Alright, so I converted the files to mp3, so there shouldn't be any problems with playback now... I realized that I have more bandwidth, so you don't have to "Save as", but you can play it back in your browser.
This is the work that I did for the concerto competition last April. Certainly one of my favourite works thus far, and I'm happy to have gotten it on record. It certainly isn't a perfect performance, but I'm happy with the way it turned out, and the sound quality is pretty good.
Ewazen Rhapsody Mvt. 1
Ewazen Rhapsody Mvt. 2
Ewazen Rhapsody Mvt. 3
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Long Time...
I realized it's been quite a while since I posted anything, so here's an attempt to relay the events of the last month and a bit.
Made it back to Lethbridge early in December. Started working at CT the next day. That was exciting. Well, at least I got most of my Christmas presents paid for. I realized why I hate going back to work, however. It was one of those epiphany moments, and I'm not sure if it'll have any effect on my return to CT in the future or not. Anyways, I realized that I had two career choices in my life: 1 - to stay at work at CT and move up the management ladder and earn a salary, becoming a retail whore for the rest of my days, or 2 - to take the slow path to a job by exploring the orchestral world. I know I can sell just about anything that isn't nailed down (and so does CT, apparently), but I made my choice to be a career musician. However, whenever I return to CT, I get upset, and the epiphany that I came to was that I'm upset because I am faced with the same choice again. Every time I come back, and work there, I am forced to make the same decision. It doesn't help when a good friend of mine has made the other choice and moved up the ladder of management in the store, and I can see where I might have been. In any event, it's not a great epiphany, but it is one anyways.
So aside from working every day up until Christmas, I was also trying to finish recording myself for auditions. Thank god for not giving keys back... So my weekends were me stuck in a room for 3 or 4 hours playing stuff over and over so that I could get a good take on many different orchestral excerpts. I guess I could just have easily edited them on my computer, but I wanted to both work on them and also to see if I could do it. I can now, but man, that was intense. Right up until we left, I was still recording. I've still got recording to do tomorrow, but it's a concerto, and I think that is going to be more fun than anything else. I'll probably post it up so you can hear it. I've become the Ewazen specialist at UVic, and this will be my first recording of one of his works. Speaking of Ewazen, since I'm on a first name basis with Eric, he sent me an unpublished work for bass trombone that has only been performed a few times. I get to be the first to perform it in Canada!
My quintet had our first rehearsal with the UVic Wind Symphony for Ewazen's brass quintet concerto we're premiering in February. We just sat in, but didn't play. It was great to hear, since I've obsessed over the CD recording for the last couple of months. That, and I didn't believe it was actually happening until I saw them playing the music. The whole quintet is pumped up to do this, and I think it is going to blow everyone away when we do it.
Just a bit scary too...
Megan and I went to stay with her parents for Christmas this year. The first time I've been away from home for Christmas. I had a great break up there, as I was done my recording, done working, and I basically just practiced and read. I figure that's the way to spend holidays. I spent so much time running around while I was in Lethbridge that I didn't get nearly enough relaxing done there, and I didn't get to do all the things I set out to do anyways. I still didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, and when I did, sometimes it was for a 10 minute "hey how's it going" conversation. You spend all you time during school being busy and running around, and then you do the same damn thing during the holidays. *Sigh*
Well, that's about all I can think of right now, and I've got to get to the school and practice some more. I hope everyone is well, and rested up for their returns to normal life. I think I am, I hope I am. Happy New Year!
Made it back to Lethbridge early in December. Started working at CT the next day. That was exciting. Well, at least I got most of my Christmas presents paid for. I realized why I hate going back to work, however. It was one of those epiphany moments, and I'm not sure if it'll have any effect on my return to CT in the future or not. Anyways, I realized that I had two career choices in my life: 1 - to stay at work at CT and move up the management ladder and earn a salary, becoming a retail whore for the rest of my days, or 2 - to take the slow path to a job by exploring the orchestral world. I know I can sell just about anything that isn't nailed down (and so does CT, apparently), but I made my choice to be a career musician. However, whenever I return to CT, I get upset, and the epiphany that I came to was that I'm upset because I am faced with the same choice again. Every time I come back, and work there, I am forced to make the same decision. It doesn't help when a good friend of mine has made the other choice and moved up the ladder of management in the store, and I can see where I might have been. In any event, it's not a great epiphany, but it is one anyways.
So aside from working every day up until Christmas, I was also trying to finish recording myself for auditions. Thank god for not giving keys back... So my weekends were me stuck in a room for 3 or 4 hours playing stuff over and over so that I could get a good take on many different orchestral excerpts. I guess I could just have easily edited them on my computer, but I wanted to both work on them and also to see if I could do it. I can now, but man, that was intense. Right up until we left, I was still recording. I've still got recording to do tomorrow, but it's a concerto, and I think that is going to be more fun than anything else. I'll probably post it up so you can hear it. I've become the Ewazen specialist at UVic, and this will be my first recording of one of his works. Speaking of Ewazen, since I'm on a first name basis with Eric, he sent me an unpublished work for bass trombone that has only been performed a few times. I get to be the first to perform it in Canada!
My quintet had our first rehearsal with the UVic Wind Symphony for Ewazen's brass quintet concerto we're premiering in February. We just sat in, but didn't play. It was great to hear, since I've obsessed over the CD recording for the last couple of months. That, and I didn't believe it was actually happening until I saw them playing the music. The whole quintet is pumped up to do this, and I think it is going to blow everyone away when we do it.
Just a bit scary too...
Megan and I went to stay with her parents for Christmas this year. The first time I've been away from home for Christmas. I had a great break up there, as I was done my recording, done working, and I basically just practiced and read. I figure that's the way to spend holidays. I spent so much time running around while I was in Lethbridge that I didn't get nearly enough relaxing done there, and I didn't get to do all the things I set out to do anyways. I still didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, and when I did, sometimes it was for a 10 minute "hey how's it going" conversation. You spend all you time during school being busy and running around, and then you do the same damn thing during the holidays. *Sigh*
Well, that's about all I can think of right now, and I've got to get to the school and practice some more. I hope everyone is well, and rested up for their returns to normal life. I think I am, I hope I am. Happy New Year!
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