed.

Most of these women had never seen or heard a pedal steel guitar before, and they were fascinated, intrigued, and fell totally in love with it. I gave a short explanation and demonstration of how the pedals change the tuning and told them that they wouldn't be able to see my feet move, but that they should watch my knees as I played.

After the concert part of the meeting was over, I was besieged with questions and a few of the more adventurous ladies sat down at it and tried to play.

One of the people there has a daughter who is getting married, and she hired us to play the wedding. I'm not sure I want to do that, but high society weddings generally pay very well, and if the other 2 players want to take the gig, and any others that stem from this, I will not object. I might have to rent a tuxedo.

I spoke to Carole last night, and she told me she got all sorts of positive feedback from everybody in the group. She booked 2 more performances that will take place in May, also before private audiences, and one public performance at some festival sometime this summer.

I'd love to bring the women to Phoenix next January, but I don't think it's practical.

You know, steel and fiddle have always blended well, and the viola and cello are just overgrown fiddles, The women can read anything, but have no working knowledge of chords or how to play by ear. The see me hear something and play it and can't comprehend how I know what to play. They think it's magic. It's not of course, as you all know. But there really is magic happening here. It's the way we sound when we play together.

The music I'm playing with these ladies is the most challenging and difficult I've ever attempted, but it's also the most rewarding. I feel that this is the band I've been waiting for my entire life.

David Collins · Post by **David Collins** » 12 Mar 2009 4:25 am

Kudos to you Brother Mike! Hang in there and enjoy the ride!

By all means, keep us posted.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 12 Mar 2009 5:02 am

Way to go, Mikey!

Ben Lawson · Post by **Ben Lawson** » 12 Mar 2009 5:12 am

Good going Mike. There are probably not a lot of us who would even attempt to do what you're doing. It speaks well of your ability.

Richard Damron · Post by **Richard Damron** » 12 Mar 2009 6:24 am

Absolutely wonderful, Mike!!!!!

Marc Friedland · Post by **Marc Friedland** » 12 Mar 2009 6:40 am

That's terrific Mike.
Sounds like much fun and very rewarding, congratulations!
Marc

Jim Robbins · Post by **Jim Robbins** » 12 Mar 2009 6:44 am

Sounds great. What pieces did you play?

Bob Simons · Post by **Bob Simons** » 12 Mar 2009 7:15 am

Cooooool! We are looking forward to hearing this ensemble some day soon!

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 12 Mar 2009 7:30 am

Thanks guys. I appreciate your kind thoughts and words.

I've always said that my goal was ot to introduce classical music to the steel guitar community, but rather to introduce the steel guitar to the classical music community, which is starting to happen. But even so, we players are a family of sorts, and your support means a lot to me.

Jim Robbins wrote:Sounds great. What pieces did you play?

Debussy's "Reverie"(which I also played at the Phoenix show in 2008) and a piece called "To A Wild Rose" by a British composer named Edward McDowell. (I hear the nme McDowell and automtically think if Mississippi Fred McDowell, the great blues singer.) The third piece was an arrangement of a Cuban folk song called "La Gavina."

Claude Debussy died in 1918, 20+ years before the pedal steel guitar was invented, but much of his music is perfect for our instrument. (B.J, Cole recorded one of his compositions on his "transparent music" CD.) I cannot help but wonder what his reaction would have been if he had been ably so see and hear a steel. I think he would have really liked it.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 12 Mar 2009 9:32 am

Congratulations, Mike. Keep us posted on how things go with this project. I have such fantasies myself, but don't have time to really work up classical stuff. It is very time consuming, because you have to work out an memorize very long pieces note-for-note, without the simple repeating verses and choruses we have in popular music forms.

How about some recordings? These days you can just put a little digital recorder out front and get pretty good sound - maybe not studio or commercial quality, but good enough for samples.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 12 Mar 2009 10:05 am

Keep on knocking down those walls, Mike. Sounds like a great combination!

Nic du Toit · Post by **Nic du Toit** » 12 Mar 2009 12:39 pm

Mike,
That must have been quite an experience! Meeting and chatting to you at the convention in ST Louis, you came across as just the kind of guy that would do something like this. ....Way to go!

I like your philosophy about introducing steel to the classics.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 12 Mar 2009 12:48 pm

Congrats Mike, sounds like you were a HIT with all the ladies. Wish you could record some of it. DYKBC.

Ronnie Boettcher · Post by **Ronnie Boettcher** » 12 Mar 2009 12:54 pm

Way to go Mike. There is nothing wrong with what you did. Also exposing a steel to musicians, who never heard, or saw one. I know how you feel about the people that can sightread any piece of music, but cannot play Mary had a little lamb, without the music. I have never attempted to read music, and play the steel. I can sightread music to a trumpet or french horn, but it would be totally impossible for me on a steel. Did you have to read music for the performance, or just wing it? Whatever you did, had to be just great. Keep it up, I'm with you.

Kerry Johnson · Post by **Kerry Johnson** » 12 Mar 2009 1:54 pm

Well done Mike! A very inspiring story. Best of Luck.

Kerry

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 12 Mar 2009 2:15 pm

Again, my thanks to all for the encouragement.

