Calling all performers!

Lately, I've been trying to list every performance of pieces I have written on my website calendar. If you are performing one of my pieces, or if you know of any performances, let me know.

I promise not to investigate if you bought the music, photocopied it, found it on the subway, etc. I will not ask you for a recording or show up unannounced at your recital. I really am incredibly thankful that people perform the pieces and I just want to have an idea of where they are being performed and who's performing them.

If you've played a piece of mine in the past, let me know that, too. I'm working on an archive. It's probably impossible to find every performance over the last ten years or so, but it's worth a go!

So, if you've played

Anubis
A Ceiling Full of Stars
Cloud Forest
A cricket sang and set the sun
the trees are quiet
Vertical River

or (coming soon)
Firefish
Inside the Shining Stone

or some other piece I've forgotten I wrote...

just head to the Contact page of my website or leave a comment here.

Thanks!
Blake

A Ceiling Full of Stars

I've finally gotten around to starting up a real YouTube channel and posting video there. The first video I posted was A Ceiling Full of Stars performed by the UCA Percussion Ensemble. My students gave a wonderful performance of the work.



The work was premiered in Spring of 2009 by the Texas Christian University Percussion Ensemble with Brian West conducting. The video above was recorded just a couple of weeks later.

We also performed the work at the Arkansas Day of Percussion at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. This fall I have been lucky to have had a number of performances of the piece, including one by the LSU Percussion Ensemble at PASIC in Indianapolis. It was also performed by the percussion ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College, the University of South Carolina, East Central Oklahoma University, Florida State University, the University of Georgia, the University of Central Florida, Northwestern University and Jacksonville State University. I'm excited that there are also quite a few performances scheduled for the spring.

In addition to the live performances, there are two great recordings of the work coming out soon. On December 1st the TCU Percussion Ensemble's recording of A Ceiling Full of Stars will be released on their CD Escape Velocity. In the spring of 2010 the FSU Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of John Parks, will release it on their CD Ten Windows. You can get a preview of that recording by heading over to my website.

A Ceiling Full of Stars, along with most of my other compositions, is now available from Steve Weiss Music.

Cloud Forest - Now Available

The score and parts for Cloud Forest are now available at www.blaketyson.com

I'm also running a Summer Sale Spectacular! Buy Cloud Forest and get A cricket sang and set the sun for free. The total price is $25 and it includes shipping (within the US).

To paraphrase Michael Daugherty's Used Car Salesman...

"You can't afford NOT to buy this piece!"

If you haven't heard them, recordings of both pieces are available on my website.

New work for percussion ensemble

Last summer, Brian West and the Texas Christian University Percussion Ensemble commissioned me to write a new work for percussion ensemble. On April 7th, they gave an incredible premiere performance in Ft. Worth. I was there to hear it along with the premiere of Eric Ewazen's Symphony for Percussion Ensemble and the premiere of Till Meyn's Zzzzing. Both are amazing pieces and TCU has recorded all three works for a CD release later this year.

The piece I wrote is called A Ceiling Full of Stars. You can hear (and see) the UCA Percussion Ensemble performing the work by following this link

If you'd like to read more about the inspiration for the piece, head on over to blaketyson.com and check out the "Compositions" page.

The National Symphony is in town tonight. They're playing Dvorak 7 along with Three Dance Episodes by Bernstein and some Wagner. I'm looking forward to it, except that I have to go outside to get there. I am not particularly happy that it "feels like" 33 degrees here in Conway....and it's raining.

Tomorrow and Monday, I'll be playing timpani with the Pine Bluff Symphony. A new work by Schwantner is on the program along with West Side Story(the short medley), Lincoln Portrait, Barber's First Essay and the Korngold Violin Concerto.

By the way, if you ever need a narrator for Lincoln Portrait, give me a call. It is one of my secret dreams (not that secret, I suppose) to perform the work. I'll do it from memory, and I promise to speak clearly. Since I read music and know the piece well, you won't even have to give me those awkward cues or hold out those fermatas for 30 seconds each.

The best way to get the gig, it seems, is to be a senator, or president, or famous actor. I will most likely never be any of those things, but maybe things will work out anyway.

Beakerthovens 9th

This one's for you, Parksie

Steady Decline

"Most people reach their mental peak between the ages of 35 and 40, then begin a steady decline that speeds up in the years before death"

Having just attending my 20th high school class reunion (you do the math), I was glad to read that in the news today.

