I just added a logo to the top left of the site. Let me know if you think it works or not.

Thanks!

Today I ran into the website for some old friends from UNC, La Bella Brass. I am happy to see that they are still playing together (with some new trumpets) and that they recently made the finals at the very prestigious Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Well done, ladies!!

(Also, their site looks VERY nice. I am considering a re-design.....)

alto trombone - n. A very weak tenor trombone.
bass trombone - n.1-Several mutually exclusive instruments hooked together by an ingenious set of tubes, rotors, levers and valves. Capable of very loud, very rude noises accompanied by a percussive symphony of mechanical clanks, squeaks, squawks and whistles.2-The lead trumpet of the trombone family.
bass trombonist - n. The one in the section who couldn't develop any high range whatsoever as a young player and is now getting even by drowning everyone else out whenever he gets a chance.
bass trumpet - n. An instrument that combines all the worst features of the trumpet and the trombone.
conductor - n. One who has accepted the fact that he cannot play but has NOT accepted the reasons why.
contractor - n. Someone who cannot play, does not know it, but thinks he knows how OTHER people play.
doodle tongue - n. A rapid tonguing style that is too weak.
double tongue - n. A rapid tonguing style that is too strong.
embouchure - n. An ad hoc and ephemeral arrangement of the tissues of the face designed to allow a trombonist to play a desired note. Some players claim to have only one. They are the ones who can only play one note.
flexibility - n. A talent best left to gymnasts and contortionists.
fortissimo - adj. A trombonist's mezzo-piano.
free jazz - n. Jazz for which no one will pay any money.
F trigger-abbreviation - Originally used when the first one failed in the middle of a concert and the player was overheard to say "F*!@ing trigger as he tried to make it work.
gig bag - n. A container designed to collect and hold dents.
high range - n. The range above where you can comfortably play.
jazz club - n. A place where people pay a lot of money not to listen to jazz, most of which does not go to the musicians to whom they are not listening.
jazz festival - n. A place where people pay a lot of money not to listen to music that is not jazz in the first place.
jazz trombone - n. (also called peashooter, slipstick, small bore horn, and primitive blow stick) Any trombone that sounds bad below middle Bb and shrill above middle C.
lead trombonist - n. (also referred to as principal trombonist) The one in the section w/the worst middle and low range.
legato - adj. A style of playing midway between glissando and staccato. Rarely achieved on the slide trombone.
low range - n.1 - The ugly part.2 - The clumsy part.3 - The range below where you can comfortably play.
microphone - n. A mechanical device designed to collect and amplify the least pleasing 5% of the sound of a trombone.
middle range - n.
1 - The range in which you can be sure not to miss notes. Usually less than a minor third.
2 - The range in which you run out of excuses.
mouthpiece - n. A convenient excuse for missed notes.
mute - n. A device designed to render the already largely ignored trombone completely inaudible.
no pressure system - n. A way of playing the trombone that lets lots of air escape from around the rim of the mouthpiece.
orchestral trombone -n.
1 - Originally a medium sized horn used primarily in support of the woodwinds and strings.
2 - In contemporary times, a gigantic horn used primarily to drown out the woodwinds and strings.
3 - Also contemporarily, any trombone that is too large on which to comfortably play the trombone solo in Ravel's "Bolero".
pianissimo - adj. No definition available in a trombone dictionary.
pitch - n. What all the other instruments do not have.
rubato - adj. What most conductors consider a steady tempo.
second trombonist - n. The one in the section who can play well neither high not low.
single tongue - n. A rapid tonguing style that does not work.
solo - n. Something played by everyone but trombonists.
spit valve - n. A device invented to torture people who sit in front of trombonists.
staccato - adj., n. Notes short enough that you can't hear the slide glissando that occurs between them.
string players - n. The ones with the earplugs. (Also saxophonists in jazz big band situations.)
tenor trombone - n. A trombone that is neither capable of being played high enough or low enough to be easily heard.
trombone - n. a manually operated air driven pitch approximator.
1 - A puzzle in the shape of a brass instrument designed to totally defeat whomever is foolish enough to try to solve it.
2 - A brass instrument that is most often used as camouflage and support for bad trumpet and french horn players.
3 - The interior lineman in the game of music.
valve trombone - n.
1 - An oxymoron.
2 - A trombone for people with short arms, a weak tongue, bad pitch and/or little or no hand/eye/ear coordination.


Guiltlessly stolen from thissite.

