Two new works of mine are being released just in time for the 2012 American String Teachers Association Conference next month. The first, Concerto a4 in D Major by Torelli, is an arrangement that I made last year for my freshmen. It's a great Baroque style piece and, I have to admit, I love Torelli, so it was a pretty easy gig!
The second one is an original concert work that I wrote in honor of Capt. Jon-Marc Thibodeau of the US Army Medical Corps. "Flight of the Blackhawks" is a programmatic work depicting a day in the life of these amazing heroes that work so hard to save our wounded soldiers. I have never been more proud of a piece, and I'm thrilled that my publisher did such a great job with the recordings! Check 'em out!
And, as always, peace.
Jeffrey
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Voices from Heaven (well, close...)
Spent the afternoon recently working with the Shawnee Mission West High School Chorale. They commissioned a new a cappella piece in commemoration of their appearance at the 2012 Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop (the state convention for all us music teachers). Their director, Laura VanLeeuwen, is an amazing musician and probably one of the best teachers I've ever seen work a group of kids. When I showed up to listen to my piece and they were warming up, I knew it would be awesome.
And they didn't disappoint.
Laura asked me to set the King James Version of Solomon 8:6, the famous "Set me as a seal" passage from the Old Testament. Most of the versions of this setting see it as something joyful, or praiseful, but I didn't read it that way. Rather, I envisioned more of an imploring, almost begging, for forgiveness. So, being the weird little composer that I am, I wrote it to that end. And those kids are just singing the crap out of it! Superb intonation, amazing articulation, and more importantly to me, they really, really get it!
So, "BRAVA" to you Ms. V! And "BRAVO, BRAVA!" to the members of the SMW Chorale. I look forward to your performance at KMEA!
Until then, all y'all....
Peace,
Jeffrey
And they didn't disappoint.
Laura asked me to set the King James Version of Solomon 8:6, the famous "Set me as a seal" passage from the Old Testament. Most of the versions of this setting see it as something joyful, or praiseful, but I didn't read it that way. Rather, I envisioned more of an imploring, almost begging, for forgiveness. So, being the weird little composer that I am, I wrote it to that end. And those kids are just singing the crap out of it! Superb intonation, amazing articulation, and more importantly to me, they really, really get it!
So, "BRAVA" to you Ms. V! And "BRAVO, BRAVA!" to the members of the SMW Chorale. I look forward to your performance at KMEA!
Until then, all y'all....
Peace,
Jeffrey
Thursday, January 12, 2012
String Flingin'
Well, all-state auditions are done, so that only means one thing: String Fling weekend is upon us!
I'm looking forward to heading west to Kansas State University to conduct the 8/9th grade orchestra at the 39th Annual "String Fling." It's a two-day event featuring students from across Kansas. It's a lot of fun, with lots of non-orchestra events planned for the kids (nothing like going swimming during the coldest months of the year in an indoor heated pool)!
Exciting, too, is the fact that I'll be starting my Ph.D. work at Kansas State this year! I'm really looking forward to getting back in the classroom and getting my doctorate completed. It's been way too long since I've done research and serious academic pursuits, so I'm excited to get going.
So, for all you Wildcat fans out there: EMAW!
And, until next time, stay warm out there!
Best,
Jeffrey
I'm looking forward to heading west to Kansas State University to conduct the 8/9th grade orchestra at the 39th Annual "String Fling." It's a two-day event featuring students from across Kansas. It's a lot of fun, with lots of non-orchestra events planned for the kids (nothing like going swimming during the coldest months of the year in an indoor heated pool)!
Exciting, too, is the fact that I'll be starting my Ph.D. work at Kansas State this year! I'm really looking forward to getting back in the classroom and getting my doctorate completed. It's been way too long since I've done research and serious academic pursuits, so I'm excited to get going.
So, for all you Wildcat fans out there: EMAW!
And, until next time, stay warm out there!
Best,
Jeffrey
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Now THAT'S What It's All About....
'Tis the season, as they say. And today, I remember the true reason for the season.
It began yesterday when I was contacted by a colleague at school. He teaches our community service program. He's an amazing gentleman and he and I often waste many a minute in the halls talking about classical music, a mutual passion for us both. He had been approached by a principal in a neighboring school district about a family, and in particular, their young musician.
It seems that this particular young musician's family was undergoing some hardships. His mother was a para-professional in the school district and her parents, her father suffering from Alzheimer's disease, had moved in with them recently. She was the only wage-earner in the extended family. And, if you know anything about how well we pay teachers in this country, you can imagine how much less a para-professional earns. She had to take the young man, Jim, aside and tell him that there was no way that they could afford Christmas this year. Jim smiled at his mom and said, "That's okay, mom. All I want for Christmas is a new violin. I wrote a letter to Santa and he'll take care of it!"
