A Day in Iowa
18/08/07 09:07 Filed in: Everything
Else
Today was a strange day. We got up earlier than we
have lately, so that was rough. I went and helped
someone move in for about an hour today. They didn't
have much stuff and several people came to help, so
it was pretty easy. The best part? It was 65 degrees!
The first cool day in months!
After coming home to change, I went up to the school to practice for a bit. I took this picture while I was up there. It's an Iowa Hawkeye statue made entirely of mirrors!
Tonight Kate and I couldn't think anything to do, so we just got in the car and started driving. We decided to flip a coin to decide where to drive - heads is a left turn and tails a right turn. First it took us to the state girls' softball game! Next was a crazy car/cart/motorcycle. Then to the mall where we bought two cd's for Kate's collection (her cd binder with around 100 cd's was stolen, so we have to start rebuilding). There was more uneventful driving around, but it turned a boring night into something unboring! I'll take it!
Note: all images taken with a 2 Mpx iPhone.
After coming home to change, I went up to the school to practice for a bit. I took this picture while I was up there. It's an Iowa Hawkeye statue made entirely of mirrors!
Tonight Kate and I couldn't think anything to do, so we just got in the car and started driving. We decided to flip a coin to decide where to drive - heads is a left turn and tails a right turn. First it took us to the state girls' softball game! Next was a crazy car/cart/motorcycle. Then to the mall where we bought two cd's for Kate's collection (her cd binder with around 100 cd's was stolen, so we have to start rebuilding). There was more uneventful driving around, but it turned a boring night into something unboring! I'll take it!
Note: all images taken with a 2 Mpx iPhone.
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The Beggining of the End
15/08/07 09:09 Filed in: School
One week from today I have TA orientation here at the
University of Iowa. What does this mean to me? It
means the beginning of the end! I have actually
thought about it in this way for a while. Pursuing
graduate degrees is a long, hard road (granted, I
only understand that statement in the singular at
this point). When all is said and done I will have
been in some kind of school for twenty two years, ten
of that being various universities (five years at the
University of Northern Colorado, two years at the
University of Utah, and three years at the University
of Iowa). As I start down this path of the doctorate,
I realize that many of my life goals have shifted
from several years ago. They are no longer the idol
worship of my youth: I want to BE Joseph Alessi or
Christian Lindberg has shifted to: I want to be the
best trombonist and musician that I can be. I am
amazed at and honor many great trombonists and
musicians including the two previously listed. This
paradigm shift for me has opened up new worlds to me
as a musician and performer. This can be illustrated
in an example from my youth:
When I was younger I loved baseball (I still do, I am just no longer directly involved with it). I grew up in San Jose, California back when the San Francisco Giants were actually good. I was there when they went to the 1989 World Series, in fact I was watching when the earthquake hit! But I digress.... I loved to watch Will Clark. He has been nearly forgotten by now, but at the time, I thought he was the greatest. He was left handed and I right handed, but I did my best to mimic his batting stance, even down to his famous frown while batting! I never hit particularly well with this approach, but he was my hero! Later, I found a stance in the batters box that was comfortable for me and allowed me the best access to see the pitcher and have the best bat speed - for me.
When I was a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado I was really quite naive to the trombone world. I didn't know that there were professional trombone soloists or recordings (incidentally, my parents had purchased Christian Lindberg's "Romantic Trombone Concerto's" for my sixteenth birthday and I exchanged it for a punk-rock cd since I thought it was going to be something like Kenny G playing love songs. I now love that recording - which I had to pay nearly $20 for....). In one lesson I asked my teacher, Buddy Baker, who or what I should listen to. His response was to get the Joseph Alessi recording called Slide Area - another amazing cd. Buddy said that I should listen to his sound and try to sound like him. I completely misunderstood him. I took this to mean (again, as a naive 16 year old) that I should try to sound just like him. I started working on solo rep that he had recorded so that I could be just like him. I would listen closely to where Alessi breathed or what he would do with a phrase. Sometimes I would just listen so much that I would actually transcribe the pieces like you would with a jazz solo. This was good for my development because I grew in many was through this process, but it hindered me in the fact that I was not making my own decisions. In a lesson with Dr. Nat Wickham, he once told me that he doesn't listen to a recording of a piece until he has already prepared it. I didn't understand how someone could do that at that time, but I think I do now.