Nick, I enjoyed meeting you in St. Louis, and I hope to do it again.

Ronnie,(and anybody else who is interested,) I wrote an article about how to read music on the E9 neck. It's too long to post here, but I'll E-mail the file to anybody who wants it.

To answer the question about whether or not I read the music, the answer is yes, I did. In some cases I made some subtle changes in the way the chords were voiced, to accommodate the way they lay out on the steel, but basically I stuck to the notes on the page. That's what classical music is all about.

There is no wiggle room in this music. By it's very nature, it has to be very precise. This band rehearses every week for a few hours to make sure every thing was just so. We probably rehearsed for 10 or 12 hours to play a 15 minute program.

This group is totally different from the kinds of country and rock bands I've played with in the past. I love to go to a club and sit in with a good band and fly by the seat of my pants, but there's no room for that kind of playing here. This is the violist's and cellist's turf, and I have to conform to their rules.

I'm going to ask the women to come and poerform with me with me at the Phoenix show next January, but it's doubtful that they would be able to go. One of them is taking care of her 95 year old mother, and the other has 2 children ages 2 and 6.

pdl20 · Post by **pdl20** » 12 Mar 2009 2:33 pm

Way to go Mike ,super,exposing the pedal steel to a new crowd,never know where the next Buddy Emmons or Cindy Cashdollar will come from.

Larry Petree · Post by **Larry Petree** » 12 Mar 2009 5:45 pm

Sounds like you are on a roll. Hang in there buddy, and good luck....

Joe Savage · Post by **Joe Savage** » 12 Mar 2009 7:15 pm

Right On, Mike. So you didn't play the "Manha De Carnival" piece?
Glad your dream is coming to fruition.
Best,
Joe

Skeeter Stultz · Post by **Skeeter Stultz** » 12 Mar 2009 8:25 pm

Good move Mike. Positive proof the PSG is a musical instrument with a wide range of possibilities. No, the steelguitar is not dead. I always said there is a whole lot of music in that instrument. It takes the right person in the right place and right time to bring out the exposure. This is overdue.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 12 Mar 2009 9:20 pm

Joe Savage wrote:Right On, Mike. So you didn't play the "Manha De Carnival" piece?

No Joe, we haven't even start rehearsing that one. But we will, sooner or later.

For those who don't know what Joe is referring to, I wrote an arrangement of this song for the trio. Every other arrangement has been a matter of reading the piano music and assigning the different notes to each of the 3 instruments. In this case I actually composed a middle section.

I wrote the arrangement using a program called "Printmusic." The program contains a feature that will "read" what you wrote and create an audio file, and I can send MP3s of the computer generated file. I sent one to Joe. (BTW I think Joe's "Perennial Sideman" CD is one of the best steel guitar CDs I've ever heard and I give it my highest recommendation)

The software has no provision for steel, so I wrote my part for a harp.

If anybody wants to hear the file, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Rich Peterson · Post by **Rich Peterson** » 13 Mar 2009 3:06 pm

Wow! (This is an unusual experience for me - to be speechless - make that wordless.)

OK, I've regained my wits. My musical tastes are extremely eclectic, and I love classical music. I am so envious of the ladies that got to hear this performance. Yes, record it for us; get it on video for YouTube, even.

Mike, congratulations and wishes for more success in breaking down barriers. Beautiful selections. For those of you who were wondering, "gavina" is Spanish for "seagull." And I agree that Debussey would have found the PSG an intriguing instrument. He was very much an iconoclast, like you.

Ray Riley · Post by **Ray Riley** » 13 Mar 2009 5:37 pm

Wonderful Mike. I am envious and I can't read past the top line or bottom. Good Luck ! Ray

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 13 Mar 2009 9:24 pm

The pedal steel guitar is just a musical instrument; admittedly a heavy, mechanically-complicated one, but at heart it's just another musical instrument, and it should be capable of fitting into a multitude of muscial genres. Music is an arrangement of notes in a harmonious and structured form that is pleasing to the ear. Like any other instrument, the pedal steel is eminently capable of reproducing those notes as written, under the hands of a competent player who sees a little beyond what the rest of us see.

What Mike is doing is not just introducing some extremely disciplined and accomplished classical musicians to a new instrument, he is also expanding our concept of where our instrument can go and what it can do....if the player has the right approach. Clearly Mike has just the right approach and a mind receptive to new ideas, new ways to play, and new styles in which to find an accommodation for the pedal steel. This makes Mike a true ambassador of the pedal steel guitar.

In spite of its limitations (which may frustrate us at times), there is so much musical potential in the pedal steel, and an equal potential for our instrument to be well-received in so many different genres that we ought to reprove ourselves for the narrowness of our thinking. It isn't the instrument that limits us, it is our own minds. We just need to think a little "out of the box" to see other genres into which we may add the beautiful, fluidly lyrical, sometimes haunting, or bright, bouncy and bubbly sound of the pedal steel guitar.

Stoney Stonecipher · Post by **Stoney Stonecipher** » 14 Mar 2009 9:28 am

This is great Mike. I know you did a great job and showed them what the steel could do.

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A short but triumphant performance.

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