Kate has strep throat this week, so that hasn't been fun for her. Poor Kate!

In Apple's most recent operating system, 10.5 (Leopard), a very useful application/utility was added: Time Machine. The point of Time Machine is that it automatically backs up your computer on a regular basis. With a laptop this is less easy, but we have our Airport Extreme Base Station connected to our external hard drive so that we don't have to manually plug into the hard drive. This works semi-automatically; we have to log-in to the hard drive via password. If I forget to log-in, then I don't back up. I usually do each night, but I neglected it for a a few days. This week, on Wednesday, I woke to a dead computer. I tried everything I knew: boot from disk, disk utility, Disk Warrior, etc. Nothing worked. I ended up driving the two hours each way to Des Moines to go to the Apple Store. They did a few tests and determined that the hard drive was, in fact, bad and subsequently replaced the drive. While they had the case off, they replaced the "top case", which is the keyboard, trackpad, and the plastic surrounding it, since it some cracking. This all took place in about 45 minutes. When I got home, I just had to install the OS and restore from my Time Machine backup. My computer looks exactly like it did last Sunday! I lost a couple of assignments from this week, so I have been busy redoing them. It could have been much worse if I did not have a regular backup situation, so thank goodness for that. My professors have been very understanding and were flexible, in some cases with due dates. This will be a busy week to ten days, but after that, it's downhill!

This past Saturday was so beautiful we just had to go for a walk! One of our favorite places to walk is over across the Iowa River where there is a dog park. Kate likes to ogle the puppies! It's a nice little walk and it really calming to walk by the river (until all the bugs infest it during the summer).



Taken with my iPhone.

Last night Kate and I went to HuHot, Mongolian BBQ. I have always been a fan of Mongolian (even though some freinds from Mongolia couldn't recognize in the least bit what the food is since they eat rodent and things - not kidding). The premise for the restaurant is all you can eat: you pick your meat, noodles, vegetables, and sauces. Then the cooks fry it up on the huge cooking stone (which is not stone at all). Seconds later, your food is done. Eat! (repeat...x2 or x3)

As part of the Iowa Performing Arts Fellowship, I have one year with no TA duties (this past year) and two with. Since the Trombone TA is tied up for one more year, it was necessary to place me in an alternative role. As of Friday, that position is officially with the University Arts Share organization.

From the Arts Share website:

Mission:

Arts Share continues The University of Iowa's long tradition of sharing creative resources from the Division of Performing Arts (music, dance, theatre), the School of Art and Art History, and the Writers' Workshop. Our goal is to strengthen the arts in underserved areas, reaching out to provide access to life-enriching arts experiences throughout IowaAlmost 100 faculty artists and graduate students from the UI School of Art and Art History, the Division of Performing Arts, and the Writers’ Workshop are available through Arts Share. Faculty artists are distinguished professionals, having performed and taught throughout the United States and abroad. Graduate artists attend one of the prestigious University of Iowa graduate programs in the arts, and have been recommended to us by a faculty member. Most graduate artists have extensive performing and teaching experience.

I am excited to learn my role and to learn some of the ins and out of arts administration. It is an important part of a university job, so I am very happy to have this assignment!

New Trombone Collective:

CD's:
Collective
Trombone
New

(Clever...backwards order)

DVD's
2005 Dutch Trombone Festival
2007 Dutch Trombone Festival/International Trombone Festival - Europe

All of these can be purchased from the New Trombone Collective's online store except for the 2005 DVD for some reason.

If you're going to pick up the CD's, I would recommend getting the 3 CD boxed set; it's a rocking deal.

This morning I had another follow up visit with the physical therapist. Everything is progressing quite fast. As surprised as the doctors were that I wasn't making any progress before the surgery, they are equally surprised at how fast I am healing post-surgery. The whole process certainly hasn't been without its ups and downs. Last weekend, for example, it was really stormy for several days. My shoulder just ached the whole time. Now that it is nice outside again, it's fine. I hope that it's not always going to be related to the humidity though as it gets very humid in the summers here.

School is as busy as ever. I have a rough draft of my final paper for 17th Century Music History due this week, along with a paper for Trumpet Pedagogy, a Trumpet Ped. presentation, and a Brass Ensemble Lit. presentation that I gave this morning. I keep trying to convince myself to have joy in the journey.....

This is a REAL internal Microsoft video. Be forewarned: This will make you sick to your stomach.

Check out this article over at the Brass Bulletin by Jean-Pierre Mathez.

