As we approach summer, it is time to work on new repertoire, learn a new technique, continue to build current technique, listen to music, read some books, and go experience art. It would be great to hear what you are planning on doing. Add your comments below. Here are my goals for the summer:
1) New Repertoire: Three Mood for Steel Pan – Ney Rosauro
2) Listen to Music: Since reading the Amanda Palmer book, I am interested in checking out her music. I also want to listen to Alarm Will Sound, Zoe Keating, and Paul Lanky. (more…)
It is hard to believe that over a year ago on Sunday, April 27, 2014, I hosted the Massive Band 2014 Steel Drum Concert at CSULB. It was an amazing concert featuring over 100 steel pan performers (see the list below). This video features steel pan virtuoso Andy Narell on a tune I wrote (shameless self-promotion alert) called PanSon.
The groups featured are:
CSULB STEEL DRUM ORCHESTRA (Dave Gerhart – director)
CABRILLO HIGH SCHOOL PANJAMMAS (Drew Holt – director)
CAMPBELL HALL SOLDIERS OF STEEL (HIGH SCHOOL) & STEEL PANDAS (JUNIOR HIGH) (Jason Bruns – director)
GRANADA MIDDLE SCHOOL PAN SQUAD (Jennifer Stampfl – director)
LAKEWOOD STEEL (Amanda Duncan – director)
RUSTY STEEL BAND (Andy Cobbs – director)
WESTMINSTER HIGH SCHOOL STEEL BAND (John Whatley – director)
A couple of days ago, I talked about reading Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. I first learned about Amanda through her TED Talk video. TED Talks are very inspiring and insightful. Take some time and watch this video and hopefully you will want to watch more TED Talks.
Steve Schick, percussionist, conductor and Music Director and Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra has been named the Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival. Founded in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival is an annual contemporary classical music festival held in Ojai, California. Along with putting together some of the top concerts in Southern California, the Ojai Festival is also passionate about providing music education to all ages.
This year, they have developed a course taught by Steve Schick called “2015 OjaiU: The Beat of The World – The Art of Percussion.” The course is made up of 4 online classes. The course is free, but you must sign up to participate.
According to the website, there are two ways to sign up.
1: Use the signup form below and you’ll get an email each Monday with a link as the new class goes live.
2: Tweet to @OjaiFestivals using the hashtag #OjaiU2015 and we’ll send you an invite.
Here’s a list of the courses:
CLASS NO. 1 – “THE BEAT OF THE WORLD”
CLASS NO. 2 – “THE PHYSICALITY OF SOUND”
CLASS NO. 3 – “STORIES IN SOUND”
CLASS NO. 4 – “HITTING THINGS: A VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE”
The classes have been amazing and I would recommend signing up now at OJAIU.org.
Where has the month gone? It is hard to believe that summer is here. So far this year, I have read some great books. Last week, I finished All the Light We Can Not See by Anthony Doerr and this week I started Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. You may know Amanda Palmer from her TED talk The Art of Asking or her record breaking Kickstarter campaign where she raised over 1 million dollars to record her album. I am going to write a full review once I finish it, but if you are looking for an inspiring book for an artist in your life, be sure to check it out.
Have a great week and here are some posts to check out this week. (more…)
Graduation time is here! Congrats to all of the graduates. It has been a busy week for me. I just finished an amazing book called All the Light We Can Not See by Anthony Doerr. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The story is about a German boy and a blind French girl. It is one of the best books I have in the past 5 years. If you are looking for something to read this summer, be sure to check it out and let me know what you think. While you are waiting for your book to arrive, here are some posts to check out. (more…)
The CYSO is always looking for new ways to develop programming, commission works and push the boundaries of classical music. This video and project is no exception! Bravo CYSO.
The CYSO’s Encore Chamber Orchestra, Allen Tinkham (conductor) and Third Coast Percussion performs David T. Little’s RADIANT CHiLD.
Radiant Child Video Recording was supported by New Music USA. For more information about this project, visit their website.
Radiant Child Video Recording was supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Aaron Copland Fund for Music
Juries are over and finals are here. Some people are graduating this week. How exciting! Good luck not he final papers and commencement. Here are some posts to check out when you are done. Have a great week.
This weekend, the California PAS hosted the PAS Solo and Ensemble Competition and the Central California Day of Percussion (featuring the LA Percussion Quartet and John Santos). It was a great weekend of meeting new friends and connecting with old friends. I was also honored to judge the Middle School, High School and College Percussion Ensemble competitions. If you are not involved with your local chapter of PAS, I would highly recommend checking out PAS.org for more information about becoming a member of PAS and seeing a list of any local events in your area.
On Thursday, I was also fortunate to perform the West Coast premiere of Passageways by Baljinder Sekhon with the Clovis North High School Percussion Ensemble (David Gabrielson – Director). It is always great working with different ensembles and the students at Clovis North did a great job on the performance. Thanks!
Here’s some reading materials for the week. Enjoy.
I recently “found” James Clear’s website. He writes articles a couple of times a week and he has a lot of great insight and thoughts about marketing and business. I would highly recommend checking out his site.
Performed by Duomo (Ashley Tini and Emily Strachan)
For two vibraphones and glockenspiel, Glow explores the similarities and dissimilarities between these instruments. It moves at a comfortable pace, allowing resonance to fill the air, shimmering softly, eventually switching to hands for the soft, gossamer landing. Approximately 4:00 in duration and available here.
