I received an interesting compliment earlier this week--at least I think it was a compliment.....
After a concert with the quintet, a friend came up, shook my hand, and said:
"Dennis, you have an amazingly tireless intensity about you."
He went on to talk about how many things I'm involved with that have influence on others. That thought has stuck with me through the week. Yes, I do a lot of things, but never think about breadth of duties, only about being helpful. Our time here is only truly validated by our ability to serve others. Surely, we do have to take care of ourselves, our families, etc. But the true mission in life is to serve. If we lose sight of that and it becomes too much about us, then life loses purpose and we move about aimlessly. (this is not idle observation--I've wandered around in circles many times in my life!) But I digress, and don't want to be preachy--
It is oh-so-easy to wear down, get exhausted, become negative, etc. when we go full bore all the time--obviously we need some respite, some "something" that allows us us to recharge. This December, I've had a pleasant traveling companion as I've driven to and fro to quintet concerts--I asked one of my students, Brock, to put together a compilation cd of his favorite holiday music. (now mind you, this guy loves Christmas music--he has something like 500 hours of it on his itunes) (or something like that--I do know he has a minimum of 90 min. of just "Silent Night") The cd he gave me is an amazing grouping of new and old, indie and pop, traditional and fringe. This, for me, has been a wonderful respite during my travel time. Two settings, in particular, I keep going back to. (the tunes themselves were always favorites of mine)
In the Bleak Midwinter has such a wonderful feel to it as a carol, and this setting great, with a bit of an updated twist, but doesn't lose the nature of the tune....
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming is just a gorgeous hymn. Again, this one just charms and challenges me.
Playing as many concerts, taking part in so many services, it's been far too easy for me to become jaded with the "same old, same old" in regards to many things over the years. I'm reminded that we must find ways to renew ourselves and avoid the same old, same old in order to be able to function at our highest levels.
Thank you all for being a part of my life--I hope you all will be able to rest, relax, and enter 2011 with a new sense of tireless intensity!
dwa
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Just. Breathe.
recently I had a friend say to me "you never blog anymore". my response was something like "life is too busy" or "don't have time" or something to that effect. while that may be, it boils down to me not making the time to do it. maybe it's because I didn't have anything to say. (if you know me, you should laugh now, as I always have something to say.......) at any rate, onward..........
Topic: Just. Breathe
Being a "brasswind musician" I, of course, must be concerned with the concept of correct breathing. We could go on, and on with suggested exercises, books/videos/inspiring audio on the hows, whys and heretofores of breathin' right. This topic isn't about that......
Today's society has us going so damn fast in whatever we do that it's terribly easy to be caught in a maelstrom that we call our "life". I'm not going to lecture on slowing down, changing what you do, etc. there are tons of blogs and other writings on that--hell, I subscribe to several to seek tips in organization, paring down, and so on.
Nope, this is about saving what little sanity you may have left in your crazy, over-scheduled life. Bottom line:
Just. Breathe.
If we can find a way to take 30 seconds, close our eyes and breathe, often that will allow just enough of a break to regain focus, and feel better about the next activity. If one can take as much as 5 minutes to do this (and not fall asleep!!!) then a good amount of time (likely as much as several hours) that follows can be easier to take, easier to get through, etc.
I'm not going to go into the physical nor spiritual reasoning behind all this, nor suggest you do anything but breathe. It's requisite for living, so why not take 30 sec. to enjoy it?
Yes, this is aimed at you, the college student who put off the projects/papers and are now scrambling; yes, you, the band director whose band just isn't jelling this week; yes, you the adjunct running around trying to make sure everyone is happy, while living on .00003 cents per day; yes, you the high school student trying to keep it together long enough to get into college, and ultimately, me. We ALL need to take a moment and breathe.
Just. Breathe.
Topic: Just. Breathe
Being a "brasswind musician" I, of course, must be concerned with the concept of correct breathing. We could go on, and on with suggested exercises, books/videos/inspiring audio on the hows, whys and heretofores of breathin' right. This topic isn't about that......
Today's society has us going so damn fast in whatever we do that it's terribly easy to be caught in a maelstrom that we call our "life". I'm not going to lecture on slowing down, changing what you do, etc. there are tons of blogs and other writings on that--hell, I subscribe to several to seek tips in organization, paring down, and so on.
Nope, this is about saving what little sanity you may have left in your crazy, over-scheduled life. Bottom line:
Just. Breathe.
If we can find a way to take 30 seconds, close our eyes and breathe, often that will allow just enough of a break to regain focus, and feel better about the next activity. If one can take as much as 5 minutes to do this (and not fall asleep!!!) then a good amount of time (likely as much as several hours) that follows can be easier to take, easier to get through, etc.
I'm not going to go into the physical nor spiritual reasoning behind all this, nor suggest you do anything but breathe. It's requisite for living, so why not take 30 sec. to enjoy it?
Yes, this is aimed at you, the college student who put off the projects/papers and are now scrambling; yes, you, the band director whose band just isn't jelling this week; yes, you the adjunct running around trying to make sure everyone is happy, while living on .00003 cents per day; yes, you the high school student trying to keep it together long enough to get into college, and ultimately, me. We ALL need to take a moment and breathe.
