Lesson 8 — Plan for Sep 9 · Greg Spero Studio

🎯 The hour

Three blocks

① Golden — the dress rehearsal~30 min

Full takes, show conditions, no metronome

Open with a cold full take. No warm-up — that's the condition he'll be in at the dinner, and it's the ambush drill he was assigned. Record it.
Listen for the rushing at the quarter-note sections. That was the whole of Lesson 7. If it resurfaces on the unfamiliar piano, use the tools he now owns: contrast passes (rushed on purpose, then dead on), lay back, move.
Settle the open chord: G or E minor. Flagged in Lesson 6, still open after Lesson 7. Play both against the record and lock it. This cannot leave the room undecided.
Check the four-beat break and the whole-note-to-quarter-note changeover — the two arrangement moments most likely to wobble under nerves.
Let him feel the real piano. He has practiced on three different instruments in three weeks. Ten minutes of adjusting touch and pedal on the piano he may actually perform on is worth more than another run.

② Blinding Lights — the call~15 min

In the show or out of it, decided today

It has never been worked in a lesson. Assigned in Lesson 5, deferred twice since — deliberately, for the rhythm work. Two days out, the honest question is whether it belongs in the show at all.
If it's in: keep it minimal. The loop is Fm · Cm · E♭ · B♭, and the arrangement is the "Golden" playbook reused — held chords in the verses, pulse when it lifts. Nothing new to learn, only where to switch.
If it's out: one song done confidently beats two done nervously, and that's a fine outcome for a first performance. Say so plainly so he doesn't carry it as a failure.
Either way, decide here. He should not spend Sep 10 unsure what he's performing.

③ Show logistics~15 min

Everything that must be true by Thursday

Singer and drummer: confirm who is actually on stage with him. The singer chair has been open since Lesson 5, and Marco — named once in Lesson 5, role never stated — is still unconfirmed.
Rehearsal: Sep 10 is the only day left for the band to meet. He has never played with a rhythm section — the first time cannot be the dinner.
Run of show: where the music sits relative to his 20-minute talk and Q&A, and who cues him on.
Piano at the venue: what he's playing on in Long Beach, and when he can touch it.

📋 Greg's own list

Follow-ups promised in Lesson 7

🧘 Breathing & meditation resources

Promised on the call after his stuffy-room breathing trouble — the morning chant and the mastery meditation. Email them before Sep 9.

📄 Short bio

Poseidon needs it for the Sep 11–12 space-company visits (Vast in Long Beach 2–4, near LAX 4–6 on the 11th; Seal Beach 3–5 on the 12th). Greg is a tentative yes for all three; calendar invites coming from Poseidon.

🛠️ Room setup with Jacob

Lesson runs 10–11 with a hard stop for the 11 AM workout. Room booked from 9:45 so everything is solid by 10. Confirm with Jacob.

📝 Live notes · saves automatically

Lesson notes

Shared with the running notes doc. Type anywhere below; both of you see each other's notes.

Two days out. Make it performance-proof.