Aaron Pond

10:20am

I start the day by selling my electronic instruments. The truth is that they were gathering dust after completing this composition, and my general broke-ness was the last straw. Don’t like to horde and I'm thankful I'll get to hear them in the hands of another OUT-musician. My left boot is taped together and I’m riding it till the end.

11:53pm

I take the 2 to suburban station. I have my horn, mbira, and a bag of flutes strapped to my body.

Waiting for the chestnut hill west, there is a man muttering to himself how he wants to die quiet.

If he is to die, that it should be peaceful, that's all he wants. I can’t relate. Life is tantalizing and too much death goes unmourned. So what if it’s painful, why not be loud.

12:53:pm

I arrive at the house of Carlos Santiago, violinist and family man. I've come for help playing complicated rhythmic notation in Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music. Carlos is optimistic. We drink bubble water, eat apple cake, and talk shop. I’m only absorbing in parts, though it's really making sense as I type this. Melinda Rice, violist/violinist, arrives 20 minutes later. After doing a cursory attempt at the polyrhythm, we begin layering multiple Braxton compositions over each other and discussing the giant logistical project they’re being initiated into. Ann Adachi, flautist, pops in from around the corner just to hear our goings on. There are plans for a next time. Conviviality. I never want to stop playing.

3:53

I hit the Broad Street Line perfectly after a ride from Melinda and am then blessed with a clean, quiet car. A long ride to South Philly means time for a drawn out dialectic. While this session was for learning, I know I didn't play or improvise particularly well. Gains can’t shake the feeling. I wonder if people only play with me for the social aspect or maybe I’m seen as a good promoter. Am I even doing that right? Instagram pings. So praise be the task- Gian Perez, a guitarist from NYC, wants me to book a show for him. How can I be so tired of the usual shit rattling around in me, why is it always these words.

5:30pm-

Fresh out the shower, snuggling in bed with Jessica (my wife), savoring the moments before she has to run to her rehearsal in West Philly. Major lineup changes with the Green Plums, but I’m very excited about the new direction. I’m already so exhausted. I could become a yam.

7:40pm

Switching shoes, switching some instruments in the bag, boiling hot water, another thermal layer under my sweats. I head out to Headlong to meet Lilly McGonigle (dancer) and do a session together for the first time.

8pm:

Session goes wonderfully, there are these moments where we talk theory, relating her acting classes to my study of the musical systems of spirit possession ceremonies, and we just transition to playing. It’s important to become as we are in each moment. We break into all these modes of communication and sonic/visual artifices. In free musics, when there is an initial connection it is so palpable and joyous, even confusion is as robust a foundation as gleaming synchronicity. We end by singing together, we both begin to unconsciously move. Maybe this is where we start next time? With no action at all, pure intuition even it means a deep silence.

10:10

Dropped off at home, more plans to play further, and I feel like I played true, I acted free. Time for tea. Time for bed.

Aaron Pond is an improvising hornist, composer, and concert promoter. He is known for his work with the city's dance community and collaborations with venerable musicians such as Toshi Makihara, Dan Blacksberg, and Karen Smith. He is the president of People's Music Supply. You can find him on Instagram @Aaron_Pond_Scum.