Looks like I've got two good years left. I'd better get that application for Jeopardy in while there's still a chance.

Mental skills fade earlier than thought - Aging- msnbc.com:

Josh Knight plays Cloud Forest

Here's a video of Josh Knight, a DMA student at OU, playing my piece Cloud Forest. Josh is a former student and is one of only two people other than me to play the piece (as far as I know). That will hopefully change soon. I'm finalizing the score and parts and will make it available on my website in the next week or two. Thanks to Josh and the quartet for putting this up on YouTube!

Summer Summary

School is back in session at UCA. That was a fast summer! It was a good one though. I went to Boston and New York and Atlanta, wrote a piece for Texas Christian University's percussion ensemble, attended my 20th high school reunion, hung out with friends old and new, and redecorated my house (or at least part of it). I'll get some pictures together and share the magic of the summer soon (for the 3 of you that might be interested).

In the meantime, here's a few things that I have enjoyed this summer.

Entourage - I finally gave in and watched all the episodes. One day, I watched twelve in a row. Once you get past the first season, everything really comes together. You gotta love Ari. He has the courage (or the stupidity) to say what the rest of us think :)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Funny show. Low budget, character driven insanity. Danny Devito is the best!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Joss Wheedon continues to be the man. Neil Patrick Harris, Cap'n Mal, Felicia Day, and Moist are funny (and heartbreaking).

The Guild - Speaking of Felicia Day, The Guild is a little something she put together. Talk about low-budget character driven insanity, this is it. Second season coming soon (with a slightly higher budget).

Mirah - Check her out. I especially like the Advisory Committee CD, but it's all worth listening to. I've got a couple of new ones that I've barely had a chance to check out.

Elvis Costello - has been amazing me since the 80's (and amazing others since the 70's). Both his old and new stuff continue to blow me away.

1964 The Tribute - You can't see the Beatles in concert anymore, but you can see these guys. It's a great concert and a recreation which is both eerily accurate and moving. They tour a lot, so check them out when they stop in your town.

A Long Way Down - A great book by Nick Hornby. Give it a read!

This is your brain on bass!

More inspiration for composing!

Weird Fluid And Subwoofer: Cornstarch Water Subwoofer = Amazing Physics Video

Dear Dr. Parks

This may not be what you had in mind, but I hope that it brings you some small joy as I finish my composition for percussion ensemble. Perhaps the contents of the video will inspire me to create the finale I have been searching for.

Mallets

Pro-Mark has an ad for the new Autograph Series mallets (including mine) in the latest Percussive Notes.

5 Days...5 Concerts

The past week has been incredibly busy. Three orchestras and five concerts in five days (with all the rehearsals that go with them...plus my job, of course).

The first was the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Broadway Pops concert on Friday and Saturday nights. It was the usual mix of Lloyd Weber, Sondheim, Les Mis, Wicked, Mama Mia, etc. The singers from Broadway that came in were really excellent. If you want to look them up, search for Teri Hansen, Leah Hocking and Aaron Lazar. Teri and Leah did a spectacular job on the Wicked medley and Aaron does a pretty mean Jean Valjean and Phantom.

Then off to Pine Bluff to play Harlem by Duke Ellington for jazz band and orchestra (which I really enjoyed) plus Three Dance Episodes from On the Town and Gershwin's Cuban Overture.

Then on the children's concert the following day, we did some Smetana, some Handel, some Stravinsky, some Debussy, and many other things that are just a blur in my memory.

Finally, last night with Conway Symphony we did Overture to Candide and Shostakovich's 9th Symphony.

A lot off driving, and a lot of rehearsing, but somehow none of the rehearsals conflicted (although I only made in back for the CSO rehearsal Sunday night with five minutes to spare).

Now, it's time to get back to practicing the Ewazen marimba concerto. I'll be doing that at the Montana Day of Percussion in about a month along with a clinic and a performance with their percussion ensemble. If you're in Bozeman, be sure to stop by.

Storms

There were some pretty rough storms in Arkansas last night. Everything is ok here in Conway and in Little Rock, but about an hour up the road, it's a different story. Incredibly powerful tornadoes destroyed a lot of property and caused many fatalities. An aunt of one of my students was injured (concussion, broken bones) in a building collapse in Clinton. We were on alert here for hours, but by the time the storm got here it was just high winds and small hail. So, we're fine here, but the destruction just up the road is unbelievable.

