Busy, Busy, Busy

The month of October is one of the busiest months of the year for me. Usually it's just a hectic marching band schedule and that's it, but this year it's 2 marching band schedules and the busiest month of the year gigging for me (which is a good thing!). Throw in the NC Symphony audition I just had and things are CRAZY!

As far as the audition went, I thought I played really well. I didn't win obviously but it was a good audition for me. It was one of my best auditions so far so that is a vote of confidence for me. Hopefully one of these days I will play well enough to land a gig.

Saturday was the West Johnston marching band show. Northern Nash had a good run and made a ton of improvements. They sounded absolutely fantastic in the parking lot. Best band standing still by far. Green Hope also had a good run but it was not their best. We are starting to figure a lot of things out but we have a lot of growing up to do as a band. Hopefully we can continue to grow musically as well as in our maturity to have a better run this week.

This week and next I'll be playing about 12 services with the NC Symphony including my first real Classical series. I'm really excited. We are playing Debussy's La Mer and Copeland's Red Pony Suite. I also get to play a few educational concerts which have William Tell on them. This has a pretty sick trombone part to it. Lots of notes and it moves pretty fast. And on that note......I'm off to practice. Later.

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Good weekend and Great start to the week

The GHHS Marching band had a great performance on Saturday night at Panther Creek. I could not have asked for it to be any better for a first show. We have come a long ways and I'm really excited about where we are going to end up this season. The brass players are playing really well.

Today Brooke had an ultrasound to find out if we are having a boy or girl. I am excited to say that we have a healthy little boy on the way!! We are naming him Noah David. We got tons of pictures and are super excited. It was really neat to see Noah and watch all the movements he was making. I'm really excited and am looking forward to having an ECU pirates themed room for the him. Lots of gold and purple!!

Ok, time to go practice. NC Symphony audition is one week from today. Wish me luck!!

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Knowing what you want.....Becoming informed

As I was practicing last night it occurred to me that in one of my excerpts, I wasn't exactly sure of what I wanted the excerpt to sound like. This led me to listening to recordings of it and singing and playing through it with different styles. This is the topic of the blog today.

So many of my students come in to lessons and they are not sure if what they are playing is right. I ask them if they have thought about what they want it to sound like and the usual response is"nope". So I have them think things like what style the piece is written in and what the dynamic and rhythmical structure is. Once they begin to think and make decisions about these things they can start to formulate an idea about how they want it to sound.

One way to become informed is to found out when and why the music was written. Then listen to recordings to have an understanding of how others have interpreted it. Studying, reading about, and listening can be great starting points to become better informed of the music you are playing.

I equate this to acting or painting. An actor must read through the script and think about things such as context, mood, style, feeling, etc. Once they can better understand these things they can start to create their own interpretation. A painter must determine which style they are painting in as well as what texture brush to use or what colors of paint to use. From there they can create their own interpretation.

Once an understanding of the music is gained and the music becomes coherent in one's mind then an informed interpretation can be made. These are a lot of words to basically say, "learn about the music to become better informed. Once you are informed you can decide what it is you want the music to sound like". One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to play music without being informed. This either leads to the music being stylistically wrong and boring or you copy someone else's interpretation.

If you are one of my students and you are reading this then try applying this before your next lesson :)

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Waaaaaay too Long.......

It's been waaay too long since I last posted to the old blog. So much has gone on over the summer so I'll just give you a quick play by play. Most importantly I found out that my wife and I are going to have a baby in February!!! Ever since we found out, things have just been exciting and crazy. Things are going well so far. We will have an ultrasound in 1 week to find out the good news of what it is.

I also taught a lot of good band camps this summer and I have played a fair amount of gigs. It has been a busy summer and beginning to the fall but things are going well.

The audition trail is still blazing on as I have my audition for the NC Symphony in 3 weeks. The prep is going well so hopefully I can have a good audition. This would be the perfect gig to have so let's see what happens.

I am also playing full time in the Triangle Brass Band, which is a blast. It was nice to play euphonium on our first concert. It took me back to my days of playing in the youth band.

Time to go practice.......Hopefully I can keep updating more regularly.

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Recovering

This week is recovery week from working at East Carolina University's Summer Band Camp all last week. The camp consisted of long days that were VERY HOT! Other than the heat it was a fun camp. I got to see some band director friends that I don't see often and had a good time hanging with them.

The camp ended on Friday and I spent all day on Saturday watching drum corps with Erik Harris. We drove to Chesapeake VA and watched the Cavaliers and Crown rehearse. The Cavies have a very cool show that is very hard and sophisticated. Crown's show is hard for different reasons and they sound really good. Oh yeah, the are really loud too! After watching both groups rehearse we went to the show where both groups plus the Cadets performed twice. It was nice to see drum corps live again; it had been a while.