Just. Breathe.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
end of summer....
Well, the summer started off busy, with the ITEC in AZ, and never really significantly slowed down!
Demondrae Thurman and I presented the Miraphone Academy here at UNCG in late June, we had our annual UNCG Summer Music Camp in July, and now it's time to crank back up for school. I must admit, though, I feel like more time was spent NOT thinking about the busy-ness but more on family things, friend visits, trips to visit family and friends some of whom I hadn't seen in a long time--this is important, more important than I tend to make time for, normally. As a result, I got less "work" done, I think, but feel much better about life, less stressed out, etc. and I still have plenty of time to get done what needs to be done for school. hmmmm--maybe this needs to become more common in my summers!
We also added the extra activity of following drum corps much more closely, since Alex is marching with Spirit this year. He seems to have had a wonderful experience, overall, thus far. We only got to see two shows, but will be heading to championships next week in IN, and bringing him home with us. I'll have much more to talk about regarding that as time goes on, as I want to better collect my thoughts on his/our experience and DCI as a whole.
anyhow--off to practice, well, since, I have a recital in a month and all............
Demondrae Thurman and I presented the Miraphone Academy here at UNCG in late June, we had our annual UNCG Summer Music Camp in July, and now it's time to crank back up for school. I must admit, though, I feel like more time was spent NOT thinking about the busy-ness but more on family things, friend visits, trips to visit family and friends some of whom I hadn't seen in a long time--this is important, more important than I tend to make time for, normally. As a result, I got less "work" done, I think, but feel much better about life, less stressed out, etc. and I still have plenty of time to get done what needs to be done for school. hmmmm--maybe this needs to become more common in my summers!
We also added the extra activity of following drum corps much more closely, since Alex is marching with Spirit this year. He seems to have had a wonderful experience, overall, thus far. We only got to see two shows, but will be heading to championships next week in IN, and bringing him home with us. I'll have much more to talk about regarding that as time goes on, as I want to better collect my thoughts on his/our experience and DCI as a whole.
anyhow--off to practice, well, since, I have a recital in a month and all............
Friday, June 11, 2010
the future -or- the now..........
this is a rough time for some parts of the music industry. some would say for all of the music industry. others might say only for the parts that don't want to "modernize".
well, maybe it's true for all of the above. I have a good friend who has decided to take a break from playing his horn. a long break. he hasn't played since Easter and doesn't plan to try to play until late next spring. why? because he needs to figure out his place, with his performing, in the current world. the recording industry served him well for a goodly number of years, and along the way he hustled and built a good life for himself, and has a good number of other ventures in music that are not performance oriented (at least for him). he's spent a good amount of his own money over the years promoting himself, trying new things, forming new groups, attempting to "modernize", etc. his income from performing for the recording industry was less than 5 grand last year. he's taking some time off.
what does this say about the future of real, live musicians playing their "axes" for recordings? probably not a good thing, honestly.
that said, this is the time for a couple of things:
1. we must, must, must not cease to actively musically educate our youth, nor cease to actively advocate regarding the importance of music.
2. we have to not just "modernize" but spend significant amounts of time conceptualizing/dreaming/what-if-ing
about how the next level of what we do is to take place.
point 1 has had many much more erudite writers and speakers than I make wonderful points about how these things should take place--MENC, MTNA, etc. have many a good article on these kinds of ideas. Seek them out.
point 2 is much more problematic, I think. as the past four centuries of "western art music" have developed, changed, modernized, etc. the pace of technological evolution has been slow enough that the musical world has been able to adjust at a safe rate and not been terribly left behind. nowadays, this is far from truth. technology moves forward at such a rate that, while it begs the world to keep up with it, economically the reality is that it can't. at least much of it can't. where does that leave us in the musical world?
if we keep our heads in the sand and only "do what we do" we will be more irrelevant than an alto flute being used in a marching band. (not bashing on the alto flute, but it just doesn't have a place in a marching band!)
somehow, someway, we have to energize some folks to conceptualize new realities that include what we do, but maybe in different frameworks. I'm a big fan of TED (not the educational theory courses, but the stuff found at ted.com) a recent presentation revolved around UI--you know the blow-your-mind computer stuff that was used in the movie Minority Report (which you should see, or see again).
here's the presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6YTQJVzwlI
it is 15 min long, but WELL worth your time. there's some cool stuff there--and at the end, the statement is made that in 5 years this technology will be standard. who knows if that is the case, but it certainly made me think, a lot, about having music delivery systems be more dimensional, and allow more of a sound fabric to be brought to us during the listening experience.
are these thoughts heretical to what I was just pontificating about? maybe. I'm not smart enough to be able to dream through the process--I think that the interface of experience can be re-designed, albeit maybe not in this model, but it can, and likely must, be different--so that we (live musicians) can stay relevant to future generations (or even the next one).
