Probably the biggest news is that I will be graduating this year (school year, not calender year). This is, of course, very exciting. But it's also a little nerve-wracking, because I now am trying to decide on graduate schools. And it is proving a daunting task. But it's going okay. Here are some of my choices:
-University of Colorado Boulder
-Arizona State University
-Azusa Pacific University
I'm leaning very heavily towards Colorado. The main percussion guy there has an extremely impressive vitae, and he plays a lot of Daniel Levitan's music (for those not familiar with this wonderful composer, click on his name and be ready for some great music). This works great for me because I am playing one of Levitan's pieces on my senior recital.
Speaking of my senior recital, the date is tentatively set for November 21. The chances of it changing are very slim, but there's always something that could happen. I'll update on this website and my myspace if the date changes. Here are the pieces I'll be playing:
- Baroque Suite - Daniel Levitan (this piece kicks so much ass, haha)
- Eight Movements for Four Timpani (March and Improvisation) - Elliot Carter
- Warhammer - Daniel McCarthy
- Rebonds (Movement B) - Iannis Xenakis
- Three Gymnopedies - Jason Johnston (This is a group of piano pieces that I composed as a sort of homage to Erik Satie; the first two are arranged for marimba and vibraphone and the third is arranged for two marimbas)
- Rite of Passage - Jesse Monkman (This is a percussion concerto for solo marimba that is A LOT of fun to play)
School has pretty much consumed my life, but it's really nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least for my undergraduate career, haha.
-J
P.S: I couldn't think of an interesting title, so I just wrote the first thing that came to my mind. Apparently, my first thoughts are extremely generic haha.
