Second off day. There’s a small production meeting over diner with Pieter and Bram only. Musically, things are going astray because of, basically, insufficient leadership. It installs a laissez-passer rehearsal culture. People show up late or leave early; there’s more discussion than actual playing and nobody watches out over the general vision. If rehearsals continue like this, we’re positive the music will fall apart at the premiere. This ship runs on a tight schedule, we don’t have room for anything else but focused rehearsals.
To counter most of these problems, it’s agreed that one of us takes the lead over the rehearsals, sets the schedule and follows up on our progress. In general, musicians are not averse to musical direction. Since Valgeir, the official music director, will jump in at the very last moment, somebody needs to step in now and steer the process clear.
We also decide not to replace the lost guitar player and try to work around it. The orchestra is rich in colors. Liam has a MIDI setup for his viola da gamba, as a possible electronic layer that balances out the lack of electrical guitar texture.