before I get jumped all over on this and am told that "nothing can replace the feeling of playing" or "the
sensation of a live concert" I agree with you--but if all we do is the same old, same old (which, honestly folks, has only been in something resembling out current "way" for less than 200 years) then we will be shelved, and perhaps rightly so.
sermon/rant over.
well, maybe it's true for all of the above. I have a good friend who has decided to take a break from playing his horn. a long break. he hasn't played since Easter and doesn't plan to try to play until late next spring. why? because he needs to figure out his place, with his performing, in the current world. the recording industry served him well for a goodly number of years, and along the way he hustled and built a good life for himself, and has a good number of other ventures in music that are not performance oriented (at least for him). he's spent a good amount of his own money over the years promoting himself, trying new things, forming new groups, attempting to "modernize", etc. his income from performing for the recording industry was less than 5 grand last year. he's taking some time off.
what does this say about the future of real, live musicians playing their "axes" for recordings? probably not a good thing, honestly.
that said, this is the time for a couple of things:
1. we must, must, must not cease to actively musically educate our youth, nor cease to actively advocate regarding the importance of music.
2. we have to not just "modernize" but spend significant amounts of time conceptualizing/dreaming/what-if-ing
about how the next level of what we do is to take place.
point 1 has had many much more erudite writers and speakers than I make wonderful points about how these things should take place--MENC, MTNA, etc. have many a good article on these kinds of ideas. Seek them out.
point 2 is much more problematic, I think. as the past four centuries of "western art music" have developed, changed, modernized, etc. the pace of technological evolution has been slow enough that the musical world has been able to adjust at a safe rate and not been terribly left behind. nowadays, this is far from truth. technology moves forward at such a rate that, while it begs the world to keep up with it, economically the reality is that it can't. at least much of it can't. where does that leave us in the musical world?
if we keep our heads in the sand and only "do what we do" we will be more irrelevant than an alto flute being used in a marching band. (not bashing on the alto flute, but it just doesn't have a place in a marching band!)
somehow, someway, we have to energize some folks to conceptualize new realities that include what we do, but maybe in different frameworks. I'm a big fan of TED (not the educational theory courses, but the stuff found at ted.com) a recent presentation revolved around UI--you know the blow-your-mind computer stuff that was used in the movie Minority Report (which you should see, or see again).
here's the presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6YTQJVzwlI
it is 15 min long, but WELL worth your time. there's some cool stuff there--and at the end, the statement is made that in 5 years this technology will be standard. who knows if that is the case, but it certainly made me think, a lot, about having music delivery systems be more dimensional, and allow more of a sound fabric to be brought to us during the listening experience.
are these thoughts heretical to what I was just pontificating about? maybe. I'm not smart enough to be able to dream through the process--I think that the interface of experience can be re-designed, albeit maybe not in this model, but it can, and likely must, be different--so that we (live musicians) can stay relevant to future generations (or even the next one).
before I get jumped all over on this and am told that "nothing can replace the feeling of playing" or "the
sensation of a live concert" I agree with you--but if all we do is the same old, same old (which, honestly folks, has only been in something resembling out current "way" for less than 200 years) then we will be shelved, and perhaps rightly so.
sermon/rant over.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
on being real
often, I think, we live our lives as we feel others expect us to. this in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but we run the risk of missing out on sharing our inner selves. i'm not suggesting in any way that we should run around and wear our hearts on our sleeves--that drives everyone crazy--but that we shouldn't fear being honest about how we do what we do and shouldn't necessarily worry about being judged.
i love the idea of teaching tuba/euphonium at the college level--i feel i can help players get better, but even more importantly as i work with future educators, i also have the privilege and opportunity to help them figure out why they want to teach, why that's important, etc. i won't say that i succeed with every student, but i certainly give it a good go. when asked to state my philosophy of teaching, my primary statement regards helping students learn to teach themselves. that's what my teachers did for me and therefore what needs to be passed on. that's about as open as i can be about what i do.
recently, I've been struck by other open & honest situations. I mentioned in a blog last week during the ITEC how much Jim Self's performance meant to me--just laying it out there, with no worries of how it would be judged. that's just badass, in my opinion. i don't have video or audio, but wish i did, so i could share.
two other examples for sharing, just performances that lay it out there, with no real concern about acceptance
Dennis Hopper (RIP) on the Johnny Cash show, reciting Kipling's "If"
Johnny Cash (also RIP) with his version of NIN's "Hurt".
certainly, we do need to be concerned with how what we do effects others, but overall, we need to be as true to ourselves as we can.
i love the idea of teaching tuba/euphonium at the college level--i feel i can help players get better, but even more importantly as i work with future educators, i also have the privilege and opportunity to help them figure out why they want to teach, why that's important, etc. i won't say that i succeed with every student, but i certainly give it a good go. when asked to state my philosophy of teaching, my primary statement regards helping students learn to teach themselves. that's what my teachers did for me and therefore what needs to be passed on. that's about as open as i can be about what i do.
recently, I've been struck by other open & honest situations. I mentioned in a blog last week during the ITEC how much Jim Self's performance meant to me--just laying it out there, with no worries of how it would be judged. that's just badass, in my opinion. i don't have video or audio, but wish i did, so i could share.
