From the monthly archives:

March 2008

End and begin

March 31, 2008

After working from 6 am to 11 pm I got HOMER IN CYBERSPACE copied, bound, finished, recorded, edited and ready to hand out to the cast and crew tonight. We will read through the whole thing from 7 to 11. What a thrill!
And I can’t tell you how good it feels to have it finished. [...]

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Course in counterpoint

March 30, 2008

Here is the syllabus for a course in counterpoint at the undergraduate level that I will start on Monday. Students have studied modal and tonal counterpoint in their core music theory courses and is quickly reviewed here. We will explore the counterpoint of people speaking in a group, some percussion studies, and some modal explorations. [...]

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Rainy Sunday

March 30, 2008

Surprise! Rain in LA. Sunny weather was scheduled but the pacific ocean changed its mind.
Today is the last day of getting everything ready for our first complete rehearsal tomorrow night of HOMER IN CYBERSPACE. I have to print out 35 copies of the music and have it put in 3-ring binders. Then I have to [...]

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Too many emails

March 29, 2008

I get too many emails.
I’m not talking about spam. I have a variety of filters that get most of the spam out. I’m talking about email from people I know from the various parts of my life: my family, close friends, friends, colleagues, students, former students, staff, and then all the email that comes at [...]

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Daniel and I have fabulous front row tickets to the Chamber Music series at Disney Hall. On Tuesday, Josie (his mother) and I went to a concert that featured our new conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. Like us, everyone was anxious to see him in action. But here he played second violin in the Mozart Clarinet Quintet [...]

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Gin martini with a twist

March 26, 2008

An excellent set of instructions for making a perfect dry martini, here, with a twist. The gin used here is Plymouth, an excellent affordable gin.
How To Make A Classic Gin Martini Cocktail

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When a musician gets a new instrument they truly love, one that inspires him to WANT to play, it is very much like having a new lover — you just can’t get enough, so you keep playing. Such has been the case with my 1976 Feurich piano. It’s a 7′3″ grand piano made of [now [...]

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This was sent in by Brenda Lynn Baker (relation?). “Woman’s Prison” is from Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose album produced by Jack White (The White Stripes). I admit that for the first two minutes I kept wanting to hit the stop button, but I watched and listened to the whole thing. This is the story [...]

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Top Secret Drum Corps

March 23, 2008

This just in from Tiko: an amazing drum ensemble from Basel, Switzerland worth watching, you won’t need your second cup of coffee if you do. Terrific rhythmic ensemble and interactive musicianship at the highest level.
© Schweizer Fernsehen 2006. Link to drummerworld.com]

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Spilt milk and Conlon

March 21, 2008

I was in the mood for a little Conlon Nancarrow and found this fun 30″ video called “Everytime i prepare myself a cup of tea with milk, i can’t help spilling it.”

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