Seven Nations

So since some of us have been posting links to cool bands and such, here's a vid of one of my favorite bands: 7 Nations.

Rock Music + Bagpipes + Fiddle = AMAZING!

Recognition

Pep band season has officially begun. This past weekend the band played at four basketball games, two on Friday and two on Saturday. All of the games were exciting, the men's game on Saturday in particular.

We were hosting Southwest Minnesota State, and the game went into double overtime. The band hung in there and represented our department in fine style, never complaining (that I could hear, anyway) about the extra time put in. We have also resumed our role as head cheerleaders, making more noise than the rest of the crowd in Rice combined.

Something happened that I'd never seen before: after the conclusion of the game, while the band was playing the victory song, the basketball team came over to the band section, went INTO the band and started high-fiving the kids. I've never seen that, and it was pretty amazing for the players to show appreciation for the band and what they do. In the other places I've been the band has been treated with disinterest at best and animosity and ridicule in other cases. It's this camaraderie that makes Wayne State such a neat place to live and work.

Bravo, pep band! I hope you realize what a special and unique moment that was.

AMAZING Band Performance

Whilst surfing TubeNet I discovered a link to an INCREDIBLE all-girls high school band in Japan. This will blow you away!

As impressive as the technical playing is, I'm an even bigger fan of the flawlessly-in-tune chorale section at 0:49.

Odd but Lovely Winter Weather

Lately in Wayne we're been having freezing fog. I thought that freezing fog sounds like the kind of weather you only hear about in the bible, but it actually has a nice effect on the trees when it builds up over time. I snapped a few photos:

Following my own Rules (or not)

This semester's theme in the WSC Low Brass Studio is PRACTICE HABITS. As in developing them. The entire group has been assigned practice journals, and these blogs, to further that agenda. Unfortunately I myself have not been able to practice, owing to a monster of a cold sore.

I'm treating it, mostly by drinking water by the gallon and putting vitamin E on my lips (break open the gel-filled capsule and rub it on) but my lip still splits every time I smile or take a big bite of something (and I LOVE smiling and taking big bites of something!)

Ah, well. Hopefully I heal up soon so I can get back to tooting!

You'd Think I'd Dropped off the Face of the Earth...

...but that won't happen until 2012. Kidding.

I decided to take a(nother) page from John Manning's book and have my students at Wayne State write blogs, related to music. Since it's only fair I do one too, I figured I'd better get back into this. You ought to see regular posts from me in the future.

The Whirlwind Continues

It's that time of year, when those of us caught in the perpetually recycling net that is academia are torn between tearing our hair out and jumping for joy.

FINALS!!!!

Actually, for those of us who teach, finals aren't that big of a deal (shh... don't tell anyone!), but the two weeks or so leading up to finals are a bit of a nightmare, especially when you have concerts to attend, conduct, or play in every day, as is the case with me.

It's not the performances that are the issue, it's the time that goes into the final prep... making programs, scheduling last minute rehearsals, making sure the venues are good to go, all of that needs to be done in order for a performance to be a success.

In addition to that, I've been judging at some district public school music festivals, which has kept me on the road over weekends.

And the keystone in my castle of madness is that Lauren and I BOUGHT A HOUSE! Talk about a big step. After we signed the papers, we left the realtor's office and I turned to Lauren and said "Holy @#!%, did that really just happen?"

Yep, it did. And I couldn't be happier. The place is in great shape, Lauren and I can LIVE TOGETHER again, and money will be going into equity instead of just going into some landlord's pocket every month. And before you get all "owning a house is hard work you don't know what you're in for it'll own you as much as you own it there goes all your free time be prepared to dump all your money into the house blah blah blah" on me, I'll let you in on another dirty little secret: I like doing the house stuff. I like yard work. I like that if something breaks, I can do it myself instead of calling a landlord and hoping they can get to it before the place floods. I like power tools and painting and building things and decorating, and I find it rewarding beyond belief. Other than a big fat mortgage, there is not any part of owning a house that isn't an improvement over renting as far as I'm concerned. Truth be told, even the mortgage won't be too much of a stretch for us.

I know I'm new at this, but let me hang onto my optimism for at least a few months.

The new Casa de Calkin, as of the closing on May 30:


This dark and fuzzy picture courtesy of my iPhone coupled with a less than stellar Nebraska day.


It's going to be a busy summer: I've been contracted to play in the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band again this summer, I'm going to the International Tuba/Euphonium Conference in Cincinnati in June, I've got some wedding and church gigs lined up, I have two new courses to develop and, of course, there's the whole moving to our new pad thing.

Hopefully I find some time (and money) for a little golf every now and then.