You can imagine the mother's dismay.
That's where my colleague came in. He contacted me and asked if I might be able to help. I sent out an email to my orchestra booster group and asked if anyone could help out. And I was dumbfounded by the amazing responses. Not one, not two, but three different families offered Jim a violin!
I worked with one of my seniors and her dad to get the violin brought to school this morning. I spent an hour polishing the instrument and fine-tuning it a little bit. This particular senior had switched to cello her freshman year and was no longer using the violin - a very nice instrument. So, after a little tweaking, I packed it up with a nice little note and some Christmas carols written by one S. Claus, and delivered it to my colleague.
I can only imagine this young man's face on Christmas morning. He's nine years old, so he's right at that delicate age at which Santa may not be real, but he's not willing to risk not believing it just yet. I'd like to think that my student's donation, along with the note from "Santa," will give this boy the joy and wonder enough to believe in miracles for a little while longer. To have hope that, even when life is rough and it doesn't look like there will be enough for Christmas, someone, somewhere, cares enough to give love and hope.
I am overwhelmed with emotion in recalling this small miracle in which I played a very small part. It gives me hope for humanity. It gives me hope for Jim's future. And it gives me hope for my future.....
And after the year I've had, with the ups and downs, the amazing lows and the heart-pounding highs, this reminds me once again that THIS is what the season is all about: miracles are just people who love more, care more, and give more than the average person.
Surround yourself with miracles, my friends. They're out there, if you just ask nicely enough.
May you have a blessed Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, or just an amazing New Year. But don't do it alone. Be that miracle in someone's life. I beg you, please, be that miracle.
Peace,
Jeffrey
It began yesterday when I was contacted by a colleague at school. He teaches our community service program. He's an amazing gentleman and he and I often waste many a minute in the halls talking about classical music, a mutual passion for us both. He had been approached by a principal in a neighboring school district about a family, and in particular, their young musician.
It seems that this particular young musician's family was undergoing some hardships. His mother was a para-professional in the school district and her parents, her father suffering from Alzheimer's disease, had moved in with them recently. She was the only wage-earner in the extended family. And, if you know anything about how well we pay teachers in this country, you can imagine how much less a para-professional earns. She had to take the young man, Jim, aside and tell him that there was no way that they could afford Christmas this year. Jim smiled at his mom and said, "That's okay, mom. All I want for Christmas is a new violin. I wrote a letter to Santa and he'll take care of it!"
You can imagine the mother's dismay.
That's where my colleague came in. He contacted me and asked if I might be able to help. I sent out an email to my orchestra booster group and asked if anyone could help out. And I was dumbfounded by the amazing responses. Not one, not two, but three different families offered Jim a violin!
I worked with one of my seniors and her dad to get the violin brought to school this morning. I spent an hour polishing the instrument and fine-tuning it a little bit. This particular senior had switched to cello her freshman year and was no longer using the violin - a very nice instrument. So, after a little tweaking, I packed it up with a nice little note and some Christmas carols written by one S. Claus, and delivered it to my colleague.
I can only imagine this young man's face on Christmas morning. He's nine years old, so he's right at that delicate age at which Santa may not be real, but he's not willing to risk not believing it just yet. I'd like to think that my student's donation, along with the note from "Santa," will give this boy the joy and wonder enough to believe in miracles for a little while longer. To have hope that, even when life is rough and it doesn't look like there will be enough for Christmas, someone, somewhere, cares enough to give love and hope.
I am overwhelmed with emotion in recalling this small miracle in which I played a very small part. It gives me hope for humanity. It gives me hope for Jim's future. And it gives me hope for my future.....
And after the year I've had, with the ups and downs, the amazing lows and the heart-pounding highs, this reminds me once again that THIS is what the season is all about: miracles are just people who love more, care more, and give more than the average person.
Surround yourself with miracles, my friends. They're out there, if you just ask nicely enough.
May you have a blessed Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, or just an amazing New Year. But don't do it alone. Be that miracle in someone's life. I beg you, please, be that miracle.
Peace,
Jeffrey
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Holidays, Everyone!
As we pause to give thanks today, I count my friends, family, and fans among my many blessings. I hope that you are sharing your holiday with loved ones and enjoying the little things that make life so good. Have a great day, watch a lot of football, and know that you have one composer in your life that counts you as a friend.
Happy Holidays, y'all!
Jeffrey
Happy Holidays, y'all!
