Stuttered Chant

Honored that I Care if You Listen premiered our video of David Lang's stuttered chant.  I love this piece because it articulates a central tenet of our work together as an ensemble: approach our work together as the flexible collaboration between two people, not just a cellist and a percussionist.   Maybe someday I can afford a bow.

 

Summer is…Over?

The hill…it's always leg day!

It's always bistecca night

Squirrel buster contained

Wine tasting

castle!

Back from an amazing and largely un-blogged summer.  

Fabulous time at Avaloch with Hannah, Tonia, and some of our best friends.  I learned:

• You can make a lot of sounds on a cello, even with poster tack on it
• Marimbas can bloom!
• Rounds are fun
• If you play snare drum you don’t need accompaniment
• Squirrel Busters are an instant win
• Sketch 8D$ was the best of them all
• Yoga hurts, but is worth it
• The Avaloch 15 is real

Thanks to Mike Kirkendoll for having me as a guest faculty member at the Cortona Sessions this year.  We had a blast, with plenty of music, wine, cinghiale, and joy (maybe not in that exact order) to go around.

Looking forward to another exciting year at KU.  I’m excited to welcome some great friends (Triplepoint Trio, Robert Honstein, Matthew Barnson, and the Yale Percussion Collective), play TWO (not just one) performance of JLA’s Inuksuit, pre-release our little album, and represent Jayhawks at the annual PAS gathering in Indiana.  KUPG has another epic year planned, so stay glued to this space.  

Bresnick@70

Hannah and I were honored to be a part of Martin Bresnick's 70th birthday celebration at National Sawdust last month.  He was and is one of the most influential mentors in my life, and it was a joy to hear more of his eloquent remarks.  Songs of the Mouse People is based on Kafka's last short story, about a community of mice and their diva Josephine.  Mouse People has been a NMC staple since our first "want to play something together?" emails, and I'm proud to keep playing softer, softer, softer.

Patter

Thanks to Four/Ten Media and Vic Firth for this great video of Robert Honstein's Patter, with New Morse Code and NMC super friend Katie Hyun.  Enjoy!

Ode to Vine

RIP Vine. I hardly knew ye. Spurned by Doug Perry's incessant and heavy handed repetitive videos and Tim Feeney's brilliant and miniature masterpieces, I resolved to craft my own, carefully curated edition. Snapshots of the whimsy of modern life, they would be. To quote Tennyson:

“Gone—flitted away, Taken the stars from the night and the sun From the day! Gone, and a cloud in my heart.
”

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Explore my oeuvre here.

 

Oh wait, I have the instagram app…