two other examples for sharing, just performances that lay it out there, with no real concern about acceptance
Dennis Hopper (RIP) on the Johnny Cash show, reciting Kipling's "If"
Johnny Cash (also RIP) with his version of NIN's "Hurt".
certainly, we do need to be concerned with how what we do effects others, but overall, we need to be as true to ourselves as we can.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
ITEC 2010 redux......
well, the trip home wasn't nearly as interesting as getting there, at least flight-wise. Why? Because I slept almost the entirety of both flights--which shouldn't be surprising since I didn't go to bed on Saturday night! I know, I know, but since my flight was at 5:45 am, and the shuttle picked me up at 3:30.........just made sense. I never thought I would be happy to have the sensation of feeling humidity, but it really did make my body feel better once I was in the humid Atlanta air. (Unfortunately, I missed the Spirit drumcorps picnic on Sunday afternoon, but my wife, daughter, father-in-law and others from that side of our family were able to go and hear my son in, what by all accounts, was some very good early season playing. Can't wait to see their first performance on June 20 in Rock Hill, SC.)
In looking back on this conference, I believe we have hit levels of consistency that we just never hit before, in terms of the overall production. With the efficiency of ITEC 2006 in Denver, 2008 in Cincy, and now 2010 in Tucson, we have laid the groundwork for new standards in international conferences. This time was the first time that ITEA actually owned the conference financially. I know that may sound odd, but until this conference, the host was responsible for the financial bottom line. Regrettably, we've had several former hosts go into significant financial debt, even with a good amount of organizational $$ to help out. (amazingly, this change was still met with some resistance, and had been discussed over the years and voted down, until now!) Kelly Thomas and Mark Nelson put together a very strong, but conservative, budget and stuck with it--as a result, moving forward with this blueprint will be quite easy, I feel.
Our Board of Directors meetings held throughout the week were amazingly fruitful. Everyone involved with those meetings feels energized and empowered to move the organization forward--the next few years are going to be fun, I think!
Artistically, the conference was top notch--the new method of having every performance be submitted via proposal allowed the hosts to program interesting, entertaining, insightful, and educational performances, presentations, discussions and lectures. The after hours hangs were just as invigorating--lots of tours, guest recitals, etc. were negotiated, as well as times of just plain, good ol' camaraderie. Just a time to be remembered.
While this one is gone and over, there will be significant reviews coming later in the summer in the ITEA Journal and on the ITEA website, to give more than this overview I've been rambling through.
all the best to you as you continue through what the next months bring you!
In looking back on this conference, I believe we have hit levels of consistency that we just never hit before, in terms of the overall production. With the efficiency of ITEC 2006 in Denver, 2008 in Cincy, and now 2010 in Tucson, we have laid the groundwork for new standards in international conferences. This time was the first time that ITEA actually owned the conference financially. I know that may sound odd, but until this conference, the host was responsible for the financial bottom line. Regrettably, we've had several former hosts go into significant financial debt, even with a good amount of organizational $$ to help out. (amazingly, this change was still met with some resistance, and had been discussed over the years and voted down, until now!) Kelly Thomas and Mark Nelson put together a very strong, but conservative, budget and stuck with it--as a result, moving forward with this blueprint will be quite easy, I feel.
Our Board of Directors meetings held throughout the week were amazingly fruitful. Everyone involved with those meetings feels energized and empowered to move the organization forward--the next few years are going to be fun, I think!
Artistically, the conference was top notch--the new method of having every performance be submitted via proposal allowed the hosts to program interesting, entertaining, insightful, and educational performances, presentations, discussions and lectures. The after hours hangs were just as invigorating--lots of tours, guest recitals, etc. were negotiated, as well as times of just plain, good ol' camaraderie. Just a time to be remembered.
While this one is gone and over, there will be significant reviews coming later in the summer in the ITEA Journal and on the ITEA website, to give more than this overview I've been rambling through.
all the best to you as you continue through what the next months bring you!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
day 7?
and thus, it ends.
a journey around the sun, seeing and hearing celestial beings of all sizes, make up and trajectory.
So we, in the tuba and euphonium world, have just joined our lives together for about 5 days. Many would say, "so"?
And in some ways they could be right.
That said, regardless of what microcosm you live and/or work in, your arena has it's stars, leaders, controllers, purveyors and merchants.(none are dismissable and all are requisite) In our little reality, we just spent a week with all of them. It was important. no question, no debate.
There are those who play our instrument and would argue that what we just did had no value, neither intrinsically not economically. That's just incorrect. Furthering an art form, regardless of the medium, is essential to our existence.
Saturday at the conference was equal to all the other. Different lectures and soloists, but the same, nonetheless. Quality was never a question. We should all be proud.
I'll have more after the trip home.
dwa
a journey around the sun, seeing and hearing celestial beings of all sizes, make up and trajectory.
So we, in the tuba and euphonium world, have just joined our lives together for about 5 days. Many would say, "so"?
