Cedar Ridge HS Bands tonight!

The Cedar Ridge HS Wind Symphony and Symphony Bands are playing my MetaMarch and Radiant Joy tonight, in Hillsborough, NC. I'll be working with both bands in rehearsal today, and at the concert tonight. Triangle people, come on out!

From Michigan to Miami

Catching up...

Had a great trip to Michigan for the Univ. Michigan Symphony Band's performance of Ecstatic Waters. Hill Auditorium makes the electronics crystal clear - it was easy (to my ears) to pick out the acoustic vs. the electronics elements, which made the blending more difficult than usual. The band did a great job, made all the more astonishing by conductor Michael Haithcock doing the entire piece without a click track! Not intentionally, of course - for some reason the wireless unit didn't work in performance (could've been as simple as the earpiece not being plugged in all the way - we have no idea what really went wrong), but he got to Mvt. II where the first electronics cue comes, in, and he had no click. Despite this, he held the piece together by simply relying on listening to the speakers. Lesson for everyone else doing the piece - make sure you check that your click track works immediately before the piece begins.

Also gave an in-depth talk about the piece during a seminar at Michigan - 2 hours solid of me talking about this one piece of music. It felt incredibly self-indulgent, but no one fell asleep, so that's a good sign. A little nerve-wracking that Bob Reynolds was there and asking questions (and in fact we may have worked out a persistent orchestrational problem I've had in Mvt. IV!).

After the performance, Verena and I spent the weekend in East Lansing, and got to go to the MSU/Michigan game on Saturday, followed by Kevin Sedatole's post-game party at his house (featuring Salt Lick BBQ shipped up from Austin for this occasion). Great weekend seeing old friends and revisiting V's old stomping grounds for the first time since we left over two years ago.

After a brief return home, I'm now in Miami, where Gary Green and the Univ. of Miami Wind Symphony will perform Ecstatic Waters on Wednesday night. We had a rehearsal yesterday, and everything worked great (including the click track!). This is my first time in Miami, and of course we had some excellent Cuban cuisine today at Versailles, and some unbelievably good seafood last night on the water at The Chart House (the Apple Jack Seabass...hooboy was that some good eats). So, things are good here. If you're in Miami, come to the concert Wednesday night on the Univ. Miami campus - the concert also features the premiere of Gary's transcription of Frank Ticheli's Symphony No. 1, with tenor John Bragle singing the final movement - should prove to be a great concert!

Must sleep - have to talk to the conducting students here in the morning...

Duke Univ. Wind Symphony concert TONIGHT

If you're in The Triangle (that'd be Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill for you non-locals), you should check out the Duke University Wind Symphony's first concert of the year tonight at 8pm in Baldwin Auditorium (East Campus). Verena has done a fantastic job with the group, and when I heard the dress rehearsal on Tues. night, it was evident they've worked really hard on this concert. Verena is an extraordinarily musical conductor, and the concert will be worth your time.

The program includes Susato's Danserye, Grantham's Southern Harmony, Vaughan WIlliams English Folk Song Suite, Hindemith's March from Symphonic Metamorphosis, and more!

In Ann Arbor

Arrived in Ann Arbor, MI today for the Univ. Michigan's upcoming performance of Ecstatic Waters. Tomorrow I give a seminar, then we do the dress rehearsal in the evening. The group will sound fantastic - can't wait to hear them in Hill Auditorium: Friday night (8pm; pre-concert lecture at 7:15).

Saturday, we're off to the Mich./MSU game. And lest a week go by without BBQ, I hear Kevin Sedatole is having Salt Lick shipped up fresh from Austin for the post-game party on Saturday. I think that's what the kids these days call an "Epic Win."