I recently went to concert featuring the music of John Mackey.  I had played three of Mackey’s pieces before and his music has always been very exciting.  The JMU Wind Symphony played his Concerto for Soprano Saxophone with Prof. Dave Pope playing the solo part.  It was probably one of the most awesome displays of technical virtuosity I had seen on an instrument that wasn’t percussion.  If you have never heard of John Mackey you can check out his website here.  Go take a listen to some of his stuff and you will have a new appreciation for the music being written for the modern Wind Ensemble.

Pedro Carneiro is organizing a consortium to commission a new work for marimba duo from Alejandro Vinao.  I recently joined it and if you are seriously interested in being part of this new and exciting project, visit Pedro’s website or Vinao’s website for more info.  Only 3 more people are needed for the project to be a definite go!!

Interesting article on how the iPad could be utilized to store sheet music and revolutionize the publishing of sheet music.

Article

Congratulations to the James Madison University Indoor Drumline on their 3rd place finish in the PIA category of the Atlantic Indoor Association Finals.  The drumline performed an original composition of mine titled “Just a Matter of Time”.  A video will be posted shortly of the finals performance.

Well hopefully everyone has noticed that things look a little different.  There’s a couple of new things with the site.  There are now officially pieces up and available for sale.  Just go check out the compositions page and take a look around.  I am still in the process of uploading all the files to be available for purchase.  The nice thing about this too is that everything will be available as a digital download meaning that you will receive it as soon as you purchase it.  Just contact me if you have any questions as well.  Keep checking back for more updates

My xylophone etude, Chrome Plated, is currently published in the 2010 MassChap Xylophone collection, available from Bachovich Publications, product number #0802.  I’m excited to say that Chrome Plated was selected as one of the winners in the PAS Massachusetts Chapters Xylophone etude composition contest.  If you are in the New England area, stop by the Massachusetts Day of Percussion on Sunday March 21st at the Boston Conservatory.  More information on that is available here.  There will also be a concert featuring some of the xylophone etudes selected and someone will be performing Chrome Plated on that concert.  Once I have a recording or video I will post it on the site.  Many thanks go out to Sam Solomon and all the judges who picked my piece to go into the book.  There are many other great etudes in there as well so make sure you go buy a copy!

I’ve been busy over the break trying to get alot of things updated on the site.  Check out the compositions page to see alot of pieces that have been added recently.  Almost all of them have recordings as well.  I’m exploring the possibility of making these available for sale as well.  If anyone would like to see that happen, just contact me.  Also I’ve added a rough video of me playing my 2008 PASIC tenor solo.  I’m still trying to get the competition copy from PAS so if that ever happens, it’ll be up on the site.  Been busy as well with lots of writing projects, specifically the JMU Indoor Drumline show.  Keep checking back soon for more recordings and updates.

Rough recording of my 2008 PASIC College Tenor Champion solo entitled “When in Rome”.

Performance at the JMU Percussion Ensemble concert of my 2007 PASIC Tenor Solo entitled “Spatial Chaos”

2009 JMU Indoor Drumline performing my original composition “Shapes” at AIA Finals.