The Social Distancing Tour 2020

Today I like to focus on the music I am making together with my girlfriend once a week. We have called it The Social Distancing Tour, with thanks to our American neighbour for the inspiration of the name. So a little personal thing instead of a review.

When the "intelligent lockdown" hit the Netherlands, we had planned a living room show with Utrecht band Wooden Soldiers. In the weeks before the show, we had already concluded that it would be irresponsible to have between 20 and 30 people in our living room and had decided to push the show forward to somewhere in May. Little did we know!

When the lockdown followed soon after, I suggested to play for our neighbours ourselves from our front garden. They can sit in their own garden, stand in the doorway, or on their balconies, we have seen it happen. Word spread and every week a few friends come as well, but never in such a way that the 1,5 meter distance cannot be kept up. No advertising here, no invites.

We started out "easy". What songs can we do as a duo, singing with an acoustic guitar as accompaniment that we already play with the band? That is about 35% of what we do. From there we started to branch out. What would we like to play? A thousand songs of course but time is limited, although certainly a little less than usual, still there's a limit to what we can learn to play and sing, figure out harmonies, etc., in only a few days.

The result is that we practice together a lot. First we decide on the songs, new and old, relative terms as "new" only sees to our knowing the songs previously, then I start to figure them out how to play on guitar, after which we can start working together. All in all a five day process, with three days of practising together, including just before the show.

So what comes by? My girlfriend loves singing blues, she found out over the past years. So many a blues tune comes by. We are going to be playing non-band blues soon as well. For our Irish neighbours we learned two Irish folk songs, requests come in of which we were able to do a few so far. For Easter we played a song from 'Jesus Christ Superstar', but also did a song from 'Hair'. One of my favourite new ones so far is 'Son Of A Preacher Man', but I also got to play 'Wish You Were Here' an adequate title for an isolated Easter.

On the whole a lot of 60s hits come by. They somehow seem the nicest to play, with The Beatles, who else, leading the pack. Personally I have to say that singing harmonies like Simon & Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, is simply gratifying. Yes, it takes some practising but when it comes together it is one of the pleasures of life. I'm not exaggerating here. 'The Sounds Of Silence' or 'California Dreaming' are a joy to sing (together).

We live in a street where the churn of people is extremely high. Expats, people living in between homes, who only stay for a limited time and are not interested in meeting neighbours. This has changed a little in the past year and now because of the Corona days something really changed. Our weekly show certainly contributed to that. People have met, start to know each other and have a drink together after a show. All on one corner of a car, keeping distance. Something positive is coming out of this crisis.

We have been told that neighbours share the photo's and movie clips they make with friends and family across continents. Australia, U.S., Latin America, Ireland are enjoying our playing as well. A neighbour's sister has started her own version in her front garden in the U.S. after seeing us play.

There's a personal little something musically I run into on a weekly basis. I have noticed how hard it is to keep time playing my guitar. The urge to speed up is tremendous. When playing alone there's no issue. For a singer dependent on me it is. My girlfriend keeps signalling  to me to slow down. Having a drummer in a band is so important for me to have. My own head does not provide a metronome. I had never noticed this so sharply until these weeks. More to learn!

The other side is that we grow as a duo in an enormously fast way. The practising does pay off. Getting a compliment is nice, I won't deny that, but to notice the growth ourselves, is gratifying. Whenever the band is allowed to practice again, there's no way of telling. Who knows?, it may be long time. Hopefully our growth will show in that context as well.

Making music is fun. Playing music is, writing about it is, but making it myself? That is another ballgame. Totally. Seeing the smiling faces, hearing people sing along, we know we have a little share in making sure we all get to the other side of this crisis. Whenever that is. At a minimum three more weeks to go.

We record the sessions for friends living further away. Now I share the link with you. Enjoy it, if you like, with the promise of more to come in the coming weeks. Ice, weather and Corona depending of course.

Wo.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdVhKpLou2XQyv9-9ZHyJAw