Yesterday, Brooke and I went to ECU so she could present her Master's project and defend her orals. She ended up passing very easily (like I told her she would). I'm proud of her for doing so well. She worked really hard on the project.

I'm teaching a couple lessons and then hanging around today. *Sigh......

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Brass Band Finale Concert

Last night was my last formal concert with the TYBE this season. I think the concert went incredibly well. My band played about as well as they could have on a long and challenging program. I could not be happier with where they ended up as a group this season. We did so many things well last night and I got some great feedback from the audience. I had a ton of fun and I hope the kids did as well. I can't wait until next season.

Next week both youth bands will play 1812 Overture and Stars and Stripes Forever with the Triangle Wind Ensemble in Cary. Should be a fun and loud concert. Come to the concert next Saturday at the Koka Booth in Cary.

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Still going well

So the diet is still going well. I have lost 7 lbs. in the last week and a half and it's been pretty easy. I've given up fast food french fries and fast food breakfast. This week's goal is to start walking everyday. Monday and Tuesday were rain outs but I went last night. Hopefully I'll go today.

Tonight we have our last brass band dress rehearsal. I can't say how proud of the group I am. I really am going to miss the brass band over the summer. Whatever will I do with myself?

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Last Brass Band Rehearsal

Last night was the final real brass band rehearsal of the season. We have a dress rehearsal on Thursday but last night was the last one where we could dig down. We got a lot done and I'm really happy with where the band has ended up this season. They have grown a lot as an ensemble and I'm really proud to have been a part of it with them. Friday is our season finale concert and it should prove to be a really good one. Please come check it out and support the youth bands.

As for me, things are starting to slow down which is great. I'm looking forward to the summer and the wife being home. I have just enough gigs and camps through the summer to keep me going without driving me crazy. Only a few more weeks.......

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Diet time

Ok, so after having gotten up to my largest weight ever, I am finally starting to do something about it. This weeks goal is to exercise a little bit everyday and to give up fast food breakfast and fast food french fries. I love breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal ever, but we all know that it's not good for you when it comes from McDonald's or Hardees. So this week it is Honey Nut Cheerios all week. As far as fast food goes, I can't give it up completely due to the amount of driving I do, so I am just going to give up fries and make better choices for meat, like grilled chicken. Hopefully I can stick to it....Ok, time to get my exercise on. YAY DISC GOLF!!!!!

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Brass Band Rehearsal # ??....I stopped keeping track

Last night was brass band rehearsal # 23 or something and it went pretty well. We rehearsed with Jim Ketch, cornet soloist, from UNC-CH. He did a great job and has a great sound on the cornet. I'm glad the band finally decided to prepare the band parts well enough this week. I also am conducting Nimrod with The TYBB on this concert. It's gonna be awesome and the band sounds awesome. I love this piece too. Brass band getting to play loud, I love it! Hopefully I can manage not to screw up the conducting. It's really slow and hard to conduct in 3. Hopefully I will get it. We'll have to see on the concert....

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Stuff

Things have been busy in the last week and a half, but that is a good thing. TYBE is getting set for it's last concert on May 21 with soloist Jim Ketch. It looks to be a great concert and the band is playing some challenging music really well. I'm so proud of how far they have come this year. This band is rapidly getting better and will soon be a top notch youth brass band.

I also got to play a little bit with the NC Symphony which is always a blast. Two weeks ago I got to play a kiddie concert in Meymandi and then travel to Kill Devil Hills to play a concert there. We traveled up a day early and I got to enjoy some time on the beach which was sweet. The next day we played another kiddie concert and drove home. This past Thursday I had to cover some rehearsals for Mike Kris. We were playing a bunch of broadway and big band tunes. Let's just say it was interesting. It gets better each time I play though which is a good thing. It's just nice to have the chance to play in such a great orchestra.

Dinner last night was the bomb. The wife cooked pineapple chicken, lime-cilantro rice, and blackbeans. It was goooooooood! It beats eating fast food again.

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Brass Band Update

The big brass band month is about over and it was a good one. NABBA was about a week ago and I played trombone with the Triangle Brass Band and had a blast. We had rehearsals every night the week of and it really helped us have a good show on stage. Many thanks to Tony for upping the standards of the band. He is really going to make TBB a powerful force in the brass band world. My youth band also did very well. We impressed a lot of people with our performance and there were a lot of very wonderful comments given to me by some great musicians. I was really proud to have been a part of all of it with these kids.

I heard some really awesome performances too. JMU and Chicago were stunning but Fountain City just blew the doors off of Meymandi. It was so much fun and entertaining and it was a very musical performance. I also got to see Peter Pirotte and Mark Norman, both of which play in FCBB. All in all it was a great first NABBA experience. Too bad it may be my last....

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Go Duke!

It's nice to see Duke seriously back in the hunt for the title. They have a good team this year and have as much chance as anyone else. The game last night was a bit rough because it was a defensive struggle. Purdue played them really well but Duke turned it on in the second half. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better offensive performance against Baylor....

