God Bless the OSO!

I did something I never thought I would do. I promised myself that this would never happen: I quit. I didn’t quit my job or my marriage or anything dramatic like that. I quit the Olympia Symphony Orchestra. There is a small chance that I will finish the season, but I am definitely not coming back for the next season.

There aren’t any hard feelings at all. As a matter of fact, I feel honored to have been a part of its development into a first class, first rate orchestra. It is this very reason that I cannot continue as its principal percussionist. True, I am going to miss the rehearsals, the conductor (the Great Huw Edwards), and the camaraderie that I felt with some of its members. But the orchestra is moving past that of a casual, community group and into the fast paced, tense world of the professional orchestra. It isn’t that I couldn’t make it work. My abilities as a musician are not in question. It is the fact that I am a first time band director in a school that needs 110% of my attention, and I feel that if I spent one more ounce of my energy than I already do on the group, I would be neglecting my students. That is something I will not do.

Even more important than my students is my son. I have a two-year old that spent almost the entire weekend with relatives so my wife and I could participate in the last concert. I cannot let this time slip by! I missed him terribly while I was gone, and the only time I had with him, he was asleep. It seems like between the orchestra, and my job, I never see him. Since I cannot scale back work to accommodate, and we need the income, I had to let the only thing that was not contributing to my familial situation…yes, you guessed it…the orchestra.

Let me give another example. The next concert happens to fall on a weekend that some of my students will be in Ellensburg competing in the State Solo competition. I CANNOT miss this opportunity to support them. I missed the Regional competition because of another district obligation (not to mention there was a symphony rehearsal that day as well), so I would have to neglect the orchestra anyway. I might as well make it a clean cut.

Tagged? Oh, Please…

Ok, ok….I will give into the “spamish” practice of tagging….only because it’s from my sis, and she is cool.

So, to get into the mood:

I’ve been tagged by my crazy sister Sarah at biggercloset.wordpress.com, check it out or I’ll punch you in the face….just kidding.

4 films I’d watch again: The Classics:  Star Wars, Gradma’s Boy, The Godfather, Anchorman

4 places I’ve lived: Bainbridge Island, Lynnwood, Bothell, Ellensburg….all in Washington State, and in chronological order.

4 TV shows I watch: Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Family Guy, and that’s about it….intelligent TV

4 things to eat: I’m NEVER satisfied (Blades of Glory):  Rib Eye Steak, Stuffed Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti (with Grandpa’s Sauce Recipe), and oddly enough: school pizza.

4 places I’d rather be:  In a new house with Becca and Ben.

There, I did it…..now I’m done!!!

Current Projects:

I realized I haven’t updated my current projects!  OH NO!!!!  Stop the presses!!!!!!

1.  Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra – I am still planning out the construction and main themes of this piece.  I think I will submit it to the Olympia Symphony, and [hopefully] Danny still wants to play the solo part.

2.  The Village [solo clarinet and piano] – This piece is an exciting one for me to think about, but I haven’t worked on it for a while.  I will finish it….oh yes…..I WILL!

3.  Robert Frost [vocal jazz arrangement] – This is an arrangement of a Karrin Allyson tune written by Jay Leonhart.  It is really cool, but it brings me the most stress.  I missed the deadline for the Fall catalog, and I hope the publisher doesn’t drop me….oops….

4.  Oye Como Va [arrangement, obviously] – This is going to be fun.  It is an arrangement for band with steel drum band.  the steel drum part is already published, and I was asked to write a band arrangement around it.  It is going to be for thomas Jeffereson HS, and a local elementary steel drum band!

Those are the big ones.  I am brushing up a dozen or so other compositions and getting them redy for submission.  Nothing I thought warranted mention here.

MORE SOON!

My obsession…

Lately, and by that I mean like the last twelve months, I have been obsessed with owning as much music as possible. I originally wanted to own every album ever made, but money, storage, and a certain “over-the-topness” put an end to that endeavor. Instead, I have become addicted to iTunes Store, and the mp3 download section of Amazon.com. I mean seriously…my spending has gone up by about a thousand percent. I have a few simple rules when downloading music:

1. NEVER use Limewire, or any other peer-to-peer file sharing site. Not just because I want to avoid viruses and the like, but because I actually buy in to the whole if you aren’t spending a little money you ARE stealing….not good.

2. Always strive to diversify. I have a rather eclectic collection by this time with styles ranging from zydeco and bluegrass to jazz and classical (and everything in between). I have yet to get traditional Jewish music, Eastern cultural folk songs, and some Eastern European traditional styles.

3. Never buy more than five albums per day (roughly fifty bucks). This is the hardest rule to stick to. One day I spend sixty, and I felt totally guilty. So fifty bucks sounds better to me. Don’t get me wrong; I am not rich. I don’t spend fifty dollars EVERYDAY, but usually I will after payday.

4. Try to always get as much album info as possible. I feel bad that the CD market is going to squat, but mp3 downloading is soooo much more convenient. To compensate for snubbing the CD industry, I have tied to put in a little more effort and collect as much information about the artist, album, band, or what have you. iTunes has added digital booklets with some of their albums, so it has become even easier.

5. Know what it is your downloading. The worst thing to do is browse through these monolithic websites. You will tend to buy without purpose. I try to always have a plan before I go into buying new music. That way, I know what I am going to do with the music when I buy it, and it helps ensure that I will actually listen to the music I buy.

I am proud of my collection so far. It has really shaped my composition over the past year. I have been listening to a lot of different classical music, and that has shaped the way I teach.