AXIOM premiere and latest projects...

Sunday night marked an exciting event in my life with the premiere of AXIOM! The WTAMU Percussion Ensemble included it on their fall program and did an outstanding job on the performance.

Leading up to that, I was invited to sit in on one of the last of their rehearsals. It was pretty cool to hear the players going over their parts separately as I approached the percussion studio. I kept thinking, "that sounds familiar!" The rehearsal went well and I was very pleased with how each performer was willing to try different things and to humor some of my suggestions. I knew that AXIOM was difficult, but hearing it being played by five percussionists not ten feet from me drove that home. The thing that might have caused the most trouble might have been how little time I gave players to change mallets or sticks. Again, I kept thinking to myself, "I'm glad I'm not having to play this," or "I'm glad I'm not having to conduct this!" The piece was definitely in better hands than my own!

There is also going to be a recording session in a couple of weeks (presumably when the collegiate lifestyle slows down after finals). This was totally unsolicited, so I was very happy that this was mentioned to me. I already have a good 'test' recording of the piece thanks to Virtual Drumline and some tweeking in Sibelius, but to have a solid "live" recording would be amazing! Definitely something to add to the website.

Well, the Mendelsohn is finished -- for real. If I do any more work on it, it will be the small nuances of adjusting the way a note looks on the page, or lining up a dynamic marking. I transposed the whole thing up a half step to put it in B flat (hey, it's stinking hard as it is, so let's let our percussionists who are more familiar with flat keys, have one less thing to stress out about! -- that and it fits some of the instruments a little better -- better utilizing a 4.3 octave marimba and the LOW end of a 5.0 marimba). It's been sent off to a publisher, but I haven't heard anything yet. Stay tuned!

The other two things I'm working on are a Vibe/Marimba duet of "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella" and an arrangement for my dad and his church of several Christmas carols in a medley. I'm guessing both will get played next month -- as long as I can finish them!