And in some ways they could be right.
That said, regardless of what microcosm you live and/or work in, your arena has it's stars, leaders, controllers, purveyors and merchants.(none are dismissable and all are requisite) In our little reality, we just spent a week with all of them. It was important. no question, no debate.
There are those who play our instrument and would argue that what we just did had no value, neither intrinsically not economically. That's just incorrect. Furthering an art form, regardless of the medium, is essential to our existence.
Saturday at the conference was equal to all the other. Different lectures and soloists, but the same, nonetheless. Quality was never a question. We should all be proud.
I'll have more after the trip home.
dwa
Saturday, May 29, 2010
and.......day 6
Last night a "new" event for these conferences took place. An awards banquet. Ok, I know that sounds thrilling, but it really is a cool thing that we're now doing. Back in the earlier days of ITEC's banquets happened, but from what I can ascertain they were not much more than everyone eating a meal together. (and certainly in far fewer numbers than attend the conferences now)
ITEA now gives quite a number of awards on a biennial basis and this banquet was a perfect vehicle for such things. In addition to formal recognition of those who won the performance competitions that completed on Tuesday, we present three "named" awards and a series of lifetime achievement awards. The named awards are the Roger Bobo Award for excellence in recording (several categories there) the Harvey Phillips Award for excellence in composition (again, several categories) and a new one this year, the Clifford Bevan Award for excellence in low brass related research. It is amazing the efforts put forth by the performers, composers and researchers to further our specific art form. I was fortunate enough to be asked by Oystein Baadsvik to (nominated for best tuba recording) to accept on his behalf, if he were to win, as he had other obligations this week and couldn't be here in person (like, premiering Christian Lindberg's Tuba Concerto, with the composer conducting.....) He DID win, so that was fun, taking his award hostage(!)
The Lifetime Achievement Award is our highest honor, and we awarded 4 of those last night. We awarded Art Lehman (frmr prin. Euphonium , USMC Band) posthumously, but the others are still alive and kicking. Cliff Bevan couldn't be with us due to a current nerve injury, but the award will be sent to him--he's the writer of the Tuba Family book and really led the way with original research in our arena (hence, the award named after him, too) Chitate Kagawa from Sapporo, Japan (a teacher and performer who has been very instrumental in shaping literally generations of tuba and euphonium performers in Japan) was on hand to receive his award, as was Ron Bishop (frmr prin. tuba, Cleveland Symphony, and teacher at CIM and Oberlin) It was a great ceremony of recognition of those at the top of what we do and aspire to be!
My recital is later today, and then I'll be heading home in the early hours of the a.m. with a 5:45 flight. As a result the recap of today's events may not happen until far later than even this one, but I'll try!
it has been a great week the whole way around.......
ITEA now gives quite a number of awards on a biennial basis and this banquet was a perfect vehicle for such things. In addition to formal recognition of those who won the performance competitions that completed on Tuesday, we present three "named" awards and a series of lifetime achievement awards. The named awards are the Roger Bobo Award for excellence in recording (several categories there) the Harvey Phillips Award for excellence in composition (again, several categories) and a new one this year, the Clifford Bevan Award for excellence in low brass related research. It is amazing the efforts put forth by the performers, composers and researchers to further our specific art form. I was fortunate enough to be asked by Oystein Baadsvik to (nominated for best tuba recording) to accept on his behalf, if he were to win, as he had other obligations this week and couldn't be here in person (like, premiering Christian Lindberg's Tuba Concerto, with the composer conducting.....) He DID win, so that was fun, taking his award hostage(!)
The Lifetime Achievement Award is our highest honor, and we awarded 4 of those last night. We awarded Art Lehman (frmr prin. Euphonium , USMC Band) posthumously, but the others are still alive and kicking. Cliff Bevan couldn't be with us due to a current nerve injury, but the award will be sent to him--he's the writer of the Tuba Family book and really led the way with original research in our arena (hence, the award named after him, too) Chitate Kagawa from Sapporo, Japan (a teacher and performer who has been very instrumental in shaping literally generations of tuba and euphonium performers in Japan) was on hand to receive his award, as was Ron Bishop (frmr prin. tuba, Cleveland Symphony, and teacher at CIM and Oberlin) It was a great ceremony of recognition of those at the top of what we do and aspire to be!
My recital is later today, and then I'll be heading home in the early hours of the a.m. with a 5:45 flight. As a result the recap of today's events may not happen until far later than even this one, but I'll try!
it has been a great week the whole way around.......
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day 5
If you EVER have the chance to hear the Boston Brass, do it. period. These guys are just absolutely a-maz-ing performers. The show they put on for us last night was amongst the best I've heard. Honestly.
Jim Self was in town yesterday, giving several presentations, all of which were inspiring--he is such a wonderful person. He shared a recital in the late afternoon with Tom McCaslin (my in-state colleague over at ECU--who, by the way played his @$$ off--he perpetually inspires me to be a better player) and the portion of the recital which was Jim's was plain and simply, the embodiment of the word sublime. It was jazz stuff, nothing really fancy, but it was all acoustic (piano, bass, drums + Jim) no mic's at all and just sent me to a different realm of seeing honesty in performance. There was nothing for Jim to hide behind--just him playing. whew.
