End of Semester...

Sigh... the work just keeps building up, and it seems like you can't ever get ahead of it. The crunch is always on. Sometimes I don't get how people in the real world can handle it. Really, I don't have to much to complain about, seeing as how I certainly don't have the pressures of, say, being an actual teacher on my plate. However, I do dedicate my time to working musically, since this is my career choice. I spend my 3-4 hours practicing during the day, I set up and do quintet rehearsals, orchestra rehearsals, sectionals, brass choir and so on. Then you get the papers, theory assignments and studying. Nothing new for a student, right?

I just seem to be finding it a bit much lately. Maybe it's because I got to go home for 4 days, and then left again so soon. It was like stepping out of my school life for a moment, and then being thrown back into it without really realizing what was happening. I just want to head back home and reconnect.

The downside to that is the organizing of my school life so I can run away for a month and not think about it. Aside from finishing up the school work, I've been trying to navigate the piss poor excuse for an administrative system here, and figure out what I need to do to graduate in 4 months. These Victorians are all great and friendly to talk to, but they are far too laid back. There is absolutely no organization to anything, and what is organized is so hopelessly outdated that you have to read it and hope you can figure out a way to apply it to your situation.

Also, I'm trying to figure out what to do for the auditions I have coming up. I've decided to record myself when I get back to Lethbridge, since I just don't have the time right now to sit in a room for a day or so. Unfortunately that means I need to track down some sort of recording gear to pull that one off. Also means I need to get the right application packages taken care of before I leave my laptop in Victoria.

Then there's the money. I'm going back to work for Canadian Tire for 2 weeks when I get back to Lethbridge. That's right... I said I'd never go back, and I'm going back. I'm a bad person. However, with the flight costs, I need the money, and it'll pay for Christmas too. Just means that a little bit of my soul will die each cordless drill that I sell for the holidays.

There's more too... but now that I look back on the stuff I just typed out, I realize that it doesn't really matter. We all do what we have to do, right? As a wise brass player once said to me, "Doesn't matter how hard it is. If it has to sound that way, you need to make it work, no matter what." There were a few more "colorful" words in there, but the point is that no matter the difficulties presented by the instrument/life, if it needs to get done, you do it. In the grand scheme, my plate isn't as full as some other peoples, and there are some who you give it all up just to take what I'm doing as a break from their stress!

Shadowcatcher!

So, it's been confirmed, so I can get excited about it now...

My brass quintet has been in contact with composer Eric Ewazen, and we decided that this year we were going to perform his concerto for brass quintet, Shadowcatcher. It is a 35 minute work, based on photographs from the early 1910s, depicting Native American life in various respects. Certainly a monumental work to undertake, but we figured, with everyone in the school playing the same things every year, that we should do something different. So, we started looking at Shadowcatcher, and were hoping that Eric could give us some hints as to how to get some percussion parts to go along with the piano reduction, since it was originally scored for Wind Orchestra, and there is quite a bit of rhythmic emphasis. This led, through a chain of conversations, to the director of the Wind Symphony at UVic, who was very interested in performing the work. A few calls to Southern Music in Texas, and the rental was secured, the date is set for February 9th, 2007, and it looks to be the Canadian Premiere of the work with Wind Symphony! Very exciting! Very scary! Rehearsals have started, and work has begun on tearing apart the insanity.

Now all we need is a name for our quintet...

Best Quote Ever!

"In my opinion, the trombone is the true head of the family of wind instruments, which I have named the 'epic' one. It possesses nobility and grandeur to the highest degree; it has all the serious and powerful tones of sublime musical poetry, from religious, calm and imposing accents to savage, orgiastic outburst. Directed by the will of the master, the trombones can chant like a choir of priests, threaten, utter gloomy sighs, a mournful lament, or a bright hymn of glory; they can break forth into awe-inspiring cries and awaken the dead or doom the living with their fearful voices."

- Hector Berlioz -

I've been saying this for years! Glad someone was saying it before me...

Huge news coming up, more on it soon. Y'all better be coming to visit Victoria on February 9th, 2007...

Tastefully Restrained?

Well, we had our first rehearsal today for the next orchestra concert. I must say, after the intensity of the last performance, I was still on fire for this rehearsal. However, it's Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2, and we're looking at the possibility of scaling down our equipment to make it sound lighter. We'll see about that...

The concert was a huge success! Of course, there are always things that you wish could have gone better, but the reaction from the audience was one of great appreciation and support! Gene said that it was possibly one of the best orchestra concerts he had heard at the university since he was hired 30 years ago! Many were impressed, and we received a good number of compliments on our hard work. Sibelius No. 2 is certainly an endurance symphony... at least the way we did it. Not in terms of tempos, or the length overall, but the drive and intensity through the whole work really take it out of you. And then the Finale... wow, I don't think I've ever played that loud in my life!

Funny thing about playing loud... sometimes it's never loud enough. As I've said, I'm pretty sure I would have been putting my supper through my trombone if I was playing any louder at then end of the Sibelius on Friday night. However, everyone we talked to after the concert said that the brass were in a great balance to the rest of the orchestra. Didn't drown out a thing. I could have sworn the back desk viola (who I can hit with my slide if I reach out a little from my chair) was going to go deaf, or at least experience some sort of temporary hearing loss.

To add insult to injury, the brass got special mention by one of the critics who reviewed the performance. After complimenting the orchestra and the performance overall, the critic mentions the brass in passing, with the comment "tastefully restrained." I know for a fact that we were nowhere near restrained, and the volume on stage certainly not tasteful. The whole brass section broke down in laughter when this was read to us today. Just goes to show, you might be blowing your brains out in volume, but what the audience hears is completely different from what you hear on stage. Upon further investigation, even with newly installed seats, the hall we play in still sucks up the low brass sound, but at least the woodwinds now can be heard. One of the profs mentioned it was like having an oboe sitting in your lap. Cute... is it house trained?

Anyways, I've got a recording on the way, so I'll try and get those up sometime. If you want to read the whole review, it's posted here.

Data Storage

I've started a huge project. I'm going to convert all of my music into digital files (read: mp3s) and store them on some sort of portable hard drive. I've come to realize that as my degree moves onwards, I'm collecting CDs at an insane pace. The little bookshelf that Megan sent with me to Victoria is already double stacked, and there are even more CDs in my storage locker. I figure I'll actually save money in blank CDs and cases this way.

However, the problem lies in naming all the files. Since I'm a bit type-A with this sort of stuff, I want a format for the naming of song title, artist, composer, album and so on. That in itself isn't a problem, since I've already got a system in place for that. The problem is the CDDB that iTunes uses to look up CD track names and information. It's all programmed by random monkeys, and the classical music data has no consistant naming scheme. Even tracks on the same albums are all screwy. So I can't simply look everything up that way, I have to go in and manually program all the track information. This may not seem like a big deal, but we're talking about close to 30,000 tracks here. I've got over 130 gigs of music, and it's going to need to be organized in some fashion so that I can actually find stuff when I need it.

So I've been slowly doing that this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have a portable hard drive yet, so I've been just dumping in CDs and renaming then in my iTunes library. I'll have to go back and rip them later when I have space. Tim, the trumpet player in my quintet, has a drive that I like, and he might be interested in selling. It's a 400 gig Western Digital My Book; it runs quiet, seems to have a fairly fast access time, and has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports, which means if I ever need to, I can get a second one and daisy chain them together. I don't really have the money right now anyways, but he's not planning on selling it until he gets a new computer in the new year, so there's no rush. Just nice to plan out...

Got my recital program finalized this week. Still working on a date change, however. There have been some cancellations, so I might be able to shuffle some people around to make it work. Things like this seem to go at a snail's pace around here.

Also been trying to figure out what I'm going to do this summer musically. I'm going to audition for the NYO again, but there are a few other summer orchestras that I'm interested in. There is the Symphony Academy of the Pacific, which is in Powell River, BC. Sounds like it's about the same as NYO without the touring across Canada, but there seems to be less scholarships floating around for that one. I'm also looking at auditioning for the Aspen Music Festival, in Colorado. The trumpet prof here, Lou Ranger, teaches at the festival every year, and mentioned that I should try for the audition this year. That'll be interesting, since my bass trombone hero, John Rojak, is also there every year. That's an expensive one, however, and I can't seem to decipher how the scholarships/fellowships work on their website. There is also the Music Academy of the West, which is in Santa Barbara, California. That one is very much like the NYO as well, but on a beach. I'm very interested in this one, since it is all paid for if you get in. Not only that, but you can send in taped auditions, so I can do as many takes as necessary to get the best recording!

