Some Cool Concerts

Hey hey hey hey hey hey I haven’t posted in a long time. Sorry, I’ve been been wrapped up in grad school applications, studying for the GRE, and taking a bunch of classes. This is the time of the semester when things start getting really busy.

There have been some cool things happening at Webster. Last week, I caught Professor Schene’s piano recital, which included works by Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn. It was a really super concert; I feel lucky to be at a school with such a large amount of wonderful free concerts. Speaking of which, the Webster Wind Ensemble concert is tomorrow, which will be pretty rad. We are doing a full ensemble performance of selections from Prokofiev’s ‘Lt. Kije’ score.

Though Webster has a lot of great concerts, there also really good shows around town. A few weeks ago, I saw Leonard Cohen at the Fox, which was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Also, a week or two ago, some of my friends went to see Kenny Garrett at the Bistro. I hear it was amazing.

Not too much else going on ’round here. I’m sitting here with my brother listening to Fleetwood Mac’s self titled album on vinyl.  I’ll write again soon, maybe over Thanksgiving Break, which is next weekend.

<3 Adam

Fundraising, Fiddling, & Big Banding

This last week, I’ve been spending the majority of my time preparing for an event that I am really excited about.

Webster MENC, which is Webster University’s chapter of the National Association for Music Educators, is having a charity jam session at a local restaurant to raise money for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. If you haven’t heard of it, the Save the Music Foundation is a non-profit organization whose goal is to keep instrumental music program alive in inner city schools who may not have enough money to support their own music programs. It is a great cause, and I am really pumped for the event, which is this Friday. Anyone in the area should consider coming! It’s at the Highway 61 Roadhouse & Kitchen and starts at 9:30.

Tomorrow, the Webster University Big Band has it’s first concert of the year. The range of music is wiiiiide – everything from Stan Kenton, to Les Hooper, to Wayne Shorter, to a mambo by Matt Harris that I’m pretty sure is going to tear the place down! This big band has really evolved from the beginning of the year to now…it’s been a treat to be apart of it.

In other news, Webster student and fiddling extraordinaire Justin Branum gave his graduate recital last Thursday. Justin is one of the most gifted musicians I’ve ever met, and this year placed 3rd in a national fiddling competition! I was not fortunate enough to get to go to his recital, which I was disappointed about. I was actually playing a gig at the Magic House….which was different. Anyway, I hope I get a copy of the recording because I heard it was a dynamite concert. Then again, would you expect anything else from a national top-ranking fiddler?!

- Matt

Upcoming Events!

Greetings all!

Things are starting to get busy towards the end of the semester! Here’s a couple recent and future occurrences around the Dept. of Music at Webster:

– Nov. 1st was the first performance of the new Webster University Chamber Orchestra

– Nov. 15th is the next Webster University Symphony Orchestra, with an all Mozart program, featuring baritone Ian Greenlaw.

– The Webster University Big Band is playing in Winifred-Moore Auditorium on November 16th, 7:00PM.

– The next Webster University Wind Ensemble concert in the Community Music School Building’s  Concert Hall is November 23rd at 7:00PM.

– The New Music Ensemble is presenting six new works on December 4th, at 7:00PM in the Community Music School Building’s Room 11. The program has been created around the theme of “the spaces in which we live.”

– On, Dec. 13th, the Dept. of Music will present a concert at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis.

As always, check out the performance calendar on the department website, http://www.webster.edu/finearts/music/calendar.shtml, for more information and many other events.

Here’s a couple recent newsworthy items in the music world:

– The Juliard School’s new project with their library. The school is setting up to scan and digitize a collection of manuscript scores which was donated to the school a couple years ago. Check out the first installments at juliardmanuscriptcollection.org

– Gustavo Dudamel is in his first season as the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Check out highlights from the opening concert of the season at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/

-Colton

Person in Person

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, but I never got around to it until now.

A few weeks ago, Paul DeMarinis, Director of Jazz Studies here at Webster, was lucky enough to get Eric Person to come and visit Webster for a day. If you don’t know who Eric Person is….I will tell you! Eric is a world-renowned saxophonist that has played with some of the biggest jazz musicians in the world. His most famous gig was a three-year stint with the Dave Holland Quartet. Anyone who knows jazz knows that Dave Holland has consistently kept one of the most exciting jazz groups in the world in his quartet, and more recently his quintet. Eric was Holland’s sax player just prior to Chris Potter, who is my favorite modern saxophonist.