As we continue through the conference the rest of the performances are continuing to be well received, all the normal kinds of accolades there--let's face it--no one here sucks.........
Attendees seem excited, inspired, etc., but we're all getting a bit fatigued as the week goes on. The late night stuff at Gentle Ben's www.gentlebens.com are, well, badass. Last night featured our conference host, Kelly, with his dixieland group www.wildcatjass.com and guest tuba pickers Tom Holtz (USMC) and Gil Corella (USAF).
While we can't officially announce the site for ITEC 2012 just yet, as some details are being worked out, the likely place will not be in the US, and will be in a country we've never had a conference in before (intrigued? stay tuned!) it everything works out, it will be absolutely amazing.
I have had one rehearsal for my performance tomorrow and another today--working with pianist Susan Wass (TTU tuba/euph prof Kevin Wass' wife) on presenting a recital of music by James Grant. Predominantly in the style of the 1940's-50's torch songs, the works I'm doing are a bit different from the standard fare and even different from the non-standard fare we're hearing this week. Jazz influenced, but art-song in orient, these are wonderful melodic displays. Just hopin' I can do them justice live!
more to follow......
Jim Self was in town yesterday, giving several presentations, all of which were inspiring--he is such a wonderful person. He shared a recital in the late afternoon with Tom McCaslin (my in-state colleague over at ECU--who, by the way played his @$$ off--he perpetually inspires me to be a better player) and the portion of the recital which was Jim's was plain and simply, the embodiment of the word sublime. It was jazz stuff, nothing really fancy, but it was all acoustic (piano, bass, drums + Jim) no mic's at all and just sent me to a different realm of seeing honesty in performance. There was nothing for Jim to hide behind--just him playing. whew.
As we continue through the conference the rest of the performances are continuing to be well received, all the normal kinds of accolades there--let's face it--no one here sucks.........
Attendees seem excited, inspired, etc., but we're all getting a bit fatigued as the week goes on. The late night stuff at Gentle Ben's www.gentlebens.com are, well, badass. Last night featured our conference host, Kelly, with his dixieland group www.wildcatjass.com and guest tuba pickers Tom Holtz (USMC) and Gil Corella (USAF).
While we can't officially announce the site for ITEC 2012 just yet, as some details are being worked out, the likely place will not be in the US, and will be in a country we've never had a conference in before (intrigued? stay tuned!) it everything works out, it will be absolutely amazing.
I have had one rehearsal for my performance tomorrow and another today--working with pianist Susan Wass (TTU tuba/euph prof Kevin Wass' wife) on presenting a recital of music by James Grant. Predominantly in the style of the 1940's-50's torch songs, the works I'm doing are a bit different from the standard fare and even different from the non-standard fare we're hearing this week. Jazz influenced, but art-song in orient, these are wonderful melodic displays. Just hopin' I can do them justice live!
more to follow......
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 4
As the week goes on, I'm adjusting to the 3 hour time difference, which means I'm sleeping later and writing these even later!
Yesterday was just chock full o' great playing. College ensembles from Texas Tech, Iowa, Mesa Comm. College and CCM all gave wonderful performances, as did Sotto Voce at the picnic!
I was able to spend some more time in the displays yesterday--some very good horns on the market these days. I haven't played all of them (and likely won't) but did play some newer additions (Miraphone 1293 and a proto 6/4, Adams, and Kanstul) saw some new gadgets and looked at some new tunes. Talked with a LOT of people (I know, big surprise).
Today should be more of the same, I expect.........
One of the cool things on the trip was the discovery of a breakfast joint called the cereal boxx. Absolutely a great way to start the day! Owners are nice, remember your name, etc. and provide some unusual, but very tasty, breakfast grub.
The Board of Directors is working hard this week, making some quite good progress in areas of the organization that needed attention. This Board is a truly great group of folks, and I'm fortunate to be able to learn from them every meeting!
more to follow!
Yesterday was just chock full o' great playing. College ensembles from Texas Tech, Iowa, Mesa Comm. College and CCM all gave wonderful performances, as did Sotto Voce at the picnic!
I was able to spend some more time in the displays yesterday--some very good horns on the market these days. I haven't played all of them (and likely won't) but did play some newer additions (Miraphone 1293 and a proto 6/4, Adams, and Kanstul) saw some new gadgets and looked at some new tunes. Talked with a LOT of people (I know, big surprise).
Today should be more of the same, I expect.........
One of the cool things on the trip was the discovery of a breakfast joint called the cereal boxx. Absolutely a great way to start the day! Owners are nice, remember your name, etc. and provide some unusual, but very tasty, breakfast grub.
The Board of Directors is working hard this week, making some quite good progress in areas of the organization that needed attention. This Board is a truly great group of folks, and I'm fortunate to be able to learn from them every meeting!
more to follow!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 3
g'day. Things are going amazingly smoothly out here it seems--Kelly Thomas, Mark Nelson and their crew are doing a spectacular job keeping things running. As always, when you give a performer 45 min, they will take an hour, and then the schedule spirals downhill, quickly, but they've built in decent enough lunch and dinner breaks that there can be a soft "reset" at those times.
