Wind Ensemble Project (pt.XI)
[Die-hard blog-watchers, my apologies for the break in the blog -- it was a very, very busy weekend, but a fruitful one as well!]
I've been writing emails for 2-3 hours a night. I've been reviewing my notes from the Wheaton College reading, and proofreading and revising the "TranZen..." score. I've been in communication with Milt sometimes two or three times a day, and he's been beating the bushes in Columbus like these are his last days on Earth (God bless Milt Allen!). And it's really paying off. I've been overwhelmed by the positive responses to this project.
Carly Johnson, the principal trumpet of the top wind symphony at Ohio State, is on board. Brian McNulty, the principal percussionist from the same group, is too. So is Matthew Saunders (principal trombone), and James Erchick (principal euphonium). These are some powerful players, and their leadership is going to be a huge asset to the ensemble.
Melanie Angert (flute) gave me a call just before I went into the Kelly Joe Phelps/Chris Whitley concert, saying she was very excited about the project as well. Melanie played on the "Courage & Compassion" recording session last spring, and she suggested I contact two more flutists who played on that session as well. Thanks for the call, Melanie! There were other veterans from the "Courage & Compassion" session who jumped on board this weekend: Zak Reed will be playing trumpet, Jenna McCoy will be on French horn, and just this morning, I received an email from Adam Ladd, who will also be part of this KILLER trumpet section!
There are some others who have joined that I don't believe I've met yet, but come highly recommended as great players as well as great people to work with: Justin Johnston, Andy Brown, and Deanna Brizgys will be the clarinet section, and with Rachael Demland on percussion and Steve Purcell on drums, I've got a fully-manned, unbelievably SLAMMIN' percussion section! Joe Witkowski will round out my tubas. And the much-anticipated principal alto sax monster, Ryan Alexis, is officially on board -- and bringing everything from recording hall possibilities to the rest of the sax section with him. Too cool!?!
So to Melanie, Justin, Andy, Deanna, Ryan, Carly, Adam, Zak, Jenna, Matthew, James, Joe, Brian, Rachael, and Steve -- as well as Derek, Travis, Zach, Maria, Chris W. and Chris L. -- thank you so much for committing to this project. Every single member of this ensemble matters -- every single one of you makes this possible, and I appreciate and admire you for doing this.
We're not there yet, but we're getting much closer...
I've been writing emails for 2-3 hours a night. I've been reviewing my notes from the Wheaton College reading, and proofreading and revising the "TranZen..." score. I've been in communication with Milt sometimes two or three times a day, and he's been beating the bushes in Columbus like these are his last days on Earth (God bless Milt Allen!). And it's really paying off. I've been overwhelmed by the positive responses to this project.
Carly Johnson, the principal trumpet of the top wind symphony at Ohio State, is on board. Brian McNulty, the principal percussionist from the same group, is too. So is Matthew Saunders (principal trombone), and James Erchick (principal euphonium). These are some powerful players, and their leadership is going to be a huge asset to the ensemble.
Melanie Angert (flute) gave me a call just before I went into the Kelly Joe Phelps/Chris Whitley concert, saying she was very excited about the project as well. Melanie played on the "Courage & Compassion" recording session last spring, and she suggested I contact two more flutists who played on that session as well. Thanks for the call, Melanie! There were other veterans from the "Courage & Compassion" session who jumped on board this weekend: Zak Reed will be playing trumpet, Jenna McCoy will be on French horn, and just this morning, I received an email from Adam Ladd, who will also be part of this KILLER trumpet section!
There are some others who have joined that I don't believe I've met yet, but come highly recommended as great players as well as great people to work with: Justin Johnston, Andy Brown, and Deanna Brizgys will be the clarinet section, and with Rachael Demland on percussion and Steve Purcell on drums, I've got a fully-manned, unbelievably SLAMMIN' percussion section! Joe Witkowski will round out my tubas. And the much-anticipated principal alto sax monster, Ryan Alexis, is officially on board -- and bringing everything from recording hall possibilities to the rest of the sax section with him. Too cool!?!
So to Melanie, Justin, Andy, Deanna, Ryan, Carly, Adam, Zak, Jenna, Matthew, James, Joe, Brian, Rachael, and Steve -- as well as Derek, Travis, Zach, Maria, Chris W. and Chris L. -- thank you so much for committing to this project. Every single member of this ensemble matters -- every single one of you makes this possible, and I appreciate and admire you for doing this.
We're not there yet, but we're getting much closer...
1 Comments:
Part of me thinks that you're doing this whole project just to spite me: "I'll show Newman! The Truth will Die!" The fact that you are pulling this off just goes to show how little anyone should actually listen to me.
But mostly I've been learning tons (Asturias commission?!) just by catching up with the blog.
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