Needless to say, when I heard Paul had convinced Eric to come to Webster to critique our jazz masterclass and give a clinic for all the sax player, I was pretty excited. I had heard a few tracks of Eric playing with Dave, but I didn’t have a complete album. So a few days before Eric came, I headed down to the local record store here in Webster Groves called Euclid Records. It is probably about a hundred yards from campus, so I had time to go with a friend between classes. As it turns out, Euclid had one used copy of the one album that Eric recorded with Dave Holland, Dream of the Elders. That’s how Euclid is…you always find what you’re looking for!  

Anyway, Eric ended up providing some great insights at masterclass and gave a fantastic clinic for the sax players. He even signed my album, which was pretty cool. We even got to talk for a little while, which was even cooler! This was certainly an exerience I will never forget.

- Matt

A Post About The Rewards of Being A Good Student (Sort Of).

I’M SO BUSY! Bagel, class, lunch, class, rent a tuxedo for orchestra concert, study for a test, class tonight. This semester is crazy. Don’t ever take 21 hours, no matter how badly you want to graduate (or study in Vienna…). I suppose the best way to deal school is to take it one day at a time, and also to remember to take small breaks throughout the day. For example, I have 1001 things to do in the next week, but right now I’m sitting here, enjoying the rain and having a coffee, listening to Britten’s ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”. It’s the little things that make the difficult things worthwhile, I suppose. Or something like that.

So. Reason #17 to be a diligent student: FREE STUFF! I never thought that just by checking my email hourly and by hanging out at the music building all the time that I would get a bunch of free stuff, but I was wrong. Yesterday, I got an email from Dr. Carter about free tickets to the SLSO this weekend. The email said that the first two people who responded would receive the tickets, and since I spend most of my free time on the internet, I was the first person to respond. Booyah, now I’m going to the SLSO for the third week in a row.

Also, there are many free scores to be found in the music building. I’m not saying that you should take every score that you see lying around, however the library often donates boxes of scores to the music department for student use. In the past few years, I’ve been extremely fortunate to find many GREAT scores and books, including (but not limited to): the Symphonie Fantastique score, all Brahms’ symphonic scores, a few Beethoven and Haydn symphonic scores, Book II of the Dover collection of Strauss’ Tone Poems, the full score to Mahler II, etc. I’ve also picked up a lot of awesome theory, orchestration and history books.

I feel pretty lucky to be in a program that has so much to offer me. It’s not even the actuality of having free things, as much as the fact that Webster really gives me a lot of opportunities to have great cultural experiences. Between the Film Series, getting tickets to the SLSO, studying abroad, the MCISA, and other things that happen around campus, it really pays off to keep an eye out for information about events that you might enjoy.

If there is a moral to this post, it would be: “Always check your email from Dr. Carter, and spend a lot of time at school so that you can get free stuff.” I’m going to see about having that engraved above the front door of Thompson.

- Adam

P.S. The last minute of this Britten piece is REALLY awesome- you should check it out if you don’t already know it.

A Quick Link

This week has been a whirlwind of activity, but I wanted to just take a moment to share a link to a great interview with the Saxophone Colossus, Sonny Rollins.

As you may or may not know, Sonny made a visit to St. Louis a few weeks ago for a one-night show. Unfortunately, I couldn’t scrape up the cash to get a ticket, but I heard it was absolutely fantastic. The guy is 79 years old and still killin’!

Anyway, here is the link. The interview is focused mostly on Rollins’ facination with Westerns. It’s really a facisating read. Hope you enjoy:

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/10/interview-sonny-rollins-part-1.html

Oh, and by the way, GO CARDINALS!!!

- Matt

I’ve Done Almost Nothing This Week But Listen To Mahler and Watch Dexter.

There’s always a reason I’m up this late. Tonight, it’s equal parts Mahler 1 and Beethoven 7.

It’s been an eventful week, both playing and listening. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the SLSO’s first concert of the season. I have to say, without reservation, that it was one of the finest concerts that I’ve seen there. They opened with Golijov’s ‘Azul’, which was a totally incredible piece of music. Part neo-Romantic, part post-minimalism, ‘Azul’ was a beautiful arrangement of sounds, colors, and ideas. I thought the hyper-accordion added a lot to the piece, as did the percussion. And the cello was unspeakably good.

And Mahler 5… what can anyone even say about it? Susan Slaughter totally nailed it (and my musical mind immediately makes the connection between her nailing her part, and nailing a coffin because the first movement was a funeral march… sorry… NOT FUNNY!) But seriously, it’s an unbelievable symphony, and the SLSO offered one of the most intelligent and inspired performances I’ve heard of it.