Word has it there are currently 550-ish registered attendees for this week, which is fantastic!
The competitions are all over--spectacular playing at every level. The one I was in charge of, Young Artist Tuba, had a maximum age of 18, so those performers really were performing outside their normal comfort zones--we had 10 in the semifinals and advanced 4 to the finals. In looking back, I'm convinced that when I was that age, there was NO way I could've played like that. Performance levels are going up--I wish we could take that kind of result on the road as inspiration to many others to show them what can be done (and should be expected!)
The performances in concert yesterday that I heard were all, well, good, as you might expect. The Salt River Brass, under the direction of Pat Sheridan, played a great concert last night, although occasionally there were balance problems with a couple of the soloists in the "big, loud" spots. The "advertised" soloists, Les Neish, David Childs and Steven Mead played as we would expect! Then, there were "unadvertised" extras--Lance LaDuke (tbn/euph w Boston Brass) played/sang for us, and US Army trombonist extraordinaire Harry Watters played a couple of jazz tunes with the group. And throughout the concert we all were "schooled" in ensemble playing by the great tuba section that included Sam Pilafian. geez.
today should prove to be another great day of it.
(and I wound up being able to sleep until 5:30 am today!!)
more to come........
dwa
Word has it there are currently 550-ish registered attendees for this week, which is fantastic!
The competitions are all over--spectacular playing at every level. The one I was in charge of, Young Artist Tuba, had a maximum age of 18, so those performers really were performing outside their normal comfort zones--we had 10 in the semifinals and advanced 4 to the finals. In looking back, I'm convinced that when I was that age, there was NO way I could've played like that. Performance levels are going up--I wish we could take that kind of result on the road as inspiration to many others to show them what can be done (and should be expected!)
The performances in concert yesterday that I heard were all, well, good, as you might expect. The Salt River Brass, under the direction of Pat Sheridan, played a great concert last night, although occasionally there were balance problems with a couple of the soloists in the "big, loud" spots. The "advertised" soloists, Les Neish, David Childs and Steven Mead played as we would expect! Then, there were "unadvertised" extras--Lance LaDuke (tbn/euph w Boston Brass) played/sang for us, and US Army trombonist extraordinaire Harry Watters played a couple of jazz tunes with the group. And throughout the concert we all were "schooled" in ensemble playing by the great tuba section that included Sam Pilafian. geez.
today should prove to be another great day of it.
(and I wound up being able to sleep until 5:30 am today!!)
more to come........
dwa
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 2
This whole 3 hour time difference is getting old, really fast! I don't know how all those jet setter types deal with this on a regular basis!
The competitions are in very full swing--I honestly haven't paid a ton of attention to who moved on to the finals today, (except of course in Young Artist Tuba, which I am in charge of) I hear a ton of North Texas euphoniumists have moved on to the finals, and that the UGA quartet moved on, but other than that........I've just not paid attention ( I guess that makes me a bad attendee) I'll give a more full reporting of the one I'm in charge of later, after the finals are done, but I can say we heard some wonderful performances yesterday.
We had an initial ITEA Board of Directors meeting yesterday, with at least one meeting per day planned during the conference--many things to talk about and make plans for. I feel, very honestly, we're on the cusp of finishing up many transitional things and are about to be in a period of customer service previously unattained.
It's been great to see so many friends, thus far, and I know many more are arriving today. Judging with James Gourlay and Les Neish today in the finals, which will be a wonderful experience I'm sure. I'll also be helping out with the Miraphone booth along and along through the week, so if you're around the conference you might find me there. It seems things are going very well thus far (not without snags, (none of these do that.....) but the ones that I've heard about have been resolved very quickly and efficiently.)
We officially open the conference at 12 today, and then we'll be on a 6 day non-stop run.
more to follow........
The competitions are in very full swing--I honestly haven't paid a ton of attention to who moved on to the finals today, (except of course in Young Artist Tuba, which I am in charge of) I hear a ton of North Texas euphoniumists have moved on to the finals, and that the UGA quartet moved on, but other than that........I've just not paid attention ( I guess that makes me a bad attendee) I'll give a more full reporting of the one I'm in charge of later, after the finals are done, but I can say we heard some wonderful performances yesterday.
We had an initial ITEA Board of Directors meeting yesterday, with at least one meeting per day planned during the conference--many things to talk about and make plans for. I feel, very honestly, we're on the cusp of finishing up many transitional things and are about to be in a period of customer service previously unattained.
It's been great to see so many friends, thus far, and I know many more are arriving today. Judging with James Gourlay and Les Neish today in the finals, which will be a wonderful experience I'm sure. I'll also be helping out with the Miraphone booth along and along through the week, so if you're around the conference you might find me there. It seems things are going very well thus far (not without snags, (none of these do that.....) but the ones that I've heard about have been resolved very quickly and efficiently.)