Other than that, not much new around here. Been doing lots of playing, I'm subbing for a local orchestra tomorrow in one of their dress rehearsals. Nothing too fancy, but I've moved up the sub list around here, so that's good to know. The UVic orchestra has a concert this coming Friday, which should be great. The Sibelius Symphony No. 2 is coming along well, and I don't have to count too many rests through it, so that helps keep me interested. I'll hopefully have a recording of it shortly after the concert, and I'll see if I can put it up for download.

Long Weekend, Long Post

Well... I guess it's been over a month since I've blogged about something. Lots has been happening, but I guess I just have not been able to work up the patience to sit down and type it all out. However, since it's the long turkey weekend, and I'm not going anywhere, I can sit down and get it all out!

Alright, where to start... well, after the zipline tour, I returned to Victoria to start classes. I remembered from last year to not expect much in the way of organization, since Victoria is the king of relaxed atmospheres. I promised myself I would not be frustrated by the lack of any sort of schedule to make my life easier. After about 2 days I wanted to shoot the administration, experiencing the same levels of frustration and lack to continuity that I felt in my first week of UVIC. Gene wasn't a problem, he had just got back from Detroit, I knew he would be busy, but there was no way for me to find out things like: What are my TA responsibilities, when are rehearsals for brass chamber groups, how many groups will I be teaching, when are the auditions for the orchestra, and many more... *sigh*

Anyways, I didn't fall into a real schedule until last week, but things started to come together shortly after Gene got out of vacation mode. Auditions were held at the end of the first week, so once again I began to polish my "Ride of the Valkyries" excerpt (since I wasn't allowed to play it at home - ask Megs about that one...) and the Beethoven Symphony 9 excerpt that Gene had provided to all the low brass students. Ironically, this year, I found myself coaching a few different people through the excerpts, helping with style and rhythm and context, as opposed to last year when people hid outside my practice room door and listened (much like I guess I did when I was in my undergrad at U of L). It made me feel like I've been learning about the orchestral genre, since that was one area that I felt that I was lacking, since there is little to no opportunity to experience that in Lethbridge.

So, the auditions went well, and although my position in the orchestra this season was already assured, I feel I did well on the excerpts. There were some things I was not happy about, such as not having the sound quality that I usually have, but I was still coming out of the summer practice routine, and that has fixed itself. Gene was happy with the other areas that I've been working on in the orchestral excerpt process, such as time, rhythm and style. I guess it's hard to teach style without listening, but I've noticed that even at UVIC, where there is an insane amount of recordings available (which I "borrow" regularly) people do not take advantage of them to learn the works, and how the excerpt fits in the context of the entire piece. Not only that, they are upset and confused when they are told it doesn't sound like that when they play it. Anyway, this created a little revelation for me: It's the little things that make the musician. You can play the notes, but if you can't put together the little things that the composer wrote in, what's the point? Accents, phrasing, style, tempo, they're all there for a reason. If you can co-ordinate them all, that makes the whole thing work together.

Hmm... what happened next? Oh yeah, orchestra. So the orchestra is going to be the best at UVIC than it has been for the past several years, apparently. The string players that were holding the group back, via attitude or ability, have all graduated, and the new ones are all keeners, so they seem to be practicing quite a bit. Not only that, the brass section is hardcore solid! We have grad students in each area (horn, trumpet, trombone) and the section members are all great players! The tuba player is a prodigy that Gene has been teaching since he was in junior high, and he's been to Domain Forget twice already, and studied with Roger Bobo! Insanely good tuba player! I think he's mildly autistic (is that possible?) but that's another story. Anyway, point is, strong sections in the back. Tim, Jim and I were pretty excited, since we're planning on not holding back the sound this season. I will be making some poor viola player deaf by the end of the year! For the first concert coming up at the end of this month, we're performing Sibelius' Symphony No. 2, and Beethoven's Overture to Leonore, as well as a Haydn Symphony (100, the Military, I think) but there is no low brass for that. The Sibelius is awesome! Get a recording and listen to that one! I'll post it up after the concert so you can hear, certainly a great, powerful work!


Speaking of Tim, Jim and I, our quintet is back together again this season. We were happy to hear that we were all posted to the same group again, with some new additions. We gained a grad student horn player named Jacob, who is from the States. When I first met him, we had a G.W. Bush bashing session, so I knew we would get along fine. We also got a new trumpet player to replace our Cuban, Javier, who graduated and now runs a group on a cruise ship. Justin is a 3rd year, who practices more than I do (which is scary...) and he is really keen on the brass quintet realm. He's got the same problem (addiction) as I did in my undergrad: Buy lots of music! Anyways, we're gonna tackle some hard works this semester, starting with the Previn "4 Outings for Brass". We'll see where we go from there, but we're looking at performing Eric Ewazen's Concerto for Brass Quintet, "Shadowcatcher". We just have to suck up to Eric and see if we can score a piano reduction, since it's for quintet and Wind Orchestra! Hopefully, we'll score some free parts!

Rob has a buddy that he worked with at Nerd Corps who is a blues guitar player. Real nice guy, and a great musician. However, Podo was leaving to go back to Montreal. He and I have been saying for a while that we should do a gig together, so since he was leaving, we planned on out. It was a great time! Played in a small cafe in downtown Vancouver, and had a huge crowd! Certainly was a different experience! The sound was definitely something you don't think about hearing in that style. He plays a steel guitar, which has the characteristic blues sound that you hear in things like, say, Muddy Waters. Couple that with a trombone player doing fills and solos, and you've got some original material right there. I think we had some people confused for a while, but they got into it, and by the end of the night, were buying us drinks and having the bartender bring them up on stage. Since most of the crowd was people Rob and Podo know from work, we were shocked as the night went on to see people we didn't recognize coming up and taking pictures and videos of us up on stage! Guess they could hear us outside or something, and being downtown, you get one hell of a walk-in crowd. Rob videoed the whole thing, and I'm sure he's gonna cut a film of it, so when it's posted, I'll set up a link to his site.

I also decided to audition for an open position for the Vancouver Island Symphony. They are much like the LSO, except you get paid about 2 grand for the season. They were looking for an entire new trombone section, and Jim and I had both decided to go out for the audition. After I requested the audition list, I was a little concerned, as they were looking for us to play some of the hardest passages in bass 'bone excerpts! Some of it was from my NYO audition last year, so I figured it would be good for me to work them up. Jim's excerpts were killer, and it seemed like they were eliminating people from auditioning just by posting up an almost impossible list to play. These were all works that this group will not be performing anytime soon (Mahler 3, for instance) but they were on the list anyways. Turns out, I wasn't the only bass trombone auditioning. Scott, the teacher at UVIC for the undergrads, was also going out for the spot. He played with the Victoria Symphony last season, and went to the U of T, and studied with many, many great trombone players, including Alain Trudel. Scott is very good, but a very nice guy, and great to play with. He is my age, so we get along well, and I've been picking his brain, since he has more orchestral experience than I do. Anyways, I was borrowing a car to drive up to Nanaimo for the audition, and Scott needed a life, so he came with Jim and I. We were joking all the way up that I could just leave him on the side of the road, and the job was mine!

Anyways, I'd worked hard on the excerpts, and when I'm on my game, I can play them just as well as Scott, so I figured I had a chance, or at least was gonna give him a run for the money. However, it only took me about a minute and a half to blow it. We were asked to perform a solo work before the excerpts, and during mine, I literally went blank in the head. I knew my little etude forwards and back, but it was like a pitch black room in my head. I had to stop playing and pick it up again. That shook me up for the rest of the etude, and it was not solid as I hoped. Funny enough, the excerpts went great after that, but the damage was done, and they stopped me before could play them all. Scott didn't get to hear my screw up, so when I came out of the room, he said that I'd played some of the excerpts better than he did! That was nice to hear, but I explained what happened, and he laughed and said he did that too on his first few auditions. We're going to work on the audition process during our masterclasses, as I want to win the position with the NYO this season. There is something different about the nerves during an audition. It's not like a solo, or a recital, but they are still there. You know people are listening, but you can't seem them behind the screen, and you know it all rests on you playing something, that the last X number of people have played, perfectly. No room for interpretation, no room for original musicality. All I can say is that there is an art to auditions, and it's nothing like playing in the orchestra for real, nor is it like performing for a recital. It is something entirely different.