You probably know by now that I am in love with all things Mario. This is the best version of the Mario theme song I have come across! Enjoy!


Mario Theme Played with RC Car and Bottles - Watch more free videos

Because everyone needs a tiger print trombone:




What do you get when you cross Adrian Brody, the Three Stooges, a trombone, and a photo shoot?




And finally, another vintage ad: It's Impossible to Overblow this NEW Model!



Full Size

The Iowa River runs right through Iowa City and splits the University of Iowa Campus. Just north of the Voxman Music Building is City Park. This spring when the snow was melting and we were still getting some storms, the river flooded quite a bit. To my knowledge, there were no problems with any buildings or homes flooding, but the park was certainly under a lot of water. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.



The trees are not normally under water.



This one give you an idea of where the river should be: to the left of the trees. The sidewalk here is also covered in several inches of water. This path sits close to the river, but several feet above the river. The water has gone down now, but it was a crazy couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, Kate and I went to Chicago to visit Kim and Chris in their new home. We stopped in Dixon, Iowa to get some lunch and we came across Ronald Reagan's boyhood home! We had to stop for a picture!

If you think like me, the first week of April has become synonymous with the International Trombone Week. The International Trombone Week is an initiative to bring an increased awareness to the trombone and it's music. Trombonists are encouraged to give solo recitals and trombone ensemble performances. Brad Edwards, Professor of Trombone at the University of South Carolina, has written a "BoneWeek Fanfare" for five out of the six years that the International Trombone Association has organized the event. All five BoneWeek Fanfares can be downloaded for free here. A list of official events is listed on the ITA website. Not listed is LeAnn Dahn's recital Friday at 6:00, but it certainly falls on this week. Please come to support LeAnn and Josh Hoffman this Friday at 6:00 in Dixon Hall.

Joshua Thompson presented a while back on the German Brass. He brought in the DVD "The German Brass Goes Bach". It's an incredible live performance of all Bach arrangements, mostly transcribed by Enrique Crespo. I have been a fan of Crespo's arrangements for a while now, but this video makes me fall in love with his stuff all over again. The arrangements are obviously phenomenally challenging, but the German Brass carries everything with a high level of precision and musicianship. Especially impressive in Matthias Höfs on trumpet. Is there anything the man can't do? Well done, German Brass, well done.

After nearly two months of time off the horn post-surgery and several months of barely playing, I am finally "back on the horse". The chops came back way faster than I anticipated. Within a week I felt like I could play most things again, but that some finesse things weren't happening the way I wanted them to. A week after playing again I played the Juraj Filas Sonata in trombone studio class. I felt that it went quite well, although the trigger stuff wasn't as effective as I would have wished. With time that stuff will be just fine though. Last week I played with the Eastern Iowa Brass Band (I mentioned this already) and I played a brass quartet gig at a church in Muscatine, Iowa. This week and next week I will be playing with the Cornell College Band in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Next month, I have been asked to substitute in the Old Capital Brass Quintet for two commencement performances. I am quite happy with the way things are going and that I get to be part of the professional world again. I need to figure out a way to increase the number of gigs for this summer. Perhaps we can market the brass quartet to some churches or wedding groups? I need to get on the ball for this.

I ran into this video this morning and I was just.....wow.....just......wow..... This is from the "Gong Show" back in the day. This is an LA based group which later expanded to a quintet called the Belle Air Brass (you see what they did there?). One of my friends from Northern Colorado, Jessie Irving, is now one of the trumpeters in this group.

Well...here it is:

Church marquis have been known for their catchy sayings, but sometimes they are just dumb. I caught this one in Muscatine, Iowa the other day.

I can't believe that it's already April. January-March just flew by. I haven't posted much since the surgery outside of incidental pictures and videos. The healing is going well. I am back to playing pretty full-time. For the first few weeks I was using the ErgoBone exclusively, but now I am only using that when the muscles are tired, so that is some really good progress! I played my first gig in months Saturday in Red Oak, Iowa with the Eastern Iowa Brass Band, directed by friend and colleague Casey Thomas.

As far as Kate and I, we have both been very busy with little time to ourselves. This past weekend we actually had some free time, so we went to a Cedar Rapids Roughriders hockey game. It just worked out that it was the last game of the season. We especially enjoyed "Krazy George" who they advertise as the "World's Greatest Cheerleader".



I was planning on writing more, but I have to go to class right now. More later.