I feel like Matt said what needed to be said about the Webster Symphony Orchestra. Playing with them is going to be a pleasure.

Concert forecast: Tonight I’m driving to Columbia to see Grizzly Bear. This weekend, SLSO is doing a great program, which I will paste from their website instead of rewriting it (because I’m lazy):

COPLAND Fanfare for the Common Man
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2
HARRIS Symphony No. 3
JANÁČEK Sinfonietta

Also, the Wind Ensemble concert is on Monday. It should be pretty cool, so check it out if you have a chance. That’s about all I know at 2:30 a.m.

- Adam

P.S. Derick Tramel got me hooked on the T.V. show Dexter. I hate T.V. and never watch it (except for Lost), but I’ve gone through these DVDs pretty quickly. I have to say, the show is really exciting. Check it out if you have hours and hours to waste (I don’t, but somehow I’m making the time this week). I started Season 1 earlier this week, and I’m now almost through Season 3. Reading that, I’m embarrassed. Goodnight.

Symphony Time!

Tonight was the first full rehearsal of the Webster University Symphony Orchestra. Adam, Colton, and myself were all there. I played clarinet on Williams Grant Still’s “Afro American Symphony” and saxophone on George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

As you may have guessed, the focus of this concert is on American composers. In addition to the Still and Gershwin, the orchestra is playing Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo” and “Fanfare for the Common Man,” as well as Donald Grantham’s “Exhiliration and Cry.” With it being Dr. Davis’ first concert as maestro of the orchestra, it’s going to be a packed house…and I am so excited! The group sounded great tonight.

If you live anywhere near the St. Louis area and want to hear some great music, come to the concert on October 11th. It’s going to be a blast!

I’m getting too excited about this….I need to do homework and go to bed.

The Jazz Ear

I just got done reading a great book by Ben Ratliffe, the jazz critic for the New York Times called The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music. Basically, Ratliffe went and talked to some of the greatest living jazz artists (Wayne Shorter, Roy Haynes, Joshua Redman, Brandford Marsalis, Maria Schnieder, etc.) and asked them a simple question: “What music do you listen to, and why?” Some of the answers were quite shocking and amazing.

For one, I thought it was VERY cool that Wayne Shorter is into Vaughan Williams. He specifically references “The Lark Ascending,” the Vaughan Williams violin concerto for orchestra, which is my all-time favorite piece of classical music! How cool is that?

Also in the book, Ornette Coleman has a lot of interesting choices of music and knowledge to share, and Maria Schneider’s explanation of how she hears music is absolutely stunning. Roy Haynes speaks mostly in riddles, and Hank Jones talks about playing with practically every great jazz player ever. So cool to hear stuff straight from these guys’ mouths.

If you are into jazz, or simply into how great musicians hear music, get this book now!

I’m Tired Why Am I Writing This Go To Bed.

Man, it’s so late. Listening to Radiohead after midnight should be prohibited in this country… Anyways, I really should go to bed, but I wanted to share something first.

I frequent the blog of concert pianist Jeremy Denk. I think he really has a lot to say, both as a pianist and a musical thinker . Reading his blog makes me really appreciate the internet- I think it’s great that we can have instant access to the lives and minds of great musicians. It’s interesting to consider how the avenue of musical thought has progressed in the past 200 years; it was in the early 19th century that musicians moved past the idea that music was just another job that one did to earn a living. I mean, while Bach is considered one of the greatest musical minds in history, he wasn’t exactly rockin’ the boat in the ‘music=art’ department. On the cover page of the Well Tempered Clavier, he wrote: “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.” For the pastime! For PASSING TIME! Clearly, one of the most revered musical compositions of the common practice era wasn’t written just for passing the time!

Enter Beethoven, who wanted more. His music, especially symphonies, provoked even the most knowledgeable musicians to wonder if there was really more to music than just passing time. Somewhere in this beautiful music was a hidden message, as if to say “this music is ABOUT something!” Not quite programmatic, but definitely not purely vocational, Beethoven falls into a class all by himself, perhaps at the crux of one of the most important transitional periods in music history. And now, 200 years later, we sit at the computer and read what musicians have to say about other musicians’ work. Because it means something.

I really didn’t mean to write that much. Just inspired, I guess. Here’s a link to Jeremy Denk’s site. Some of his posts are hysterical, others are incredibly intuitive. Enjoy.

http://jeremydenk.net/blog/

- Adam