Intensifying my deficiency...

Well, I have a wonderful opportunity as a substitute for a community orchestra in the area. I jumped at the chance, of course, and have been excited about it. And the solitary rehearsal that I've been to has been decent, too. We are playing Hanson and Debussy, and I'm playing about 6 crescendo'ed rolls on one and a decent tambourine part in the other. It was fun to work with an unfamiliar conductor, play new and challenging pieces, and also meet some warm-hearted musicians. I have one more rehearsal and then the performance next weekend.

The day of the rehearsal though, me and my friend AJ drove down to St. Olaf to attend a free concert. The band just spent a week in Japan, and they had a hefty repertoire consisting of half American-influenced and half Japanese pieces. They were phenomenal--I haven't seen a live band in a long time, and I was very pleased. I knew a percussionist in the group, they had been working on the pieces for awhile, and had performed at 5 or so concerts half way around the world. Each half of the performance was about 50 minutes, but I was definitely engaged for the whole time. The first included John Williams and Maslanka, and I adored the latter. The second half was basically all Japanese composers that I haven't been exposed to, but they had a great mix of traditional and extremely modern Japanese musical ideas and themes. Of course, they ended with the university staple "Amazing Grace" and an audience-applauding "Stars and Stripes forever." It was a great night.

I miss playing in the back of a large ensemble like that. It's been well over half a year. Sure, I'll cherish the community orchestra! That's been great so far. But I want to have to nail a crash at the end of a rallentando. I want to play the pianissimo bass drum notes that you can only feel, not even hear.

The high school winter drumline that I'm instructing is really going well so far. They had their first competitive show that I've seen, at the home school, and they went out strong. This was tough, considering that they just put the end of one section with the drill this morning. I really enjoy the size of the ensemble, and the kids are expectant and enthusiastic. Pretty soon they're going to be freakishly consistent, too. It's going to be a really exciting second half of the season. I would have killed to have performed a show today, though. I have done many competitions at this same school, and it was pretty nostalgic to be back there for a competition.

I dunno, I guess I just have to be a little bit more patient! I definitely have a lot on my plate in other areas of my life.

Back into it

OK, ok, it's definitely time to update.

I'm so very glad that the semester started. I had a wonderful break, but it wasn't filled with many musical opportunities. That's just fine.

However, a huge highlight of my break was getting back into drum corps land and going to the first music camp at Phantom Regiment. I couldn't attend the audition camp because of the Christmas Concerts here at Concordia, but that was dismissed because it was a school activity. Drum corps is an eerie thing because you live and breathe and make music together for such a long, rigorous time, and then you leave and go home after 3 months. Well, I usually don't get to see any of my friends until the camps...some I honestly won't ever see again. And I had to wait a whole month longer. That was a painful thing, it really was.

Regardless of the social aspect, I really needed to PLAY. There is a deficiency of sorts for me at school--I was able to play in symphonic band everyday in high school, along with honor bands, drumline year-round, teaching lessons, etc. and I haven't had the schedule-clogging events that I'm used to. So, a weekend full of snare drumming is definitely good for me.

Ok, I need to interrupt myself. The reason why I'm talking about the first camp is because I'm going to the second one tomorrow... I'm just ready.

And what shot me into being so excited was an extraordinary night of drumming with a praise and worship band last night. I've been stressed out with the new-fangled theatre world (I'm double cast! eek! that's for later, though), new classes, and other things in my life. I wasn't having a very enthusiastic day. But, I sat on the stool and just went for it. I drummed how I wanted to drum, and it was such a relaxing burn within me. Oh, I'm not the most efficient drum set drummer, but I allowed myself to just play. I hadn't ever done that with a band before. In my own practicing, sure, but WOW. That's the reason why people get hooked into things. I was musically patient or aggressive when I needed to be, I waited for the right moments and directly drove time and energy. It just felt good.

The great thing is, I feel like I'm getting to the point where I can unlock that experience in snare drumming whenever I want to. I'm going to try that out this weekend. I don't have to worry about classes or anything. I'm just going to drum. Those couple milliseconds of contact are going to be filled to the brim with clarity. A clean snareline doesn't just have more volume, it also has an incredible substantial impact. It's never to early to reach for that. That'll make the summer that much easier. And harder, of course, especially when you want to shrink those milliseconds.

Man, I'm so glad I can just talk about drumming, and music. There is so much to dissect and perfect.
Ah!
This weekend will be wonderful.