Wax On, Wax Off

So I've been doing the gospel gig for 5-6 weeks now. It keeps getting better, as we all get used to each other. They've used one of my arrangements now, and we've done some pieces that have just been amazing - particularly Hezekiah Walker's "Jesus, My Help", and Leon Roberts' "Mary's Canticle".

The most quizzical thing for me has been the way I just fell into the bass pedal role. It's still a huge challenge on the classical side, and I've got virtually no bacground in kicking gospel bass. But there it is. And, after watching myself for a while, I finally figured it out - it's the pipe organ lessons that are doing it. A lot of my walking bass patterns involve heel-toe technique, which I'd never used before. So here's this thing I'm learning, and it turns out it's helping me do something almost completely unrelated. That may not be obvious to those who don't play pipe organ - but it's a very different approach and technique.

Apparently the skill sets have a bit in common.