World Premiere

The week at band camp has flown by. I finished the percussion ensemble that I wrote for the students to perform and rehearsals have been going well. Tomorrow is Friday and that means that it's time for the small ensembles concert. If you are in Conway tomorrow, stop by Ida Waldren Auditorium for the world premiere performance.

The ensemble is huge! 12 snare drummers, 5 tom-tommers, 2 bass drummers, 2 xylophonists, 2 marimbists, 1 vibraphonist, 1 glockenspielist, 1 chimer and gonger,1 cymbalist and 1 timpanist. I had a contest for all the students to come up with a title for the piece. The winner will be announced tomorrow just before the performance (concert starts at 11 AM).

In other news, I won the bidding for a very exciting item on Ebay. I hope that it is as amazing as I think it will be. I will post photos when it arrives. I also was lucky enough to find a Casio PT-10 keyboard at the Goodwill Store here in town. You just can't get sounds like that anymore. The official name for the sounds are piano, fantasy, violin and flute, but the really bear little resemblance to their namesakes. It also has an onboard drum machine with 10 different rhythms (made up of a combination of high pitched beeps and "percussive static"). Liana was skeptical at first, but I think she is beginning to see the true beauty of the Casio PT-10.

We also saw It's All Gone Pete Tong last night at the Market Street Cinema in Little Rock. It was great! It's about a DJ who loses his hearing. As someone who really values his hearing, as as someone who works in a high risk environment (percussion is often very loud!!!) I found the portrayal of hearing loss in the movie frightening and a little nauseating. While I have been pretty obsessive about protecting my ears for many years, I still worry about my students. Some of them are careful, but a lot of them don't really seem to believe that it could happen to them. If you are one of those people, this movie might change your mind. Plus, it's a great movie.