Jeffrey
Sunday, November 20, 2011
WKOF: 1 Bambi: 0
Well, to say it was anything short of a magical trip to the Western Kansas Orchestra Festival would be an understatement of epic proportions. Well, I guess I should say the magical trip HOME was the real epic part of the trip.
I spent two days with a bunch of great kids in Hutchinson, Kansas as we prepared my new work for string orchestra "Showdown." See my YouTube channel if you want to listen to it. The kids played well, and even though some of them were there for purely social reasons, I think they all got something out the experience (if nothing else, they learned that I am, in fact, one weird dude)! Some of the kids really got into the performance and one even brought my dog, George, a bow tie to wear during the concert. George, by the way, was very flattered and looked quite dapper in the tie!
The concert went well, everyone was happy, and my girlfriend and I loaded George up in the car for the four hour trip home to Kansas City. This is where the magical journey begins. Because, lo and behold, an hour into the trip, we ran into a UNICORN! OK, it wasn't a unicorn at first, I'll admit. It was a deer. A very, very big deer! It ran out of the pitch black darkness of rural Kansas and crossed just in front of an ongoing car and right into our path. My girlfriend managed some amazing maneuvers, and we clipped poor ol' Bambi just in front of me in the passenger seat, shattering the front right fender. She skillfully got the car to the shoulder and we quickly took inventory of our situation. George was wearing his seatbelt, and was now sitting on the floor of the backseat looking at me like "Hey, what're you guys doing up there?!" My girlfriend and I were both pretty flustered, but were no worse for wear physically. I decided to survey the damage while she called the insurance company and the state police.
I managed to pry the passenger side door open just enough for me to shimmy out. The deer's impact had forced the front right wheel well into the passenger door so it was dang-near impossible to pop it open. By the time I reached the front of the car, all of the radiator fluid was gone. So was the right headlight and the bumper. And, after the very nice state trooper and county deputy showed up, I discovered that the car wasn't the only thing missing stuff.
"Big boy," the deputy said as he held aloft one of the deer's antlers. It had about five or six smaller branches on it. "No kidding," I thought to myself, "you should've seen the size of it's butt as it passed before my eyes!" So, there it was, Bambi was no longer King of the Forest, he was now Mortie, the unicorn. I felt bad, but then I thought about my girlfriend's car. The bad feelings stopped immediately. It was going to be at least four of five thousand dollars to repair the car, and she had just bought it two months earlier.
I gave the state trooper our information while my girlfriend finished up with the insurance company. The insurance folks called us a tow truck and offered to get us a cab, on our dime, of course. "You do realize that we're exactly in the middle of nowhere, right?" my girlfriend told the nice lady at GEICO. "Oh, yes, I see that now," I heard the disembodied voice say. "Sorry." Yeah, sorry, but we're not paying $800 for a cab ride to KC!
Sorry, indeed. For we were truly in the middle of nowhere. It was dark, it was getting colder by the minute, and we not only didn't have a way home, the nearest rental car place was 80 miles away in any direction, and they weren't likely to be on duty on a Saturday evening at 10:30. We were in deep trouble.
Then the tow truck appeared. The nice, albeit socially awkward, man with the Carhartt jacket and handlebar mustache, offered to take us to a nearby town and the only hotel within a 50 mile radius. Immediately, visions of the Bates Motel from the movie Psycho began to dance in my mind. "It can't be that bad," I told myself. Fifteen minutes later, after a very quick ride in the warm tow truck, I realized that yes, indeed, it could be that bad. The only thing this place had on the Bates Motel was that it was brick. Other than that, short of Anthony Perkins in a wig, it was a dead ringer (pun intended).
As the tow truck driver helped us get our things out of the car, he offered us his cell number and business card. "What's your name?" we asked. "Merlin," he said.
And there you have it. In the pitch black Kansas night, after an evening creating beautiful music, a unicorn managed to disrupt our journey home, only to be rescued by the one and only Merlin.
Looking back on it now, safe from the comfort of home, we can laugh. But I don't think we'll be forgetting that long, cold night in that very scary hotel anytime soon.
Long story short, we were rescued by my girlfriend's children the following morning. We hadn't been hacked to death in the shower (not that we would've gotten INTO that shower) and we were happy to get George back home after a 16-hour delay. And I think George was pretty happy, too.
We're still waiting to hear about the car and whether or not it will be totaled.
And we're still chuckling about our "unicorn" and our hero, Merlin.
Life's too strange to make this stuff up.
Stay safe, my friends!