I have developed my own sound (which of course I am always trying to refine), and my own style of playing which has been influenced by my many experiences and teachers. I approach things with an attitude of "how would the composer want this performed" verses "how would Alessi play this?". I still feel you can't get a better recording of an orchestral work to study (for trombonists) than a New York Philharmonic recording - i.e. Mahler 3 - Holy Cow!, but a more musicological approach can be much more rewarding for me. That being said, I am still planning on taking some lessons with Alessi at some point.
There it is. The beginning of the end. A beginning of a new era! Or something like that. Another stop on the journey of life. Or whatever hippy mumbo jumbo you want to call it. It's exciting and invigorating! Wish me luck!
When I was younger I loved baseball (I still do, I am just no longer directly involved with it). I grew up in San Jose, California back when the San Francisco Giants were actually good. I was there when they went to the 1989 World Series, in fact I was watching when the earthquake hit! But I digress.... I loved to watch Will Clark. He has been nearly forgotten by now, but at the time, I thought he was the greatest. He was left handed and I right handed, but I did my best to mimic his batting stance, even down to his famous frown while batting! I never hit particularly well with this approach, but he was my hero! Later, I found a stance in the batters box that was comfortable for me and allowed me the best access to see the pitcher and have the best bat speed - for me.
When I was a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado I was really quite naive to the trombone world. I didn't know that there were professional trombone soloists or recordings (incidentally, my parents had purchased Christian Lindberg's "Romantic Trombone Concerto's" for my sixteenth birthday and I exchanged it for a punk-rock cd since I thought it was going to be something like Kenny G playing love songs. I now love that recording - which I had to pay nearly $20 for....). In one lesson I asked my teacher, Buddy Baker, who or what I should listen to. His response was to get the Joseph Alessi recording called Slide Area - another amazing cd. Buddy said that I should listen to his sound and try to sound like him. I completely misunderstood him. I took this to mean (again, as a naive 16 year old) that I should try to sound just like him. I started working on solo rep that he had recorded so that I could be just like him. I would listen closely to where Alessi breathed or what he would do with a phrase. Sometimes I would just listen so much that I would actually transcribe the pieces like you would with a jazz solo. This was good for my development because I grew in many was through this process, but it hindered me in the fact that I was not making my own decisions. In a lesson with Dr. Nat Wickham, he once told me that he doesn't listen to a recording of a piece until he has already prepared it. I didn't understand how someone could do that at that time, but I think I do now.
I have developed my own sound (which of course I am always trying to refine), and my own style of playing which has been influenced by my many experiences and teachers. I approach things with an attitude of "how would the composer want this performed" verses "how would Alessi play this?". I still feel you can't get a better recording of an orchestral work to study (for trombonists) than a New York Philharmonic recording - i.e. Mahler 3 - Holy Cow!, but a more musicological approach can be much more rewarding for me. That being said, I am still planning on taking some lessons with Alessi at some point.
There it is. The beginning of the end. A beginning of a new era! Or something like that. Another stop on the journey of life. Or whatever hippy mumbo jumbo you want to call it. It's exciting and invigorating! Wish me luck!
Almost Time for School to Start Again
07/08/07 09:11 Filed in: School
As I begin
my twentieth year of formal education things seem a
little different this time around. I am not nervous
at all for a new school or a new place. I am just
excited! This has never happened before! It is gong
to be great fun playing in quality ensembles, taking
challenging courses, and meeting new people. Even
though I have entrance exams in a few weeks and an
audition for the Cedar Rapids Symphony the same week,
I am completely at peace. This is our home and where
we are supposed to be.