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".

New Homepage

So after being home all summer, I learned that maintaining my home-page was too much of a pain. I have therefore decided to switch to a popular blogging interface, rather than my own. What does this mean? I will be able to update this page from any computer with an internet connection, even my PDA! Previous articles are all reposted and can be found in the September 2006 archives. With almost 13,000 hits since January, it seems a little wrong to go 3 months without updating anything. I also have a nifty little RSS feed, you can find the subscription link at the bottom of this page. Hope you enjoy!

Back to School

For the last few months I was at home--and unable to update this website. Now that I'm back at school, be on the lookout for more updates.

A.W. Smith Award

After opening my bill for this semeter's tuition, I was surprised to learn that I had received the A.W. Smith award, which pays full tuition for my last year at Case! Many thanks to anyone involved. I'm not sure who was responsible, so if you were, please let me know.