I've got all of my pieces picked out for my recital in March (either 5th, or 7th, still fighting that one out...). I'm still short about 10 minutes, but I'm trying to find a french tuba piece to work on. I've got a good spread of works on the program, but something in that light, rhythmic french style would fit in well. Otherwise, we've got some Spanish themed works, and Ewazen trombone octet, an unaccompanied work for good luck, a Sonatina that I really enjoy, and a duet with Jim that Ian McDougall wrote a few years back. That'll be fun, since we get to work directly with Ian on the thing, so we'll have it down! I've already got the Sonatina worked almost up to performance, and I'll probably play the first movement in a noon hour sometime this month. Depends on the accompanist situation. Hopefully this year I won't get screwed on that front. If nothing else, I know I can hire Charlotte again, but I don't want to have to spend too much money on that again. Especially since the damn pianists are assigned to us for a grade!

I seem to be the sub of choice as of late. I was out to the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra (GVYO) yesterday morning to play. Actually kind of fun, as they are playing one of the excerpts that I worked up for the auditions the week before, the Berlioz Hungarian March. Lots of fun, but they were going slower than I expected. Man, that shit is harder to play slow! They played it for almost an hour, though, so I got to do it over and over again! There is nothing like actually playing something like that with a group to really understand how to play it. The conductor for the GVYO is also the conductor for the UVIC Orchestra, so I think I got to make a good impression on him. Not only was I prepared to play the work, but I think he was getting what he wanted from us where I was there, so he kept looking at me when the excerpt came up, smiling and giving my the huge Tom-like cue!

Today I'm recovering from whatever illness has been traveling around the music building. Started to get sick on Friday, but there was the concerto concert that night, and I wasn't going to miss that. The girl that won, with the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto, kicked some serious ass. I don't have any issue losing the competition to her, she played extremely well! Trying to stay away from any drugs, but I might Nyquil it up tonight just to make sure I get a good sleep. Sore throat is almost gone, but I'm still congested. I'm gonna try and practice this afternoon, so we'll see how that goes.

That's been my life for that past month. Notice the strong focus on music for the duration. Pretty much all I've been doing. I'm enjoying it, to be sure, but not much else in the way of interesting new to report. I'll be sure to keep up with regular updates from this point on... I've always got something to rant about.

Hanging by a thread...

This past weekend, I met up with Rob in Whistler. We'd been planning on meeting up anyways, and Rob had connected on a cool idea for a weekend away: a Zipline Tour. Basically, this company has set up several steel cables between the two mountains of Blackcomb and Whistler. They set you up with a harness and pulley, and in true playground fashion, you zip between the two mountains on the wire! Absolutely awesome! You are so high up in the trees that you often cannot see the ground. It was literally like walking into the Ewok Village from Star Wars. I could have sworn I saw Han Solo kicking around somewhere.

Anyways, it's kinda hard to describe, so I've got some pictures to explain how it works.

This is the height we're talking about. You can see the lines that we were flying across between the two mountains. It may look short from the photo, but we're talking about a minimum of 1100 feet of distance for each line.


These are the stairs of the Ewok Village that you walk off of to start the zipline tour. Just a drop off into nowhere. You can see the ground, but really, from head on, you are looking at going down a mountain cliff. Just you and the harness. Walk off, and hope for the best.

So this is a picture of one of the huts in the trees. There were several of these all over the place, with the zip lines criss crossing between the mountains. Now you can see the Ewok resemblance. This was one of the more interesting lines, as it was the freestyle line, and we were able to go upside down on it without fear of getting stuck in the middle. (Hopefully, there will be video of that stuff when Rob is done editing it)


Here's a pic of Rob and I before one of our trips over one of the lines. Probably 3 or 4 zips in. At this point you're feeling confident about the harness and that sort of stuff, so we were having a great time, letting go of the line, starfishing at several hundred feet in the air, that sort of stuff.

Finally, this is a pic of me breaking into one of the treehouses. I'm in the half cannonball position so that I can slow down and not kill either myself or the tour guide waiting at the top of the line. You can see the brake mechanism at the top of my line, which slows me down into the treehouse. I think this was one of the longer lines, and I was flying across at one hell of a pace.

Anyways, that is basically the trip. I would certainly do it again. There is another trip with lines that are twice as long as the ones that we went on, so it would be even better, I'm sure! They've also got whitewater rafting and freestyle mountain biking up there during the summer. One busy little ski hill, that's for sure!

Airline fun...

Well, as promised, here are the details. Not that it is very exciting or anything, but I'll share the story so that my venting doesn't go unheard.

I specifically purchased a new trombone case that would fit in an overhead compartment. I've talked about that before. However, upon arriving at the airport in Lethbridge, I was still forced to check my horn. Mild panic sets in, but nothing too drastic.

Arrived in Calgary, and promptly found out my flight directly into Victoria was cancelled for some unknown reason. Our group was quickly rushed to a flight landing in Vancouver, and were told that they'd have it all sorted out for us when we came out the gate in Vancouver. Luggage was to be transferred without a problem. Mild panic maintains its level.

Arrived in Vancouver, and promptly found out that the people in Calgary didn't do their job, and no one in Vancouver had any fucking clue as to who we were and what we were doing there. The next flight to Victoria was sold out, so we were all placed on standby, and they were going to fit as many as they could on the upcoming flights. However, most of us (about 50 people) were not going to get there until about 5. Panic increases. When asked about luggage, there was not a problem in moving the luggage to follow us along, and actually it should arrive before the passengers did in Victoria. Panic subsides to lower levels.

After waiting through two flights, finally board at 4:30 for a 12 minute flight to Victoria. At the gate at 5:00, and promptly run to luggage area. Ask if any luggage from past flights is there. When told no, level of panic begins to increase. Conveyor starts to move with new luggage, and the longer the wait, the higher the panic level gets. Finally, all luggage is off, and no trombone. Upon asking at desk again, informed that they will keep looking for it, and will be delivered. Beg woman at desk to call right away so that the panic level can return to normal. Says she'll do what she can.

After several phone calls to the airport and to the Air Canada "Delayed Baggage" number, still no answers as to where the luggage is, or even which city is was last seen in. After asking for a number of people to call when the luggage was found, no phone call was received, and no knowledge of the whereabouts of my luggage was available until I did the calling and research. Luggage finally arrived at my door a full 24 hours after I landed in Victoria, and a 28 hours later than it was originally planned.

I lost the two extra days of preparation that I had hoped to get by coming back to Victoria. However, no damage to the horn, so I cannot complain that much.

Pics and new story coming about my weekend in Whistler, traveling 100 feet in the air on a steel cable between mountains!

"Gonna Fly Now"

Well, it's been an interesting last 36 hours. I'll get in to more details later, but I'm still unpacking. However, I thought it was important to make note of a huge loss to the music world today. Maynard Ferguson, legendary trumpet player, passed away today at the age of 78. Even if you don't know of his music, you've all heard him play, specifically in the Rocky theme, "Gonna Fly Now". Maybe take a second to find a recording of him online somewhere, have a listen. Might not be your style of music, but you can't deny the man's talent.

Lazy Days...

Well, change of plans... no Barkerville today. That's alright though, I was really just interested in the candy and amazingly huge (read: maggive) apple fritters that they sell there. However, Lazerslug's girlfriend informed me that they are made and sold in town as well, so I'm not so screwed out of good junk food after all! I'll be making a trip to the bakery shortly after breakfast, for 2nd breakfast.

We're gonna spend the day at Ten Mile Lake. Kinda like Park Lake, but bigger, cleaner, and more trees, and it has a playground. Closer to get to, as well. I'll have to practice first, however. I've spend the last three days working out 22 measures of an Ewazen piece I want to do for my grad recital. Been driving me nuts. One of those mind blocks, where I just can't seem to get it down exactly. But, you can't practice the wrong notes, gotta practice the right ones, so I've been doing it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

Gene thinks I should just do a disseration on Ewazen music. At the rate I'm going, I'll have played the all but one work for solo Bass Trombone, and I'm even looking at learning that one too. Scary thought, call myself an Ewazen specialist. I don't know, it's great music, I'll probably record the one that I played for the concerto competition last year. Really well written, and enjoyable for everyone listening and playing. His quintet music is spectacular, but bloody hard. I have not really listened too much to woodwind stuff, but from what I have heard, it is also written well. He really learns the instrument before setting out to write for it, because nothing is impossible to play, just hard to do. You don't say "how the fuck do I do that?" like you do with some other composers. You just realize that it'll take some work, and bang away at it for three or four days straight...

Anywho, 6 days of vacation left...

