'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
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
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
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Western Kansas Orchestra Festival
Some of the schools involved in commissioning "Showdown!" for the Western Kansas Orchestra Festival are unable to access YouTube due to district restrictions, so I'm posting it here for their enjoyment, education, and ease of accessibility! Looking forward to working with you next month!
Best wishes,
Jeffrey
Best wishes,
Jeffrey
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
New Band Piece
Meet "Galileo!"
It was premiered last week by the Wichita State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble under my baton. Great experience working with some amazing young musicians! Many thanks to Dr. Victor Markovich, Director of Bands, for the opportunity to have this work performed and recorded. It is now on it's way to two international composition contests. Wish me luck!
Peace,
Jeffrey
It was premiered last week by the Wichita State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble under my baton. Great experience working with some amazing young musicians! Many thanks to Dr. Victor Markovich, Director of Bands, for the opportunity to have this work performed and recorded. It is now on it's way to two international composition contests. Wish me luck!
Peace,
Jeffrey
Thursday, September 29, 2011
New Symphony Available for Purchase
I'm very happy to offer my newest composition, Symphony No. 3 for Strings "Nativitas," for sale directly through this site. This Grade 4 symphony is based structurally on Haydn's Symphony No. 94, but with a great twist: all of the thematic material is taken from our favorite Christmas Carols! Here are the first two movements:
And here are the last two movements:
Cost for the entire 16-minute work is $75 and includes a PDF of score and parts delivered electronically along with a "Permission to Copy." A personally signed score inscribed with your name and the name of your ensemble is available for only $30 more ($105), which includes shipping costs.
Please contact me at nwbishop@smsd.org for more information. Thank you for helping to keep independent music composition alive!
Jeffrey
And here are the last two movements:
Cost for the entire 16-minute work is $75 and includes a PDF of score and parts delivered electronically along with a "Permission to Copy." A personally signed score inscribed with your name and the name of your ensemble is available for only $30 more ($105), which includes shipping costs.
Please contact me at nwbishop@smsd.org for more information. Thank you for helping to keep independent music composition alive!
Jeffrey
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