We officially open the conference at 12 today, and then we'll be on a 6 day non-stop run.
more to follow........
Monday, May 24, 2010
ITEC 2010
Hi gang--it's been a LONG while since I've done this--thought about it many times, but just never made myself do it. Gonna try again........
Every other year, the International Tuba Euphonium Association holds an international conference, or ITEC. This year, we're in Tucson, AZ. The competitions start up today, and I'm chairing the Young Artist Tuba Competition this year--we have 9 semifinalists to listen to this morning, and will whittle that down to 3-4 for tomorrow (probably 3, I expect). I have the privilege of judging with John Cradler (USMC Band) and JAy Hunsberger (prof at USF and tubist of Sarasota Orchestra) this morning, and two friends from Great Britain tomorrow--Les Neish and James Gourlay.
Getting out here yesterday saw me leaving the house @ 4 am ish. Plane trips can be quite interesting if you allow them to be--with all the cost cutting the airlines are doing, I won't say it's at all pleasurable (even when privileged to go business or 1st class) but it can be interesting. On the first leg, I sat in front of a family from somewhere in central NC. Mom, Dad, daughter. Daughter was likely about 11-12 years old. The mom caused all conversation between the three of them, and referred to the dad as Daddy all the time--she would ask him a question, and start with " Daddy, would you..." or something like that. Every time she spoke to the girl, she started the sentence with "Daughter, isn't this.." or something similar. No names of any of them ever used. quite interesting to listen to, but not see. Second flight, wound up sitting next to a husband/wife (I was in window seat) and their child was directly behind me. I offered to switch, but they declined. I had seen a young woman come on to the plane with quite a few body piercings and full-arm tattoos (she was wearing a tank top) but didn't pay attention to where she sat down--we'll come back to this. As the flight began, the couple was bickering a bit over bottles of water, candy, etc. handing back & forth to the child behind us--the way the conversation went and the huskiness of the voice of the child led me to believe it was a somewhat surly 14-15 year old male. (lots of 'yeah' whatever' 'sure' responses) we arrive in Tucson, and turns out the child was this 20-ish young woman with all the tattoos. at the very least it kept me entertained between catnaps.
Upon arriving I talked with our conference host, got some lunch, napped a bit, and then wandered back over to the School of Music for a judges meeting--ran into Richard Murrow, the teacher at TCU, and he asked me to come listen to the quartet from TCU in the competition--I did, for about 45 min, and then we along with Roger Lewis went out to find some hot dog joint that Matt Walter's from Dillon Music had told Roger about.
Good, but not great...........actually was a Mexican joint (surprised to find one of those in Tucson, not!)
soo, off to the races today........
Every other year, the International Tuba Euphonium Association holds an international conference, or ITEC. This year, we're in Tucson, AZ. The competitions start up today, and I'm chairing the Young Artist Tuba Competition this year--we have 9 semifinalists to listen to this morning, and will whittle that down to 3-4 for tomorrow (probably 3, I expect). I have the privilege of judging with John Cradler (USMC Band) and JAy Hunsberger (prof at USF and tubist of Sarasota Orchestra) this morning, and two friends from Great Britain tomorrow--Les Neish and James Gourlay.
Getting out here yesterday saw me leaving the house @ 4 am ish. Plane trips can be quite interesting if you allow them to be--with all the cost cutting the airlines are doing, I won't say it's at all pleasurable (even when privileged to go business or 1st class) but it can be interesting. On the first leg, I sat in front of a family from somewhere in central NC. Mom, Dad, daughter. Daughter was likely about 11-12 years old. The mom caused all conversation between the three of them, and referred to the dad as Daddy all the time--she would ask him a question, and start with " Daddy, would you..." or something like that. Every time she spoke to the girl, she started the sentence with "Daughter, isn't this.." or something similar. No names of any of them ever used. quite interesting to listen to, but not see. Second flight, wound up sitting next to a husband/wife (I was in window seat) and their child was directly behind me. I offered to switch, but they declined. I had seen a young woman come on to the plane with quite a few body piercings and full-arm tattoos (she was wearing a tank top) but didn't pay attention to where she sat down--we'll come back to this. As the flight began, the couple was bickering a bit over bottles of water, candy, etc. handing back & forth to the child behind us--the way the conversation went and the huskiness of the voice of the child led me to believe it was a somewhat surly 14-15 year old male. (lots of 'yeah' whatever' 'sure' responses) we arrive in Tucson, and turns out the child was this 20-ish young woman with all the tattoos. at the very least it kept me entertained between catnaps.
Upon arriving I talked with our conference host, got some lunch, napped a bit, and then wandered back over to the School of Music for a judges meeting--ran into Richard Murrow, the teacher at TCU, and he asked me to come listen to the quartet from TCU in the competition--I did, for about 45 min, and then we along with Roger Lewis went out to find some hot dog joint that Matt Walter's from Dillon Music had told Roger about.
Good, but not great...........actually was a Mexican joint (surprised to find one of those in Tucson, not!)
soo, off to the races today........
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