Vacation Update

Well... I've been up to lots of relaxing as of late. Mostly lounging around the house, reading and practicing. At night we usually meet up with Megan's brother (Lazerslug, from "Geek in a Machine Shop") and his girlfriend. They're lots of fun to spend time with, and lately we're been playing a game called "Killer Bunnies". Megan was introduced in her last visit, but I was a bit skeptical from her descriptions. However, I must say that it is an interesting game. I won't go into too many details, but it certainly brings out a vindictive streak in people! Man, you can really get some vengeance vibes when you kill someone's bunny! Anyways, long story short, fun game, fun times thus far.

I think we're planning a trip out to a place called "Barkerville" on Monday. I went last year when we were here; it's a heritage town, basically a functional gold mining town from the turn of the century. Everyone dressed up in period outfits, with stores and such from the proper time period. Interesting stuff. They've got one hell of a candy shop, and that's the main feature for me this trip. Last time, I didn't capitalize on the candy, but no mistakes this time!

Anywho, time for some more laziness....

Vacation!

It is certainly nice to be able to sleep in, and do what I feel like during the day. I forgot I liked to not work. Must be why I enjoy the school year so much.

Anyways, we've arrived in Quesnel, BC, where we will be spending the majority of our vacation. Basically I'm going to sit around and play with the dog, and read some books, and practice. Gonna be a good time!

We went to the Columbia Ice Fields on our way up here. Was a great time! When we reached the top part of the tour, it was snowing on the glacier, so that was cool. And a trip in those huge bus things is always fun! We got some pictures, but I'll probably wait until we're back to post them. This isn't my computer, so I'm not gonna go messing with that sort of stuff on it.

Anyways, I'll keep posted on the vacation stuff as it comes up.

Fellowship!!!

Wow! I just received an email from the Graduate Studies advisor in Victoria. Apparently, I have received a fellowship for the next year! This is awesome, since I can now cancel my student loan for the coming year! I'm pretty excited, since being in debt to the government was not one of my most favorite things ever. I'm not too sure on any details yet, as I've only heard via email, and the paperwork is probably on my kitchen table in Victoria. However, I'll post stuff up when I find out more. I'll also be doing more TA work this coming year, which means I should be able to walk away with more savings (I hope...). More to come on this event, I'm sure...

In other news, I have 3 more work days left at my career in Canadian Tire. Can't say that I'm too upset by this revelation, since I could have easily quit any time in the last two weeks, and not cared. I'm the last of the originals in that store that hasn't been moved up to a management position, although they treat my like I am. All in all, a good place to work, but I think I've grown too old, or perhaps too comfortable, with that environment now. Nothing new to learn, unless I want to dedicate the next few years of my life to the store as a part of the management team. At least I can basically function as a handyman for most household things, plus change a tire and operate a skate sharpening machine. Oh yeah, and I got to keep a cool green gardening apron for when I work with my bonsai trees!

New Case! Yay!

I got my new case! Pretty excited, am I! I guess it's a band geek thing, but I walked around with my horn on my back for about 20 minutes the other day, just because I could. In any event, it finally arrived, and it is significantly smaller than my prior case. It also seems more sturdy, and certainly fits my baby better than the other one. Worth the $550.00, that is for sure.

In other news, there is none. I have done nothing but work and practice for the last two weeks. And watch hockey, but that's not really doing anything. Work is starting to wear me down, but hopefully there will be more to do with the coming weeks, as we are starting to discount trees and shrubs in the Garden Centre.

Still getting in the practice time, which is good. Hopefully this is a start to a good habit. I think I'm in better shape then any other summer, which is scary, but good. I also got the audition materials for the coming year at UVic, so I'll be pretty set to go. A little bit of Wagner never posed any problems before, so can't see it being a problem now.

I've also gotten into organizing my mp3 collection. I've got about 10 DVDs worth of unorganized data that I've been sorting and organizing to my normal type-A standards. Figured I'd so it back here at home, since ol' lappy can't handle that amount of data.

See, told you I've been up to not much.

P.S. I've got one more recording to go up soon, as soon as I split it and get it set up on the download site. Keep y'all posted on that.

Sleep In Day... (s)

Man, I slept in today for the first time in over a month. Well, I slept until about the normal time that I get up, and then stayed in bed reading until about 11:00. Sort of the same thing, I guess. Anyways, it sure is nice to have two days off in a row! It kind of lets you reclaim your life, in some respects. I've been doing the scheduling for the Garden Centre, and because of the labor shortage in Alberta, I've been vary proactive in ensuring that the staff that work for me and getting their time off. However, that has meant that I have to sacrifice my time off to make it work. Any day that I take off, I have had to work at the University. Not that teaching trombone is work for me, but the point is that I have not actually had time off to do what I wanted, even if it is just to read for a while and practice for a few hours and not feel guilty about doing it!

I drove Megs to the Calgary Airport on Saturday, so she could fly to see her family for two weeks. It should be a good vacation for her, since she takes about as much time off as I do! I didn't really want to get up that early (4:00 am!) but we made it back to Lethbridge by 10:00, so I could basically have the day to myself at that point, so it worked out well. It gave me time to nap and practice a bit before the Big Band gig I played in the evening. Man, those gigs are long when there is no one dancing! It was a fundraiser for the MS Society, done in the fashion of the cabarets that I used to help plan for the U of L Wind Orchestra. However, I believe they were charging too much for their tickets ($50.00 per couple, I believe), and were not offering enough to justify the cost. I understand it is a fundraiser, but for that money, people want some sort of return. Anyways, there wasn't more than 75 people there at the busiest time, and the majority were sitting around talking, and looking like they didn't know what to do with themselves. Seeing events happen like this sure makes me proud of the success that the Wind Orchestra has had with their Big Band Cabaret.

One thing that I think they did well, and that perhaps we can "borrow" for the next cabaret, was that they offered dance lessons before the start of the band! About an hour before we arrived to play, they had swing music pumped over a sound system, and volunteers from one of the dance studios wandering the dance floor giving lessons to the couples. It was a great idea, and I think it would work even better with the crowd that the U of L W/O gets at their cabaret, since the crowd last night wasn't really putting their lessons to use! It is certainly something for them to consider in their planning stages for the coming year. (Hint, hint... for those planning the cab that are reading this...)

Anyways, I'm going to go enjoy my second day off, and practice for a while, and perhaps figure out some music for my recital this coming year. Maybe even plan out some music to acquire for my quintet for the next year. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated...

New Favorite Quote

You have to appreciate Get Fuzzy to understand, but I think the last frame has my new quote for the week, possibly the month, depending on the level of stupidity at work.

Day off?

Well, I finally have a day off. I think I went 8 straight there. I'm starting to see/feel that I'm not quite into working retail anymore. Not that I really was in the first place, but now I'm not really feeling like putting the effort into it anymore. I've been told I can sell ice to an eskimo, but I'm getting tired of doing it. Generally, people are stupid, and they are all coming out to find me in the Garden Centre. Starting to wear me thin, especially the hutterites that want discounts on plants. I hate people who haggle for price. It wouldn't be that much money if I could charge less. Believe me, I want the plants gone as much as people want to buy them, but I'm not gonna give them away!

Anyways, I'm going to bath the horn today, and do some running around town. Figured I'd get started on my next student loan for the coming semesters. 8 months and I'll have another degree. After taking so long for the first one, it seems very odd to be so close to finishing another one. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to figure out the next stage for me.

The Evolution of Dance

This guy is great! I don't want to give it away, but I really got a kick out of the "Night At The Roxbury" part. Watch this video, you'll catch it in there. The Evolution of Dance reminded me of a few too many songs and dances from the past, that's for sure. Too many nights out during the undergrad years...

In other news, the Garden Centre at Canadian Tire is going well. If I don't get blown away by the wind lately. Working in the rain is one thing, but the wind is entirely more difficult. More often then not, I end up with a mouthful of cattle manure when I'm loading a customer's car in the wind. Let me tell you, it is not enjoyable. Good for plants, not for people. But I still enjoy working out there with my plants, and I basically get to just talk to people all day, and drive a forklift around, so what's so bad about that?

Oh, right... the manure...

MB Case

I was able to secure one of the coveted Marcus Bonna cases coming in from Brazil this month, from a vendor in New York. I must have called 8 or 9 places before finally stumbling upon the right guy, but the job got done. I'll have my new case by the end on the month, if all goes well. I'm pretty excited, as he assured me it'll fit in most overhead compartments, and the case is fully customizable to whatever size trombone needs to fit in. Basically, Marcus Bonna is the best instrument case manufacturer out there right now, or at least the most sought after. Because he runs such a small factory, it is very difficult to get one of these cases, and it seems that they are only shipped out in the summer, due to the production time for the cases. Yep, I'm pretty excited!

