However, listening back to our set, the alarm seems happy out sitting there in the background like a ground bass; for those that maybe had headphones in as they arrived and didn’t hear the alarm could be mistaken for thinking that maybe Piaras or Francis was sampling an alarm as an under-pinning part of our improvisation: It just fits in.

So, why was it annoying me? I think it’s because I love control. (Why then am I interested in performing improvisation?) I wasn’t in control of the alarm: one could argue that I wasn’t in control of my fellow improvisers, but my argument to that is, if I wanted to I could have pulled the plug and prevented power. Also as we were an ensemble my input had a consequence on what happened (especially with what Piaras was doing because i was linked to his computer). Likewise he was in control of what happened with my input so it was almost like equilibrium.

However, the alarm just butted in and gatecrashed the party, and diva here couldn’t tell it to go away.

All in all I was happy with the outcome of our 30 minutes, we seemed very together and sympathetic to each other. Leading up to the night, I was aprehensive, when we had gotten together to ‘jam’, I just wasn’t feeling it and was anxious as to what would happen on the night. However, I just went with it, asked the lads what I could do and what I couldn’t do and took their advice—after all the outcome was in their hands.

Anyway what’s this got to do with Stet Lab? Well I found that January’s Lab was easily the healthiest lab yet: there was an electric atmosphere, there was a crowd and the improvisations kicked ass! Something just seem to click and after the mishaps of the December Lab it was definitely well rewarded. The Roundy cannot possibly ‘double book’ again because the ratio of punters between upstairs and downstairs was invertly proportional (i.e there were more people at the Lab than casually drinking downstairs).

I cannot quite figure out what was the key factor that made this months Lab stand out above the rest: Was it Murray? Was it the large crowd? The press release that constantly went on about a party? Whatever it was, it worked and I hope that we can learn from this Lab because it proved that Stet Lab can be a worthy event on the monthly Cork social calendar.

I have performed at several of the Stet Lab evenings and as the only performer that doesn’t have an instrument that is material to hide behind, I often feel exposed and perhaps somewhat uncomfortable; this has consequently had a knock-on affect on my performance. However, not so much this month.

When asked to form the ‘house band’ for November’s Lab I was honoured and left with a task that I had to be tactful with. What with my old band members dispersed around the world I had to delve into the fresh bag of improvisers that Cork has to offer. As I had found working with Han and Jesse a fun, fruitful experience in October, I figured why not go for a similar line up? (It is interesting to note that in the past I have found it difficult to work with guitar players—nothing at all to do with my diva-ish background!) Therefore, I called upon my fellow improviser Barry who I knew had similar ideas and sensitive approach to improv and he pointed me in the direction of Paul.

Thankfully for me this was a great tactic: I knew from the first moment the three of us met to ‘practise’ that we would get on like a house on fire. We all seemed to respect each other as musicians and appeared to know when to back off before we intruded too much on each others space. Perhaps this sounds rather Brady Bunchesque because sometimes a bit of friction and roughness does add spice to improvisation; however, as I am slightly out of practise and wanted my first ‘independent’ pursuit to be successful I wanted to test the boundaries before I entered into ‘extreme improv.’ (We all have to start somewhere!)

Yes I did hold back, probably due to nerves, but this month I really made an effort to let go—something that I do find difficult in this form of performing—and I am glad that I did because the post-performance high was something that I had almost forgotten the feel of. I feel that the success of November’s Stet Lab will really have a positive affect on my future performance.