New Mouthpiece

The private screening of the new line of mouthpieces (designed by Jacob Crandall and myself) took place today. Though this is an engineering project, it is music-related, so I thought it would be appropriate to mention. I can't speak about the specific design elements on this website, as it could jeopardize the international patent; however, I can say that the project was well received. There was even time for a live demonstration of one new model!! If this designed is published in the Case magazine, or anywhere else, I will post a link. If not, this is probably the final word.

New Projects

Due to the success and popularity of the solo bassoon project Key Buxom Kamikaze @ H.Q., I have decided to debut the "User Interface" for the second piece in that series. For those of you who weren't following Key Buxom Kamikaze @ H.Q., the premise was that people purchased notes (through this website) and the proceeds went to charity. You chose the pitch, duration, and measure number, and I chose the octave and ordering in the measure. For that project, the user interface was setup like an online retail store. For this (second) project, the user interface is setup like a flash introduction. There are 100+ boxes displayed on the screen--you pick one, and the corresponding note becomes the next note in the piece.

The third new project in this series is a computer generated string quintet entitled Cantilène & Caprice. This piece is in the early stages of development, but the idea for the user interface comes from online forms. You fill out the form, and a randomly generated piece is sent to you (pdf and midi) via email. I plan to upload C++ snippets as they become available (and hopefully get some good feedback from computer engineers or CompSci people).

Fred Hale Vose

I've been asked to share some information about the Case Alumni Association (CAA) award I recently won:

The Fred Hale Vose Prize and Scholarship Fund was originally established as the Fred Hale Vose Prize in 1945 by a Case alumnus. The prize is presented annually to the graduating mechanical engineer demonstrating the greatest promise for professional leadership and is named to honor Dr. Vose.

Local Concerts of Note

Please note the upcoming master-class / concert featuring saxophone guru Alan Durst. The name of the event is "Saxophones on Saturday", on Nov. 11th, at 12:00pm, in Harkness Chapel (here at Case). I will be playing solo and quartet / quintet pieces, and my newest piece Laplace Transformers will be premiered. The first recording session for Laplace Transformers is Nov. 8th, so I will try to upload a clip soon after that. Also, I heard a rumor that someone else is performing one of my soprano solos...

Also, Maggie Kiehl will be performing my saxophone solo, Alone Again as part of her prize-winning Terr Ronis recital on Sunday, Oct. 29th, at 3:00pm, in Harkness Chapel. I'll be there in the front row, so come out and support her beautiful playing.

Honors!

Today I learned that the music faculty had unanimously voted to award me departmental honors status. This is especially cool because I didn't know this even existed until last month. I know several recent graduates who had the necessary requirements, but did not apply for departmental honors because they did not know about it. In fact, I don't remember anyone ever graduating with departmental honors in music. Perhaps this will be the impetus for the music department to reevaluate how they advertise this honor.

Free Screen-Savers for Everyone!

So I was on the Apple download page, looking at their free screen-savers, and it struck me that a lot of them stink. After fooling around with Quartz Composer for the better part of half an hour, I discovered that making a screen-saver on a Mac is sort of like working with Reason. You end up working with a series of signal controllers that can be rerouted to other controllers, with near-limitless flexibility. Please enjoy this set of three quartz screen-savers. FlameSaver and WebCamSaver both show my RSS feed, and FairySaver is a cute little yellow light that flies around the screen (on top of a photo I took at the botanical gardens). Why doesn't Apple publicize this little program better to non-developers? Surprisingly, it IS quite user friendly. What other cool things are lurking deep within my PowerMac? Anyway, please enjoy these (Mac OS X-only) screen-savers!

It's done!

With much gratitude, I'm announcing that the new experimental piece is finished. This project generated a lot of interest in both the music and the Hope Center. Thank you to everyone who was involved (or followed along) with the project. The last incomplete feature of the piece was the title. I had been complaining last week about a lack of vowels, and just this afternoon, a group from Haralson County High School, in Tallapoosa, Georgia, purchased an A, E, I, O, U, and Y! Using the letters you purchased, I have decided to name the piece: Key Buxom Kamikaze @ H.Q. Some other considerations for titles included Squeakky Zombie-X Ham K and Q, Kabuki Homemaker XYZ.

The piece is now available to download online, and is free and open for public performance and recording. I will also upload a free recording, as soon as one becomes available. There is no fee to use the music; however, all proceeds generated must go to the Hope Center in Lexington, KY.

Relaxation CD

Well, it's finally out. As part of orientation, new students were given a coupon to come pick up my relaxation CD "Centered in the Circle" from ESS. I've already seen several people who have them, which is pretty cool! The bad news is that it's not available online yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

Bozza Aria on a Plane

I just heard the unedited, unmastered recording of Greg Banaszak playing my Bozza Aria arrangement with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra in Krakow, Poland. It sounds fantastic! I can't wait to get a copy of the CD when it comes out. I also heard that Banaszak and Centaur records signed a deal with LOT Polish Airlines to use the Aria as part of their in-flight music presentation. I suppose stranger things have happened, but this is certainly up there.

MEA KKMB HKXQZ Update

Thank you to everyone who participated in my most recent experiment. The music is completed, but I am still selling letters for the title. The shopping cart has been disabled, so please contact me with how many letters you would like. Keep the following possibilities in mind: an "R" yields "embark" or "hammer", a "Y" yields "mayhem", two "I"s yield "maximize", "NCR" yields "benchmark", and "YTR" yields "myth-maker".