Anyways, here is what the case looks like. It's pretty sleek looking, and it should do a far better job protecting my trombone than the last case, and it'll be easier to get around with too!

Musicians: Don't Fly WestJet!

Well, it's been an interesting time the last week, that's for sure. I guess I'll start the recap with the results from the concerto competition final round. There were 12 musicians in the final round, from all performance departments of the music school. The process was a little different than I expected it to be, but not in any sort of bad way. As I mentioned earlier, they take 4 people to perform one big concerto concert. This is different from the norm, where you would perform a concerto per concert, with a variety of works over the course of the year. Because of this, the process of choosing who will play becomes more of an issue of programming the music (not to say that how you play doesn't affect it either!). What they are generally looking for is two larger works, about 20 mins. in length, and two smaller works, about 10 mins., also trying to co-ordinate an appropriate program of style within that time frame. I didn't realize this at the time, but this placed me in the catagory for the larger works, as the concerto I performed is over 20 minutes in length, placing me in competition with the pianists that made it into the final round.

In any event, I think that I played rather well, and I was extremely happy with the way it went that night. In the end, however, I lost out to a pianist who just happened to be performing the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto, No. 3, which is something like 40 minutes long. So not only did she play it very well and got into the concert, the length of time of her work actually eliminated one of the spots on the concert! However, we did get a brass player into the show; the trumpet player from my brass quintet got in with a shorter piece, along with a flutist that I've never met, but plays very well. That's how the show worked out in the end. Like I said, I'm very happy for how I played, and I think the piece was well received by the professors. Also, losing to someone who played that piano concerto that well doesn't really hurt my feelings; she sounded awesome!

Anyways, that's the good news. The bad news is that NO MUSICIANS SHOULD EVER FLY WESTJET! Ever. Period.

Apparentely, on the loading of my instrument in Victoria, my heavy duty, and fragile marked (repeatedly) trombone case was dropped 8 - 10 feet off of a belt loader, making a crash landing on the bell. Not only did this destroy the bell compartment of the case, but it also put one hell of a bell wrinkle into my trombone. This is the first time I've flown with WestJet. I am not amused.

On the left... very traumatic

I've gotten the bell damage taken care of here in town. Leister's did an awesome job on my baby. I would recommend them for repairs anytime. The case, however, is irreparable, and I am in the process of looking for a new one. Got something on the line from Argentina, made from Kevlar and Fiberglass.

Now, WestJet is being very difficult about this. I know for certain that my horn didn't get into the case like that, and if you know me at all, you know I sure as hell didn't do that myself! First of all, they wanted me to drive back up to Calgary to show them the damage in person. I told them that wasn't going to happen, as I had to perform right away, and I was not planning to do so with a damaged horn. We decided that photos would be the best course of action. However, they do not want to pay for the repair, but instead to give me credit on WestJet for another flight. ... ... ... blink... You dropped a 50 pound fragile musical instrument 10 feet, and you want me to come back and fly with you again? And you're not going to fix the problem? Not only that, but the credit won't even cover my return flight back to Victoria in the first place!

So, I'm in the middle of a fight now to get some cash out of these guys for my repairs, because I can't afford these extra expenses. We'll see what happens, but I've got the number for a higher up person in the corporation, so I might start getting some answers there. The point is, I am not the first person to have these sorts of problems with WestJet. As soon as I mentioned it to other people, they had similar comments about the WestJet regard for their instruments as well, or their baggage in general. We'll see how they handle this situation, and decide whether or not their talk about customer service is as true as they say.

So don't be taking your instrument on a WestJet, and if you must, you better make sure it fits in the overhead compartment!

Recordings, Part 4 & Concerto Competition, Round 1

I performed in the first round of the Concerto Competition for UVIC yesterday evening. I feel pretty bad for my accompanist, as she had to work with the most horrendous piano ever created. When you've got bobby pins holding half the lid on, and you can't move the thing because you're worried that the legs might fall off, then it's time to get a new piano.

This first round involved only the people auditioning from the brass studios. There were four of us, two trumpets and two trombones. We're all pretty good friends too, so I think it made some of the guys feel uncomfortable about it, as no one wants to upset someone they like.

In any event, Charlotte (my accompanist) and I played well yesterday, and I was told that we are going on to the next round of the competition, involving all the finalists from all the studios of the school (brass, winds, strings, piano)! It is pretty exciting, as I love to play this Ewazen work, and the more often, the better! I think I will do a recording of it in September, as the recital hall here is permanently wired for professional recordings. So even if I do not make it to one of the coveted four spots on the Concerto Competition Concert, I want to have a recording of this piece, because it is so fun!

Speaking of recordings, this is the last one that I am going to put up from the benefit concert back in March. This is a work by Karl Pilss, Scherzo, and it is a fun little stand alone work. Much like the Three Pieces from before, we chose this piece as it was not so long on the face like the Ewald or Ewazen. Having called the Three Pieces like "mini Mozart" in an earlier post, in my mind I relate this Pilss work to "baby Bruckner", because of the long scherzo movements of his symphonies (notice my use of alliteration!). This quintet piece just has that type of feel to it.

Recordings, Part 3

Well, I realized that listening to the Ewald Quintet No. 2 doesn't make much sense unless you have the whole thing. So here are the first two movements as well. I've been told that it resembles a Brahms string quartet at times. However, my "extensive" (ahem...) knowledge of Brahms string quartets cannot seem to find a relation between the two.

The first movement, Allegro Risoluto, is a standard sonata form movement. We did not repeat the exposition of the movement, simply because we felt that it would go on forever if we did, and the work as a whole is over 15 minutes as it is.

The second movement, Thema con Variazioni, is a theme and variation movement (for those of you whose Italian is rusty). The movement begins with a simple theme, and it is then spun through 6 variations, changing both style, harmony and rhythmic qualities of the initial idea.

As a whole, I think that this is my favourite Ewald quintet. The Quintessential Brass also did a recording of some of Ewald's Quintet No. 1 before the semester finished, so if those turned out good, I'll put them up as well for comparison.

Recordings, Part 2

Alright, so here is another work that we had on the program: Three Pieces, by Ludwig Maurer, and arranged by famed trumpet player Bob Nagel. When we were designing the program, we knew we needed works that were lighter in fare to fit between the huge Ewald and the intense Ewazen. These were great to play, not only because they are short, but they are also easy on the face and are great to listen to. It's like mini Mozart for brass quintet. Kind of. Well... yeah... kind of...

Anyways, Three Pieces, by Maurer:

Mvt. 1 - Maestoso Alla Marcia
Mvt. 2 - Andante con Moto
Mvt. 3 - Allegro Grazioso, un poco Agitato

Edit: If you want to "Right Click, Save As" any of these files, be sure to add a ".mp3" to the end. For some reason, the webspace I'm using to share the files wants to rename them as movie files, which screws up the ID3 tagging embedded into the files.

Recordings

Well, I found a site that I was satisfied with for hosting some of the recordings of the brass quintet. I wasn't planning on paying for the service, so the search for a free hosting service was painful to say the least. However, I think this one will work fine. Of course, the damaging limitation of bandwidth applies to all the free accounts, and I am limited to 15 mb per day. Thus, I did not embed the sound files into this post, as that would probably kill the bandwidth pretty quick. That's not to say there are lots of people reading this, but when an mp3 is 5 mb in size, it doesn't take long for 15 mb to go.

That being said, it might be more prudent to download (right click and save as) the files as opposed to loading them. I've scanned them, converted them and they are clean, so no worries there, but it's up to you.

The first one I'll put up is the last movement of Victor Ewald's Quintet No. 2, for brass quintet. Ewald was a Russian composer, and also happened to be a civil engineer. His 3 works for brass quintet are possibly the only true original works for brass quintet written in the Romantic era of music. There is a 4th that he wrote, but it was determined that it was a transcription of one of his string quartets, so brass players felt insulted, and don't usually count No. 4 as part of the brass repertoire. Ewald's music is characterized by soloistic playing in all parts, not just the trumpet lines. Ewald wrote every note with a purpose, be it driving the melodic or harmonic lines, or adding to the rhythmic texture. The parts may sound soloistic, but they are not for the sake of simply showing off.

