RANT: Preparing for my SENIOR RECITAL and GRADUATION

 So, my time at Lewis & Clark is quickly coming to an end, and I'm trying to get all of the insanities for my senior recital in order.  Finding musicians that will work for cookies and have the time to help me has been difficult, and I still don't have a full choir or a marimbist (although Brett Paschal is helping me with that one).

String Pieces

Coming to the end of college brings up a whole bunch of feelings and problems - and waiting to hear back from schools is completely out of my control, and I think I will soon have a control-freak type problem with my recital.  The main problem here is my inability to control players schedules, allowing the conductor of one of my pieces to do his job, and probably not being able to delegate tasks to others just so I can have full control of something.

I am having a great problem getting people to answer my emails so I can schedule rehearsal times...BBBAAHHH!!!  This is happening in 5 WEEKS people!!!!!!!

a piano duet

I have edited all of my scores - they all look beautiful now! - and that was a bunch of busy work.  Highlight the little boxes, hold an arrow key down forever; highlight next set of boxes, hold down arrow key forever.  Once that was complete - move all of the articulations and dynamics and everything to the specific space that it needs to be in because it got moved when you changed from studio view to page view.

On a happy note, I went on a beautiful hike this morning...it made me feel better.

Tryon State Park

Recital Event Information - date/time/place, what & by whom, etc.

Friends of Rain Spring Concert!

From Mountain Music to the Frontier of Jazz!

March 12, 2011, 8pm, Lewis & Clark College, Evans Auditorium

Lewis & Clark College faculty new music ensemble, Friends of Rain, presents an evening of wonderful music showcasing traditional mountain music to the beginnings of jazz. Featured composers include Robert Beaser, Greg Maroney, Edgard Varèse and L&C's composition professor Michael Johanson, and local jazz player & L&C teacher Dan Balmer.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome (suggested donation $10)

There will be a small reception after the concert.

For more information, please email us or call 503.768.7460, or visit the L&C Music Department page or find us on Facebook.  We also have an ad on craigslist.

Percussion Spectacular

I went to Percussion Spectacular the other evening by the Oregon Symphony.

It was a really nice concert!  From my seat WAY up high in the balcony, I could almost make out the faces of faculty from my college (Greg Ewer, violin, Brett EE Paschal, percussion).  I was impressed that I heard NO ONE clap between movements!  I think it has to have been the first concert I went to where NO ONE clapped between the movements!!

The Shchedrin arrangement of Carmen featured a lot of interesting parts, some which were of great interest to me because they gave me ideas of how to write the tango movement of the string quartet I'm working on.  Without the theatre aspect, this seemed really long at point.

The main attraction of the concert was soloist Colin Currie playing a percussion concerto composed by Jennifer Higdon.
It was really interesting watching Currie race back and forth, especially after reading the program notes that mentioned how a composer has to consider travel time for a percussionist when they are playing multiple instruments.

I found it very interesting  that the soloist joined the percussion section for Gershwin's Cuban Overture.  But that wasn't quite as exciting as getting more ideas for my unfinished string quartet (the tango and chacha/salsa movements are left)

It was a nice evening out with friends - two of us went for hot chocolate before the concert - and gave me a break from my studies and usual entertainment (the television or hulu :) )

A Walk in the Garden of Earthly Delights

I am going to tell you about the concert I was in last night - well only one piece, but interesting would be an understatement. (The L&C event page is here)

"An Evening of Percussion" opened with a colonial drum & fife set playing three American folk tunes - totally amazing & fun to watch.  It filtered through Steve Reich's "Clapping Music" and the World Premier of “U-505” for Solo Timpani by award winning composer John Wilmarth (which was performed by L&C faculty member Brett EE Paschal).  The penultimate piece was "A Walk in the Garden of Earthly Delights."

Now let me tell you, this piece is kinda wierd...it's based on ”The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch (above).

Two days before the concert, Brett asked me to "sing" for the concert - I did NOT know what I was getting into...

The instrumentation requires drums, cymbals, vibraphone, xylophone, tam-tam, the list goes on...and female voices.  This is where I--and the 5 other girls--come in. Split into 2 parts, the "female voices"  are full of erratic, erotic, & elaborate, noises, sounds, yells, screams, moans, panting, growls, etc.  and just a little bit of singing and two points where we needed to match a pitch among a cacophony of percussive sounds (of traditional and experimental fashions).

After our rehearsal (2 days before the concert), we went downstairs and were immediately asked if we knew what all of the noise was about.

At the concert, there was a lot applause...but I'm not sure if people actually enjoyed it or if they were just stunned by the strangeness they had just witnessed.

Anyway - you gotta see this.