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.

The Best Book on Mozart - The New York Review of Books

The New York Review of Books has an excellent review of the new translation of Abert's W.A. Mozart. The review is a lengthy one, but since the book comes in at 1600 pages, not as long as it could have been.

I think I am going to have to order it right away. Despite all the great music out there, if I had to pick a favorite composer I would go with Mozart. He and I go way back. By the time I was in 10th grade I had two complete editions of his piano sonatas, a few piano concertos, a complete score to Don Giovanni, and all of his string quartets.

Those were just the scores of course. I had many more recordings. In fact, I spent a lot of afternoons playing viola along with my records of the Guarneri Quartet (yes, I did indeed play viola, but am now retired).

So, as you can imagine, I was pretty much the coolest guy in school....carrying around my viola case, my Vic Firth percussion case, and a complete score to Don Giovanni. Then, rushing home to work on the Piano Sonata in B-flat Major after telling everyone how excited I was about having tickets for the Atlanta Opera's production of Abduction from the Seraglio.

Yes sir, the coolest!!

Anyway, check out the link for the review.

The Best Book on Mozart - The New York Review of Books

MACKEY!!!

I am proud to announce the arrival of Mackey!


















She's 7 or 8 months old (that's the vet's best guess). She was abandoned and living on the streets until a rescue shelter in Little Rock took her in.

Mackey is super-fantastic and, luckily, gets along very well with the three cats already in residence at the Tyson Estate.

WNYC - Radio Lab

There is a show on the radio that I never miss. Of course, saying "on the radio" doesn't mean what it used to. In fact, I guess I should say I almost always miss this show on the radio, but thanks to the magic of the podcast I can always hear it (and listen to it again...and again).

One of my new favorite shows is called
Radio Lab. It's from WNYC in New York. It is kind of difficult to describe the show, so I'll just use the summary from prx.org.

"Radio Lab is an investigation. Each episode is a patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea. On Radio Lab, science bumps into culture...information sounds like music."

or, from their website

"Radio Lab is designed for listeners who demand skepticism but appreciate wonder, who are curious about the world but who also want to be moved and surprised."

Check it out. The way the show is edited together can be sonically overwhelming or off-putting to some at first. Give it a chance. I think that it's (usually) quite brilliant.

Subscribe to the podcast over at itunes. It's free! The latest episode is about music. It is fascinating stuff.

Note: If you have a music degree or two, you may a few small quibbles with terminology and historical facts in the music episode. Don't let it bother you. The information about perfect pitch is really interesting and there's a computer that writes some pretty good Bach (although I'm less convinced by it's Chopin).


Radio Lab

King of Kong

I have not seen this movie. I will see this movie. I must see this movie!

King of Kong was recommended to me by my most trusted source. It is an independent film, so it may come and go from town to town rather quickly. If this movie is playing in your town, you should probably go see it tomorrow. If not, search for King of Kong on YouTube and watch a few clips. You will be amazed. Of course, maybe you should start with the trailer. Appropriately enough, the trailer prominently features "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (see last post).

Donkey Kong really is one of the all time greats. Back in my younger days I would spend a lot time at the arcade playing this game. A gas station near my house also had a machine. Were those quarters well spent? Some would say no, but I like to think I was forming neural pathways and developing my hand-eye coordination. The residual skills from jumping barrels and avoiding springs now allow me to play the marimba with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

I was pretty good, but not like these guys. These guys are absolutely crazy.

"What happens when a loser who needs to win faces a winner who refuses to lose?"

I've got to see this movie!

Edit: I had to get rid of the first clip I posted. I started automatically when the page loaded. I really hate that. Here's a different one that gives a nice overview of the game and some of the guys who are obsessed with it.

"it absolutely reeks of cow pies"

Here's a nice article about Edvard Grieg. It always seems strange to celebrate the anniversary of someone's death, but musicians just can't get enough of it.

I'm glad to see that Greig felt the same way about "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as I do....“something that I literally can’t stand to listen to because it absolutely reeks of cow pies, ultra-Norwegian-ness and trollish self-sufficiency.”

I think I would've liked that guy.

Here's the link.
Grieg Centenary - Music - New York Times

Also, the New York Times has called an end to the horrible idea known as "Times Select". Now NYT articles will not disappear into a pay site after a few days. Hooray!!!!