The Quintessential Brass really wanted to perform Eric Ewazen's Colchester Fantasy on this recital, and we worked hard to pull it off. Ewazen is a composer who is also a professor at the Juilliard School of Music, and he writes some of the most amazing music out there at the moment. Usually his compositions are dedicated to, or commissioned by various brass musicians, or by his favourite quintet, the American Brass Quintet, who are also at Juilliard. He wrote Colchester Fantasy for the ABQ while he was in teaching at a festival in Colchester, England. Each of the 4 movements are named for, and based upon, old Colchester pubs that he visited. The Rose and Crown is the first movement of the work, and is filled with bright, sonorous chords, energetic rhythmic patterns and constantly changing and fluctuating motives.

Hope you all enjoy, let me know what you think!

Life slowing down...

Well, things are returning to normal around here. As normal as it gets, I mean. The recital for the Kidney Foundation was great! The quintet played amazingly well, and there were a great many people impressed with the work that we've accomplished over the last year. I was a bit disappointed with the attendance, but the timing of the recital had something to do with that. If we do this again next year, we'll be able to modify some things to fill the seats. We did manage to raise $111.30 in donations, and from mostly students at that, so that did work out well too! Once I figure out if there is somewhere that I can host audio/mp3 files, I'll put a clip up of the quintet playing (hint, hint... anyone got any clues for that?).

Now that the recital is done, I am getting a few hours of my life back every week. We are still rehearsing for a performance on the 3rd of April, plus one on Easter Sunday, but certainly not as intense as before. It is nice to be able to practice music that I have been working on for the Concerto Competition coming up at the end of April. There is only so much you can play in a day, and the last few weeks has been pretty focused on other stuff.

I got my rejection letter from the National Youth Orchestra yesterday. It didn't really come as a surprise, I knew where I had made mistakes, so I wasn't kidding myself about it, even though I did play fairly well. The only part that frustrates me is that the guy that won the audition is the same guy from last season. I understand that in the real world, that's how it works; someone plays the audition better, they win. But this is supposed to be a learning experience, and having someone repeat it defeats that purpose, in my eyes. Not only that, but it makes it harder to win the audition when they've already learned what the committee is listening for. Anyways, I find that frustrating, but they are going to mail out comments about everyone's auditions, so I'll find out exactly what the issue was with mine, and kick some serious ass next year.

Macs Killed My Inner Child

I recently got a brand new iPod Nano (from the most wonderful, loving person in the world!) for my birthday. I've been wanting one of these for months now, since 4 gb of dataspace for my classical music is like a toy sent down from heaven. Of course, Megan gave it to me when I was back in Lethbridge for reading week, so I hooked it up to my 'rents computer to play with it. Life was good.

However, upon my return to Victoria, I hooked it up to my laptop. Now, I've been prepared to own an iPod for months, getting and upgrade for my USB (ol' lappy was 1.0USB), clearing hard drive space for the impending rape of hundreds of CDs, and so forth. Little did I realize that Apple hates Windows users. Hates them so much, in fact, that it seems to have designed iTunes to function only with a system no more than two years old at the maximum. No amount of tinkering or screwing around with settings could even modestly convince iTunes that I, in fact, do have a CD drive on my computer. I spent about 12 hours total changing things around with my system, including some serious registry edits, which I was loathe to do, but did anyways.

Finally, after said amount of time, I broke down and called the tech support line, fearing the voice of someone who didn't speak english as their first language. Luckily, I called the Canadian line, and only got somone in french, which I could deal with. Then the shit came down. First thing the guy tells me is to do all the things that I already spend the better part of two days doing. Even though I told him what I had done to try to fix the damn iTunes in the first place. After a frustrating 15 minutes of recounting every detail of my foray into the repairs, buddy finally agrees that I've done everything on his list, and goes to find his supervisor.

Supervisor Guy seems nice, but the way the conversation starts, I know he plans to let me down hard. Supervisor asks me to email my drive specs to Apple, and they'll get back to me. They've had this type of problem before, but it hasn't been resolved as of yet, since the technology in question tends to be outdated. I could hear poor lappy's heart breaking at the sound of his unsympathetic reasoning. Needless to say, I'm frustrated. I can do everything, except playback a CD, which is silly, because the drive works fine with every other program.

Anyways, this got me a little frustrated with Apple. Then I thought, maybe if I owned a Mac, this wouldn't have been a problem. I promptly smacked myself across the face and made sure that the food I was eating wasn't rancid in some fashion.

I don't like Macs. Something about them just bothers me, kind of like door to door religious salespeople bother me. That empty pit of the stomach feeling. It's hard to describe, but this video goes a long way to explaining it. I almost died watching it, since it says all that I've been trying to get across in my random Mac diatribes over the last few years.

My God, What is Wrong with People?

I just don't get it sometimes. Really. There must be something wrong with me... No, that's not it. Check out Next Country To Invade. I know this video is a joke, but the people the guy is interviewing are pretty serious about it. It's not so much the attitude, but when the guy pulls out the map that just bothers me. Didn't you people do anything in elementary school?

I Have No Water...

Well... there is nothing quite like waking up, and trying to flush the toilet, only to discover that the water in the building has been turned off without warning. I'm not exactly impressed, but I'm not going to freak out for another half an hour, when I become late for class.

I turned 26 the other day, and I'm not sure if it actually happened. Seems to me, it kind of feels like a speedometer rolling over in my head, but that didn't happen this time. Also, looking back, this year went way too fast. I'm getting close to being finished my first year out in Victoria already, as well, and then I'll be on the home stretch for this degree. Maybe my perception of time has been destroyed by the excessive length of my undergrad degree.

I've recently started reading sports psychology books. It's funny, because they really do apply to performance, and it seems like I play some serious head games when I perform. Gene seems to think that I lose focus when I play, which is why I have problems reading ahead in the music. Anywho, I am reading The Inner Game of Tennis, which I've read before, but I think I'll understand more now. It is the original sports psychology book, and it has spawned many sequels (such as The Inner Game of Music, which is next on the block). We'll see if it works, but so far, I can really see the benefits from actually understanding what the mind does in a performance setting.

Finally, my brass quintet, The Quintessential Brass, has finalized our program for our recital on March 19th. It's going to be one hell of a concert, and I'm starting to connect with the Kidney Foundation on it. The recital is going to be a benefit concert, with the proceeds going to the Kidney Foundation. They've sent out brochures for us, and put us up on their current events website (http://www.kidney.bc.ca/) and taken some posters out to the hospitals and dialysis units around town. I'm pretty excited out this, because we're playing some good, hard music. Eric Ewazen's Colchester Fantasy is on the program, as well as Victor Ewald's Quintet No. 2, standard fare for the brass quintet. Should be a great time!

Accompanist Problems

Man, one of the things that makes the UVIC school of music so unique has turned against me this week. This is kind of a long story for a short problem, but stick with me.

Anyways, the music program at UVIC is different than any other program in Canada. This is because they are on the island, so people basically let them do what they want. When the university was starting up the program, they decided to base it upon the Eastman School of Music model. Eastman, in Rochester, NY, is arguably one of the best music school in North America. So, some of the things going on in their program are seen at UVIC, and it makes it stand out from my experience at the U of L.

One such difference is the masterclass procedures. Instead of having the entire winds and percussion group as a masterclass, the UVIC schedule has broken down the masterclasses to the individual instruments. So every week, I get to have a masterclass with just the trombones (with Ian McDougall, of all people!). On top of that, UVIC also has an Integrated Performance Seminar. IPS is basically the same as the U of L masterclasses, but involving a mix of all instruments, with a different professor each week.

The bigger, and more important difference (and one of the main reasons I came here instead of somewhere else), is the chamber music component. Eastman and UVIC both require a small ensemble requirement to their degree programs, on top of the large ensemble requirements. This means that everyone gets the opportunity to perform in a chamber music setting. For instance, I play in a brass quintet, and I also am a Teaching Assistant/Coach for a trombone quartet, so I play 5 hours a week in chamber music in those forms. On top of that, our trumpet professor, Lou Ranger, also runs a brass choir every week, and he picks something out of his huge library, and we get together and play it. It is always a changing instrumentation, so it has varying personnel, but it is always interesting to get a larger group together for that.

By this point, you're wondering what the hell this has to do with my accompanist problems. Well, for a pianist to get their small chamber music requirements, they are assigned to accompany the performance majors in the school. Every pianist must do this, or risk a failing grade. At first, I thought this was a great idea, since I paid for an accompanist for everything I did at the U of L. So, I get the name of my accompanist and set out to start with her around the beginning of November. I email, but get no response. I leave notes for her, but to no avail. Finally, Gene corners her in once of her classes, and tells her she needs to respond. She says, leave the music in my mailbox on campus, and I'll look at it. So, before I leave to come home for Christmas, I leave my concerto and go on my merry way.