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Ben Folds with the NC Symphony

I got to play with the NC symphony last night while they accompanied singer Ben Folds. It really was a fun show even though the music was lame. He is all about making up random lyrics and putting them with good melodies. Even though he doesn't sing well he does put on one heck of a show. He absolutely had the crowd going, getting them clapping and singing. It was a great confidence booster for me to show up and play well. I felt really great about how I sounded. It wasn't perfect but still really good I think. Hopefully I'll be lucky enough to get more work in the future. NC really is a great orchestra.

Well, it's back to work......practicing all day!

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Brass Band Rehearsal #15

Rehearsal last night was just okay. Lisa Burn, principal cornet in TBB, came and did a sectional with my cornets which was much needed. They just need to hear things from another person sometimes. We can play one of our pieces, Canticles, very well. I feel comfortable putting that in front of people now. As for the other piece, Haydock Variations, I am not quite as comfortable. There are about 40 measures that are just not gong well for us and it's because it's hard. We only have 2 more rehearsals to get it together so we'll see what we can do. I'm really impressed by how much the kids have improved though so I'm confident it will get better.

Off to do some practicing. My next audition is in June for the Milwaukee Symphony. Hopefully it goes better than Buffalo. Peace out.

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Long weekend

This past weekend was a long one with the Platinum Drum and Bugle Corps. The hornline is starting to really come together and at times is playing pretty well. The technique book is learned and about half of the show is memorized, which is pretty cool. Hopefully we have our battery percussion situation worked out, now we just need some pit people. All in all things are slowly coming together with this drum corps. If you are a trumpet, mellophone, or pit player and are interested in marching please contact me ASAP!

This week is going to be a long week as well....I have lots of lessons and Brass Band rehearsal with the adult band on Wed. Thursday will be fun but stressful. I am playing with the NC Symphony on a concert with pop singer Ben Folds. It should be a fun concert but there are a lot of tunes to learn. Hopefully I can pull it off. Anyways i'm off to practice. Later.

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Getting slack.......Hey I'm busy, get off me!

A few people have been complaining that I haven't been blogging as often as I should be so here it is again. A ton has gone on since the beginning of February. I had an audition for the Buffalo Philharmonic, I played a Tar River Band gig, and my students auditioned for All State this weekend. Oh, I also went to see the NC Symphony play the Planets this weekend which was AWESOME!

First the audition, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. I could not have played any worse. I just got spooked when I got on the stage and fell apart. Oh well, it was still a learning experience. This has taught me to expect the unexpected and be ready for anything. Next time I'll be ready. Second, the Tar River gig. I at least got to play Holst's Second Suite for Band which is almost a Euphonium Concerto. I feel like I played well and it was really good to see some friends that I don't get to see much. That's all I enjoyed about the gig. I know I will get in trouble for posting this but we have to get a new conductor. It's just that simple. The person doing the job know is well........ you get the idea.

Third, All State auditions were this past Saturday. I had 3 out of 4 make it including two 1st chairs. The middle school euphonium and 9/10 trombone 1st chairs come from my studio. I am super proud of all of my students! Lastly, the NCS concert Saturday night was Incredible. The orchestra sounded great including the brass. Andrew Litton also was amazing. I got to hang with Demondrae after the concert which was awesome. I don't get to see him often so it was good times.

This week Allen Vizzutti comes to solo with the Triangle Brass Band and it should be amazing. Too bad I won't be able to play or watch because I'll be playing with the Wilmington Symphony this weekend. BUT.......EVERYONE SHOULD GO SEE ALLEN VIZZUTTI!!! He is the best trumpet player in the world!

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TYBE Rehearsal #9

So Monday's rehearsal was about what I expected it to be. We had to miss last week so it took us a long time to get it back. Hope fully by Friday's dress rehearsal we will be back to normal. There are a few spots in the big tunes that still need some work. I hope the band has enough sense to go home and practice. We had gone about 3 weeks in a row having some killer rehearsals and now we have finally hit the wall, which is to be expected. Time to see what they are made of.

Anyways, im off to go do some more practicing. The concert is Saturday night at 7pm in Meymandi concert hall in Downtown Raleigh. Come check it out if you are free.

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Back at it

So it's been about a month since I last blogged. I've been really busy with practicing and preparing for auditions and the brass band has been keeping me busy as well. For those who are interested, I advanced at Roanoke into the top 3 that actually auditioned. There were 2 that were advanced automatically. I'm really proud of myself and it was a good motivator for me preparing for Buffalo.

The brass band is going well. We have 6 days until our first concert of the season. I'm really looking forward to it but we are not quite ready due to missing rehearsal last week because of the snow. We will be rehearsaing with Scott Hartman tonight who is a killer trombone player from up north. Hopefully it will go well.

Things are going really well for now. I'll be back tonight after rehearsal.

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