OK, here we go...

OK, I’ve put this off for a long time.  I thought with the update and new look of the website in November, I might start this blog.  Or maybe not.  Even a New Year’s resolution didn’t seem to get me going.  So now it’s February and I’ve decided to let you know what I’ve been up to.

In December, as an early Christmas present, I delivered RAINSTICK to the Frederick Children’s Chorus in celebration of their 25th anniversary.  It’s a delightful text by Irish poet Heaney Seamus about the rattling, gurgling sounds and wonder of this natural musical instrument, and is scored for SSA chorus with piano and eight rainsticks.  They’re all “choreographed” (think the dancing fountains at the Las Vegas Bellagio, but not quite…).  Founder and Director Judy DuBose says the children are loving it!  Her daughter and Assistant, Ann, wrote last week with questions about the rainsticks – What material?  (bamboo? cactus?)  How long?  (8”? 24”? 48”?!)  All the same or different?  Honestly I had to think about it and we agreed that this could be open to experimentation in rehearsal.  She promises to report back soon.  RAINSTICK premieres in Maryland this May.

In January I delivered the commissioned work for the fifth anniversary of the Girl Choir of South Florida.  Director Wallis Peterson sent me a big book of Florida folksongs last year and had chosen several dozen which caught her interest.  I had no idea so many of these had origins in or associations with Florida, and liked the idea of a suite or medley of songs.  I narrowed her list to about a dozen, finally settling on six, all having to do with the experience of young women in the South, hence the title SOUTHERN GALS.  It’s quite a different sort of piece for me, was good fun to write, and should have a wide appeal.  It also premieres in May in Fort Lauderdale.

The new SATB version of THE CIRCLES OF OUR LIVES premiered in January at the Colorado Music Educators Association conference, by the Smoky Hill Symphonic Choir, directed by Mike Grant.  A beautiful performance!

I presented two sessions for the Florida Vocal Association at the annual FMEA conference in Tampa in January and have since been to Pennsylvania (cold and snow) to conduct the District 6 High School Honor Choir, and Tennessee (cold, but no snow) to conduct the High School Men's Honor Choir at Lee University.  At both events I found the singers engaged and the organizers committed to their students’ musical growth and success.

Back home at UCF I am enjoying an inquisitive group of graduate students, an eager and capable undergraduate conducting class, and an eclectic repertoire with my choirs.

So here’s to semi-regular musings on my travel and teaching, writing and reading, and whatever else comes to mind.