In the past couple of weeks, we have run into a problem with scheduling, we have faced issues with college revisits interfering with rehearsal time. While we were still able to practice a bit individually, it did put a hold on our progress for the better part of a week. Additionally, the rehearsing and practicing period of our work has taken much longer than we first anticipated. While our goals remain the same, one goal post that has shifted is the amount of time that we are operating in. Our original plan was to have been recording for about a week now, and due to external circumstances, we might not be able to begin recording until next week. We are bumping up against the time constraint for the first time, and a new focus will have to be on how we can maximize the time we have remaining. Whether that be starting to record songs in pieces and then spruce them up later, or practicing with more intention of hitting troubled areas. The process will have to be much more focused from here on out. The quality and quantity of songs that we have made are really astounding and at this point, the record has really taken shape musically and thematically in ways that are very exciting! Our next step will be to start recording our covers of Wayne Shorter’s and Esperanza Spalding’s Ponta De Areia, John Coltrane’s Favorite Things, and Jim Hall and Bill Evans’ Skating in Central Park.– additionally, we are now working on a mashup of the jazz standard Blue Skies and the Thelonious Monk tune In Walked Bud, potentially using the Beatles’ “Blackbird” as both an intro and outro. Then we’ll move on to our originals: “the girl from Tompkins”, “D-Dorian”, and “15/16.” One thing that has loomed over our project is the specter of covid. We had a small scare last week where there was a serious exposure, and this exposure shed light on the fact that if we were to get covid the whole project would have to be put on pause for 10 days. To combat this we have come up with stronger ideas of what we’ll do to keep on track if one of us has covid. This could mean practicing individually and conferencing on Zoom, while potentially setting up recording equipment in separate apartments. We’re very lucky to have the resources to allow us to record separately, so that can be an option in the worst-case scenario. Looking forward to the coming weeks we have to record and mix the album, this will mean first securing microphones and interfaces, then choosing how we’ll record things. We must figure out where to record based on the sounds that we’re looking for in each individual song. Some, we want to use keyboard stops that will allow us to record in the music room here at LREI, but if we want to use actual pianos, we may need to outsource and record elsewhere. From there we have to start thinking about what the mixing process will look like, and how we want the songs to sound. From there it will be a race to distribute the songs.