Jeffrey
I spent two days with a bunch of great kids in Hutchinson, Kansas as we prepared my new work for string orchestra "Showdown." See my YouTube channel if you want to listen to it. The kids played well, and even though some of them were there for purely social reasons, I think they all got something out the experience (if nothing else, they learned that I am, in fact, one weird dude)! Some of the kids really got into the performance and one even brought my dog, George, a bow tie to wear during the concert. George, by the way, was very flattered and looked quite dapper in the tie!
Principal Bassist, Dalton B. & Our Very Own GEORGE!
The concert went well, everyone was happy, and my girlfriend and I loaded George up in the car for the four hour trip home to Kansas City. This is where the magical journey begins. Because, lo and behold, an hour into the trip, we ran into a UNICORN! OK, it wasn't a unicorn at first, I'll admit. It was a deer. A very, very big deer! It ran out of the pitch black darkness of rural Kansas and crossed just in front of an ongoing car and right into our path. My girlfriend managed some amazing maneuvers, and we clipped poor ol' Bambi just in front of me in the passenger seat, shattering the front right fender. She skillfully got the car to the shoulder and we quickly took inventory of our situation. George was wearing his seatbelt, and was now sitting on the floor of the backseat looking at me like "Hey, what're you guys doing up there?!" My girlfriend and I were both pretty flustered, but were no worse for wear physically. I decided to survey the damage while she called the insurance company and the state police.
I managed to pry the passenger side door open just enough for me to shimmy out. The deer's impact had forced the front right wheel well into the passenger door so it was dang-near impossible to pop it open. By the time I reached the front of the car, all of the radiator fluid was gone. So was the right headlight and the bumper. And, after the very nice state trooper and county deputy showed up, I discovered that the car wasn't the only thing missing stuff.
"Big boy," the deputy said as he held aloft one of the deer's antlers. It had about five or six smaller branches on it. "No kidding," I thought to myself, "you should've seen the size of it's butt as it passed before my eyes!" So, there it was, Bambi was no longer King of the Forest, he was now Mortie, the unicorn. I felt bad, but then I thought about my girlfriend's car. The bad feelings stopped immediately. It was going to be at least four of five thousand dollars to repair the car, and she had just bought it two months earlier.
I gave the state trooper our information while my girlfriend finished up with the insurance company. The insurance folks called us a tow truck and offered to get us a cab, on our dime, of course. "You do realize that we're exactly in the middle of nowhere, right?" my girlfriend told the nice lady at GEICO. "Oh, yes, I see that now," I heard the disembodied voice say. "Sorry." Yeah, sorry, but we're not paying $800 for a cab ride to KC!
Sorry, indeed. For we were truly in the middle of nowhere. It was dark, it was getting colder by the minute, and we not only didn't have a way home, the nearest rental car place was 80 miles away in any direction, and they weren't likely to be on duty on a Saturday evening at 10:30. We were in deep trouble.
Then the tow truck appeared. The nice, albeit socially awkward, man with the Carhartt jacket and handlebar mustache, offered to take us to a nearby town and the only hotel within a 50 mile radius. Immediately, visions of the Bates Motel from the movie Psycho began to dance in my mind. "It can't be that bad," I told myself. Fifteen minutes later, after a very quick ride in the warm tow truck, I realized that yes, indeed, it could be that bad. The only thing this place had on the Bates Motel was that it was brick. Other than that, short of Anthony Perkins in a wig, it was a dead ringer (pun intended).
As the tow truck driver helped us get our things out of the car, he offered us his cell number and business card. "What's your name?" we asked. "Merlin," he said.
And there you have it. In the pitch black Kansas night, after an evening creating beautiful music, a unicorn managed to disrupt our journey home, only to be rescued by the one and only Merlin.
Looking back on it now, safe from the comfort of home, we can laugh. But I don't think we'll be forgetting that long, cold night in that very scary hotel anytime soon.
Long story short, we were rescued by my girlfriend's children the following morning. We hadn't been hacked to death in the shower (not that we would've gotten INTO that shower) and we were happy to get George back home after a 16-hour delay. And I think George was pretty happy, too.
We're still waiting to hear about the car and whether or not it will be totaled.
And we're still chuckling about our "unicorn" and our hero, Merlin.
Life's too strange to make this stuff up.
Stay safe, my friends!
Jeffrey
Thursday, October 20, 2011
New Novel Now Available!
Update! Bartemus has now been released on Nook AND Kindle. Click on the links to the left!
Mostly known for my music compositions, I've been writing books and articles my entire life. Bartemus is the product of ten years of creative endeavor and I am excited and very nervous about this release. I look forward to hearing from my music fans after they have a chance to read this book. And I can't wait to release the subsequent volumes in the future!
Best,
Jeffrey
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