This blog has been stagnant for too long. I’m just getting in from sharing some food, beverages, and discussion with my friend and colleague, Philip Rice, and he reminded that I have meaningful thoughts, and am doing exciting things. In all honesty, I’ve been apprehensive about the implications of keeping a blog. All of the “What happens once my words are ‘out there’?” and “What if I change my mind in 10 years?” nonsense. Of course I’ll change my mind on interpretations, and maybe in 10 years I’ll be doing something entirely different with my life. Who knows? But does that mean I shouldn’t write about things in the here and now? So. Here it is. My vow to the interwebs to write more.

So on that note, here’s a quick update of what I’ve been up to the last year.

Last Spring I finished my Master’s degree in Music Performance!

I then spent my summer hanging around Michigan and getting to know this good ‘ole town of Lansing, went to my brother’s wedding (Congrats Tom!), worked in a restaurant to make some extra cash, facilitated many drum circles, didn’t practice as much as I should have, contemplated the extent to which I want musicology to be a part of my life/career, and began planning a trio recital for the fall.

Enter: Fall 2014. I began working at the MSU Writing Center (I love this job), realized the desire to focus more on musicology within myself, and put together a recital that I can confidently say is the best recital I’ve ever given. I asked Philip, and another Michigan composer, Jay C. Batzner to compose percussion trios specifically for the event. I called it “The Making of Lines and Letters: A Percussion Recital.” A friend of mine, Matt Roberts and fellow MSU Percussionist, Alice Pan were gracious enough to play this recital with me. We put together a mini-tour of sorts going to some local schools, an art gallery, and finishing it off at MSU. Here are some highlights from the show:

So that about brings us up to where we are now. It’s January in Michigan, and I’m doing ALL THE THINGS. Next week I get to do some run out performances with the MSU Percussion Studio before our trip to play at the McCormick Marimba Festival down in Tampa, FL…can you say SUNSHINE? It’ll be a great, albeit bust week. We’re recording everything Sunday, then it’s the last week of this set of repertoire before I get to start working on Part II of David Lang’s “The So Called Laws of Nature.” In solo-land, I’m working on Lanky’s “Three Moves for Marimba” and wrapping my mind/speaking around Globokar’s “Toucher,” but more on all that later.

I have a lot of ideas to discuss on here; political influences on “Toucher,” gender and the marimba, heck gender/sexuality/race/why do we keep this silly canon intact?…and MUSIC, culture, commissioning, coffee, learning French, various plot developments in Doctor Who and Buffy, my cat Elliott.Ya know, the real deep, intellectual stuff. Anyway, stay posted for more in the future. Thanks for reading.