Now, January has rolled around, I still I have not heard, so I start the email tag again. At the same time, I also learn that my accompanist is also assigned to another trombonist, who is also having problems finding her, and he has a recital at the beginning of February! Stress is building, but he finally corners her personally, and sets up some rehearsal time. However, I'm still having problems, so I give him a note with my info and schedule on it, and tell him that she should be read the riot act, and informed that she must get in contact with me. Lo and behold, I finally get an email back, saying it's nice to hear from me, and that she would like to see the music. SEE THE MUSIC??? I left it in your mailbox over a month ago! She also says she doesn't want to play anything too hard, since she has auditions coming up, so she'll decide on whether she can accompany me or not when she sees the music. Well, I was not too impressed to say the least, so I asked if she had even picked up the music I left for her, and found out that she had not received it. Sigh. So, I make another copy, and put it in the mailbox again, and hope to God she picks it up this time.

I get another email the next day. I've got your music, she says, but I hope you're not playing the whole thing. I can only play the first and second movements, not the whole thing. By this time I'm pissed, so I don't even bother to respond. I mean, I know there is lots of stuff to work on, but maybe some time management would be in order, or maybe some organization skills. Anyways, I've decided that being screwed by someone who doesn't really want to do the work is not going to be the highlight of my performance this semester, so I'm going to hire someone here at UVIC. Hopefully the same person that Gene uses to accompany him. At this point, this girl could fail for all I care. Good luck on that audition, you won't be graduating.

I hate being screwed over.

On another note, my brass quintet needs a name. We're kind of stuck, and need some input. Has to be clever, fairly professional in nature, but can be slightly inappropriate (i.e. Kick in the Brass). We're working with "Quintessence" or "Quintessential Brass", but any other ideas would be great.

Home, Hair and Horns

Well, I'm officially 13 days away from heading home for a visit. I can't stress enough that I really want to go home for a while. Not that I don't like what I'm doing here. I, in fact, love going to school at UVIC, and I've picked up quite a few new tricks that I hope to one day employ with my own students, and I'm in the best musical shape of my life. However, being older than everyone around me kinda separates me from the rest of the music school, and being new doesn't help either. I get along great with people, but the end of the day comes, and I head home and start over again. It has become a very repetitive routine. It has become a very repetitive routine. It has become a... well... anyways, I do the same thing every day. So it'll be a nice time to not only get to go home and see Megan (whom I miss very much), but to break up this schedule of mine a bit.

I also can't wait to get a haircut. Seriously. I had my hair cut in Victoria once, and that is never happening again, I swear. It was back in September, I think, and I wasn't going back to Lethbridge until November, so I went and found a place near my apartment that wasn't a "Supercuts" or something. Then I went in and told the lady I wanted about an inch and a half cut off, and the sides clippered, and so forth. Turns out, she thought that I wanted only an inch and a half of hair on my head. This made me look like I had just started growing my hair back after I shaved my head! It was terrible. It wasn't until about December that my hair was able to be cut the way it normally is. So, because of this incident, I am not getting my hair cut in Victoria, but back in Lethbridge when I visit. This serves two purposes. The first is that I have to visit more often, or run the risk of looking like an uncaged yeti. The second is that I actually have a good hair cut, done by someone who has a reasonable understanding of the english language, and does what I ask them to do.

Who'd have thought that hair was so complicated?

I've started to frustrate a few people in the group that I'm playing with right now, I think. I've got a row of saxophones in front of me, and I'm drawing glares, much like I did with the viola player from last semester. (Long story with that one... Take one Wagner Overture, add a fff bass trombone/tuba section, put a 1st/2nd year viola player in front of my bell = viola player who squirms in his seat, desparately trying to put in earplugs at the right moment.) Anyways, in terms of volume, this current `bone section isn't as present as they could be in various passages, so I'm not backing down, and making them play up to my dynamic. Not that I'm always right on things like that, but I'm pretty sure I'm right, so we're playing louder. Anyways, now I've got a row of saxes staring at me, especially in some marches. Have people not figured out that trombones are there to be loud? I mean, I can play quiet when I need to... that's when no one is staring at me, right? Just playing what's on the page! I even get people looking into practice room windows when I am practicing. Am I too loud in the room too? Just odd, that's what I think.

I've been working on an Eric Ewazen piece for the concerto competition here in Victoria. I've almost got the whole thing down, except for a few passages. But that's coming along very well, as far as I can tell. Gene's been great to work with. He is very much like Ken, but different as well. It is hard to describe, but I've gained quite a few tools for teaching myself, which I can also use in the future. Anyways, Eric Ewazen.com has a clip of the piece I'm working on right now. I'm hoping to get a string quintet together to perform the work, but we'll see what happens with that. For now, I'll keep trying to back my assigned accompanist into a corner so that we can rehearse at least once this year...

Also, visit The Peterson Project and watch this video. I get a kick out of all of Steve's trombone videos, sometimes they can be accurate (sometimes not...). Would I be too much of a geek to say that he uses the same mouthpiece as I do?

Audition Post-Mortem

Well... it's over with. The work I put in over the last few weeks paid off, but I'm not sure how much. I feel confident with how I did, and I know where my mistakes were (Ein Heldenleben still gives me grief), but I think they were minor in the grand scheme of things. The more I think about it, the more I am satisfied with how I played for the audition. I may not get the gig, but at least I represented myself well. Even the two old people who were recording the session were impressed enough to make several complements after I had finished, even though they have absolutely no bearing on whether or not I get the position. Made me feel good to at least entertain a few people.

I learned a lot more this time than I did for the Calgary Philharmonic auditions. I was more confident at this audition, and I think that allowed for a better performance. It is far less intimidating with two old people and a microphone in front of you instead of the big curtain hiding God knows who, so that might have something to do with it. But I think that this experience will get easier as time goes on. Also, far less intimidating warming up in a setting that I am familiar with, not some big room with a bunch of people from across the country far more qualified than I am.

Anyways, now I wait a month to see the results.

On another note, since I study with a relatively famous tuba profesor, I get to learn stuff about his very famous teacher, Arnold Jacobs. Jacobs was perhaps the most important brass instructor in the last 60 years, and has made an impact on the playing of the majority of performers in the brass world of today. Not because of his virtuosity, but because of his teaching, his knowledge of the anatomy of breathing, and his perspective on the mentality and psychology of musical performance. Gene and I go over this type of stuff every lesson, and more and more of it takes hold. If anyone is at all interested, they should check out his website (www.windsongpress.com), and read some of the articles. I'm reading one of the books published about his teaching (Legacy of a Master) and it is very interesting. It is a collection of essays written by his students, and it certainly offers some interesting perspectives and stories, like one about an oboe player from the Chicago Symphony who would have regular lessons with him to work out breathing problems. An Oboe player, working with a tuba player. Doesn't seem right, but that was how good Jacobs was with his teaching.

Anyways, Gene has an article in the book, so I borrowed it from him, but I'll probably want/have to buy it soon, as I think it is great reference for anyone who wants to teach. Read an article or two on the website, it's pretty interesting.

NYO Auditions

Well, today is the day that I have auditions for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (www.nyoc.org). Pretty scary process, but I think that I am prepared enough to make a good showing. My prof here seems to think that I've got a good shot if I represent my playing abilities well. Hopefully it goes well, but I'll probably have to wait a month or so to actually hear anything about how I did.

The stuff I have to play (excerpts from the orchestra trombone repertoire) is pretty standard for any professional competition. Which means to say that it is the hardest moments in a given piece for the trombone player. The problem with auditions is that I find that interpretation is a difficult point to get correct. There is no conductor, no orchestra, no trombone section to work with, just me and my lonesome. So you listen to recordings and get your context for the passage that way. At least, that's what I've been doing, but the issue is that what if that isn't the correct context? Every conductor/group has their own interpretation, some more drastic than others.

Basically, this leaves me with the choice of doing exactly what is on the page, and blending in with the masses of other trombone players auditioning, or doing something more interpretive with the materials (obviously still within the realm of what is actually written) and maybe distinguishing myself just a little bit. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, I could swing any way at this point. I guess we'll see what happens in 4 hours.