Just a week ago, what the weather people call a "wind event" took down 120 feet of the privacy fence in our back yard. When I say "took down" I really mean destroyed, as in "Cloverfield" destroyed. Our neighbors lost part of their roof in that "event" and there was damage to fences, roofs, trees, etc., all over town.

It's winter, right? I'm ready for a nice, quiet snow flurry.

GONGGONGGONGGONGGGGGGGGGG

I recently visited Immaculate Conception School in North Little Rock where Liana teaches music to the K-5 classes. I spent all day playing some marimba, derabucca, riq, talking drum, and, most importantly, THE GONG. These kids love a gong more than I can tell you. I don't have any photos of the day, but a lot of the students drew some pictures and wrote thank you letters. Thanks to them, you can get some idea of what the day was like

Here's a drawing of me and my marimba by Meredith R.

























They have a large collection of Orff instruments at ICS, so the marimba wasn't completely unfamiliar to them.

The most popular instrument of the day was probably the derabucca...oh, except for the GONG, of course. I'm pretty sure that I could have done a thirty minute gong solo for each class and it would have been the greatest day of their lives. They REALLY love the gong!!

Here's a picture of me and the gong by Kaitlyn R.
Just to give you an idea of the scale, the gong I took that day was 28 inches in diameter. I'm taller than I look. Oh, and that's Kaitlyn herself standing beside me.

100 people banging a drum

This film is beautiful, and funny, and inspiring, and heartwarming. It will make you feel old.....and young. I find myself wanting to watch it over and over. Check it out!

PASIC 2007

I've got a little catching up to do on the blog. Let's start with PASIC.



















I had a great time at PASIC this year. I premiered a new work for solo timpani by Halim El-Dabh, my new marimba mallets launched with Pro-Mark, I met a lot of people who are playing the pieces that I've written, and I got to see a lot of my classmates at the reception in honor of John Beck and his 49 years at Eastman.

Halim's new piece, In search of Three Goddesses, is a great new work for timpani. I premiered it on October 31st at the end of a VERY long session. Moving all those timpani around after each piece makes for a lengthy concert. I still had a good crowd and the piece seemed to go over very well. I was very excited that Halim was able to be at the performance. Here's a pic of me with Halim after the final concert of the day.
















The reception for John Beck was an amazing experience. The room was packed with people who have been part of percussion history over the past half decade (or longer). Even Louie Bellson stopped by to congratulate JB.

















My former classmates Rob Bridge, Brian Bennett and Conrad Alexander listen in amazement and disbelief at the fantastical tales of Dr. John W. Parks, IV and his magical tambourine.


















Speaking of which, another big event at PASIC was something I like to call "The Attack of the 50 Foot Parksie". There's a picture out there of me with it (them), but until said attacker forwards it to me, I cannot share it with you.

UPDATE!!! The picture has arrived. For those of you that weren't there, let me assure you that this involved no trick photography. It is indeed a giant picture of John at the Pearl booth.

Do I sound like a musical robot?

This is pretty cool....and fairly creepy.
Watch the videos and be amazed. And, afraid. Not perfect yet, but it will only get better.

Robots will soon have the ability to take our orchestral jobs AND sign the paychecks.

Toyota shows violin-playing robot - Yahoo! News

PASIC

PASIC starts Wednesday!

I'll be performing Wednesday around noon. I'm very excited about premiering In Search of Three Goddesses by Halim El-Dabh. The piece is fantastic and I think that it's a great addition to the timpani repertoire. It requires the performer to create number of interesting sound effects and also has some fast tuning changes. It's not easy, but it is beautifully written and very playable. I'm happy to report that Halim will be at the performance and will say a few words about the piece before I play.

It's been busy here because, in addition to learning the piece, I somehow managed to book myself with three orchestras this past week. I've done Firebird, Night on Bald Mountain, Egmont Overture, Symphonie Fantastique, Peer Gynt, Stokowski's arrangement of Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, etc, etc, etc.... Still, I've been able to put in a lot of time on the piece and the next few days will be full of timpani practice for me.

I'll post more details about the new work after PASIC, but for now, I've got to go practice. I hope to see you on Wednesday.

....OH, I got the Mozart book in (from the previous post). It is SPECTACULAR! More on that later.