Firefly/Serenity

Well, being one of the few people at UVic with a full cable package, I make sure I take advantage of my situation. In the fall, I had an ever important, schedule binding addiction to "Law and Order", in either the original or SVU dosages. Having this aforementioned access to cable television, I get to watch 3 hours of Law a day. 3 hours a day! Anyways, it was a great addiction, and I'm still able to tell you what channels, at what time, and if you can see it in your respective time zone on said channels.

Well, the Bravo network kind of threw me for a loop the other day. They broadcast the classic Law and Order, which is my favourite, and they were showing the later seasons until suddenly, out of nowhere, they jumped to season one of the series! I guess that's all well and good when you don't really broadcast the show in any order as it is, but season one starred a very young Chris Noth. For those of you unfamiliar with names, he is now more famous for his role as "Mr. Big" from Sex and the City. Which is precisely the reason why I can't watch the first season of Law and Order. I just don't like the guy, and definetely can't see him now as the serious police officer. Thanks Bravo, thanks a lot.

All was not lost, however, as in my channel surfing to fill the gap created by Chris Noth, I stumbled upon the Sci-Fi network, and a rebroadcast of the cancelled TV show "Firefly". I had just watched the movie "Serenity", which is based on the show, so I was excited, and thus a new addiction was formed. Although it only made it through one season on Fox (ugh... Fox...), fan reaction to the cancellation got the movie made (kind of like when fan reaction got Family Guy back on TV... Fox has a really bad track record) and also allowed for unaired episodes to be broadcast in Canada.

Normally, I am wary of any show that gets air on the Sci-Fi network, but this stuff is surprisingly great. Firefly is created by Joss Whedon, the guy who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Now, before you hold that against the guy, remember that he is also the one who wrote the script/story for "Toy Story", and you can't tell me that it was only a good movie because it was animated.

Firefly is very well written, and the actors protray their charaters as real people, and do it with excitement for the roles. After seeing the last three Star Wars movies, one feels like science fiction will be dead forever if the actors are always forced to read crap like that off of the paper, but Firefly seeks to make amends for those wrongs. The universe that Whedon created has depth, and it comes out in both the large and small details in the series, be it the script, art, scenery, and so on. The best way I can describe it is as seeing a show where what life would have been like if Han Solo had his own TV show. With some cowboy influence in there for good luck. And legal prostitution. But only for good one liners.

The Ten Brass Commandments

Well, most musicians are aware of them, but it is nice to see it in writing. These are funny (or scary) only because, more often then not, it is true.

The Ten Brass Commandments

1. Loud is neither right or wrong, it just is.

2. Rhythm is irrelevant as long as you play loug enough.

3. Whoever plays the loudest has the right rhythm.

4. Whoever plays loudest wins --- and we always win.

5. Intonation is optional at fff or above --- tone quality is also a bonus.

6. Tone quality may/can/should/must be compromised for sheer volume.

7. Always have a target. (my favourite, I've got a story about this one)

8. Humour the conductors in rehearsals --- the performance is yours.

9. An outstretched palm means 5x louder.

10. A two-bar diminuendo is mearly a big accent.

11. This rule just shows that we really can go up to eleven.

What makes these "scary" is that there are players in the music world who actually subscribe to some of these ideas (such as number 8). There are some weird mentalities out there, especially with musicians.

Caraway Seeds

Ever since I moved to Victoria, I've had a mild obsession that has involved a breadmaker. Megan showed me how to use the machine properly, and as I was looking through the instruction manual, I found a recipe for Irish Soda Bread. My curiosity stimulated, I set out to make this bread, only to find that the recipe calls for "caraway seeds", of which I neither had, nor ever heard of. Thus my plan to be creative in a kitchen (this is creative cooking for me, alright) was thwarted.

This was back in September. Sadly, every time I go shopping, I take a run down the baking and bulk sections looking for caraway seeds. It has become a bit frustrating, as I have no idea what caraway seeds look like, nor did I ever bother to even look them up on the 'net. So, every shopping excursion involves a 5 minute period of searching aimlessly through the aisles for a product that, as far as I knew, could have been glowing purple.

On a whim, I decided to check out an organic store near UVic. I figured they might have something like caraway seeds, since I was fairly certain they were organic, judging from the name. Organic food stores are not set up like a normal grocery store. You are forewarned. It was like stepping into a Costco for health nuts. The more I wandered looking for a baking section, the more I noticed that stuff was "organized" in such a way as to make you wander through the majority of the store. The fruits and veggies were in the near middle of the building, you had to go through the bulk foods to get to the cash registers, and the coolers were actually part of the breads and cereals aisle. Just plain odd.

Anyways, after locating the baking section, I began my ritual scanning of package labels in the attempt to find the precious treasure that I'd been searching for. However, I was unsuccessful in finding anything. At least someone who worked there decided to ask if I needed help, so I inquired about the seeds. I must have asked the right person, because she took me to an organic spice shelf, and found them right there! I was shocked; I guess there was a possibility they were a spice, but that didn't seem right to me. In any event, the amount I know about foods and cooking could fill a small thimble, so I purchased my caraway seeds and went on my merry way.

Caraway Seeds

So I made my soda bread that night in the bread machine, and I must say, it is nice to have that so-called monkey off of my back. The texture seemed right, but it is hard to say for sure, as I have never eaten "authentic" Irish soda bread. The sad part is, I didn't like the flavour of the caraway seeds. Perhaps I could use less in the next loaf, but they have a pretty aggressive flavour that stands out more than I think it should. Pretty much a let down after a few months of searching grocery stores for a single ingredient.

I think I had my horn on my face for almost 6 hours yesterday, all things told. It's going to be one hell of a semester if this pace keeps up.

Back in Victoria

Well, after spending a month back at home, I've returned to Victoria. I must say, it was nice to be back for Christmas, but it is also nice to be back in Victoria. I tried to fit Megan into my luggage, but it was a tough fit, and she refused to go in the trombone case with my horn. But I was able to fit in the tea press and tea leaves that she bought me for Christmas, so at least I was able to bring home some of my Christamas gifts. My brother decided to give me the Complete Calvin and Hobbes Collection, which is 3 gargantuan hardcover texts of funny. However, that doesn't go so well as carry-on luggage. At least I have clean clothing, so I don't have to do that for a while around here... stupid apartment washing machines...

I wasn't as out of shape as I thought when I started to practice yesterday. The reduced practice schedule I was doing over the holidays keep me at a good level, so I should have no problem being in top form for my auditions for the National Youth Orchestra (http://www.nyoc.org/) at the end of the month. Little nervous about it, since my first actual audition experience was for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and I was slightly traumatized by the event.

I'm a little more concerned right now with my sore throat. The day after I got back, it started to feel raw, so I figure that any sort of virus that was floating around the apartment mutated, and now I'm screwed because I am no longer immune. Hopefully this doesn't progress into a full blown cold, as I do not function well with a DayQuil/NyQuil infused body.

I had a brass quintet rehearsal sprung on me without notice yesterday. It all went well, but it would have been nice to have met before we went in to rehearse with our coach, who happens to be a former member of the American Brass Quintet, and the New York Philharmonic too. Kind of intimidating. Anyways, this group of ours is trying to work out a tour of some sort over to the mainland, and the responsibility has fallen upon me to create a new program for school concerts. Pissed me off, actually, as it seems no one else in the group is interested in anything other than the money we'd be paid. They want to play, but beyond that, there is zero input. I like making decisions and all, but it would be nice if I didn't have to do it all on my own. This thought process led to my reminiscing about my former brass quintet, for which this blog is named. At least Kick in the Brass worked more like a democracy; we knew what we wanted to do, and everyone had ideas on how to get to that goal.

Kick in the Brass

I've got ideas now for this new quintet, but it seems that I am left to my own devices to making them work. The "hook" that I'm working on is "Music of the World", which would allow for the quintet to perform various musical styles, stemming from different locals of the world. I have literature from a Russian composer, the classic arrangements of Beatles songs for British rock in the 60s, and Hockey Night in Canada. One of our trumpet players is Cuban, so he was trying to find something authentic for us, but otherwise, I'm on a music search. It isn't easy trying to design a concert program for kids. It gets even harder when you have to try and not repeat what you've done in the past. I guess I want to keep that stuff for myself. Kick in the Brass was one group, and I think that I don't want to share that with another.

Anyways, I think that I've done enough "blogging" for today. I have not done anything that exciting since I've been back, so it makes for some pretty boring reading on the blog. That, and I need to quit slacking off and go to the school and claim a practice room for the next 4.5 hours!