9/24 - What I'm Listening To: An Internet Mixtape

Since I've come back to school, I've come across some wonderful music. I'm just writing this down to keep track of all of the cool stuff I've found, but feel free to listen to it. It's all great.

1. Flying Lotus - Putty Boy Strut.

This is a really interesting combination of acoustic and electronic instruments, live musicians and samples, and all different kinds of music. I haven't looked into much of his older stuff, but his new album really excites me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuQGfk9Gmgo

2. Dan Deacon - Guilford Avenue Bridge

Dan Deacon is becoming one of my favorite modern-day musician/composers, and his new album "America" is a great work, probably my favorite album of his. This song is the first track on the album, and it's quite the opener.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8QNkb1ETSM

3. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane

Alright, I'm definitely late to the party on this one. I had heard the album before, but I recently acquired it to keep for my own personal use, and I've been listening to it a lot. Elvin Jones is truly a genius on this album.

4. Too Late to Topologize - Zammuto

Nick Zammuto was formerly a member of one of my favorite music groups, The Books. However, the group recently split up, and Zammuto kept making his own music. It sounds a lot like the books to me, without the samples, because that wasn't his job, but is somehow different and original. I'm looking forward to seeing him in October.

5. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

This is a full album as well, but you really can't listen to it as "songs" or "tracks." It's a musical voyage that everyone should experience, so if you have a little more than an hour, open up your mind and take all of the sound in.

6. The Goat Rodeo Sessions - Yo Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan

This is a beautiful collaboration of four musicians that are arguably the best at their respective instruments. They each have their own quirks and things that make them interesting to watch in their own right, so combining them all is quite a trip.

7. Pete Seeger, in general. He's an amazing person; never afraid to speak his mind, and always making thought-provoking, yet lovable music. He's a gift, and so is his music.

8. groundUP - Snarky Puppy

I saw them in Denton last week, two nights in a row. They always put on of the best concerts of the semester, every semester, and this semester they didn't disappoint. They even brought up one of our UNT professors to come jam with them, and he was amazing! All of the musicians in this group are extremely talented, and Michael League's writing and leadership are amazing.

9. Kimchi OM - AMP Trio

This is a trio of my friends, UNT jazz students, who have come together to play really inspirational music. All of them are great improvisers and are very comfortable behind their instruments, and they work together so well. I'm looking forward to seeing them play some time.

10. Hi Custodian - The Dirty Projectors

This is really a film, and not an album, though it is based off of the Dirty Projector's most recent release, "Swing Lo Magellan." The film, produced by the band's lead singer, David Longstreth, is, well, interesting, to say the least. I can't say that I understand it, though maybe I shouldn't, but I still find it entertaining. The music is all taken from the previously mentioned album and pulled and tweaked really well to be used as a film soundtrack.

11. These Days - St. Vincent

Annie Clark, the woman who is or is behind St. Vincent, is now extensively collaborating with David Byrne. Their group has a very unique sound, and I don't think I've warmed up to it yet. But, in search for more Annie Clark-related music, I stumbled upon this Jackson Browne cover, and I think it's beautiful. The original is great on its own, but this version recreates a similar mood in her own brilliant way.

12. Denton Music

There are a lot of great bands developing in the Denton music scene, I'll let you look them up on your own though, since I'm getting sleepy:

• - Pageantry
  
• - Avec Souci
  
• - The Demigs
  
• - Sacco and Vanzetti
  
  

Sweet. I'm really tired. Being busy is fun, and all, but it sure does wear you out.

M

9/11 - Abundance

I am surrounded by excellent musicians here in Denton. I went to a jam session tonight, but I didn't even play; I watched as seven or eight other drummers played music improvised and unrehearsed, and each of them sounded great, with their own techniques and ways about their playing. All of the piano players were really great, the guitarists were gifted, the vocalists had great tone, horn players could improvise over anything, and bassists, though scarce, were very reliable yet creative and imaginative. Almost all of the musicians I saw were really great, and I learned something from every person at that session.

In school and in ensembles, I'm continually surrounded by excellence. It's abundant, it's omnipresent, it's everywhere. All of the musicians I'm friends with are great at what they do, and if they need work on something, they take care of it quickly and professionally. They're the cream of the crop, and they inspire me to become a better version of the musician I am.

Experiences here are quite abundant as well. Sometimes the best way to learn something is to put yourself in a stressful situation. Here in Denton, you can take it easy and you can put the pressure on; you can slowly start to challenge yourself, or you can force yourself to be the best in the most extreme circumstances. Some places just don't have some of the situations I find myself seeing and experiencing here in Denton, and that's because what I'm hoping to do for a living is taken very seriously, more seriously than most other universities or places to learn, so it almost feels like a professional environment. That does wonders for my professional development, my nerves, and my technical and musical chops.

In the past, before the internet, information was not as readily available as it is today. Twenty years ago, to look something up that you didn't know, you had to look in a book; no Google, no Wikipedia, no online journals, none of that. Before libraries were common and widespread, people would travel large distances to find books that contain the information they were looking for, though I guess some people still do this, just for very specific instances. Before books, you had to consult a very wise, knowledgeable person, a scholar, or a professor. Before that, I guess you had to figure it out yourself.

Over the years it has become easier to access to knowledge and information. This can be a good thing and a bad thing: people with motivation, drive and energy can push themselves forward at a higher rate than anyone before them, because they have more information to work with; at the same time, people overcome with laziness, or people who expect everything to be given to them can easily be tricked by the search engines analyzing volumes of endless knowledge into thinking that they don't need to work anymore.

I am always trying to remind myself to be the former instead of the latter. Not only would it be selfish of me to expect things to be given to me, and to show up with ease, it would be a waste of the efforts and work of all of those before me if I didn't do something with it. My goal is to take what others have found and experienced before me, to fuse it all together, and make something beautiful to inspire the next generation of people after me. It would just make me feel nice if, because I existed and had a positive influence on society, the world was a better place after I left than before I arrived.

Information is readily available. Knowledge is widespread. Experience is abundant. Make the most of it.

M

9/2 - The Santa Clara Vanguard

If you know me in person, or have somehow read about me somewhere, you probably know that I played timpani with the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps this summer. I would just like to ramble for a little bit about how it was one of the best things I've ever done.

First of all, I got much better at timpani. Don't let that orchestra audition fool you; even if I didn't win the spot or anything, I still played the excerpts better than I would have before this summer, and I was still nervous and messed up a couple times. I was placed in an environment where my fellow members and I could improve beyond our wildest dreams, and I did. I could have never imagined that I would write parts in places where I didn't have notes because I was bored (the staff didn't always care for that). Before this summer, I would have never seen myself walking bass lines to exercises, or playing scales and chromatic licks faster than my brain could think, or improvising difficult with decent success on an instrument that isn't really made for tonal improvisation. And I won the individual competition for timpani... with a 98... just by playing a medley of Rush tunes I listened to as a kid. I really should be learning that getting really good at something simply means devoting all of your time and energy to it, not just wanting to be good at it.

That's enough bragging for quite some time.

Like I mentioned before, I was surrounded by great people. All of the staff got along, which is a first in my experience, and not only were they all excellent at their instrument-specific teaching jobs, but they encouraged us to get as much as we can out of ourselves, and pushed us to improve when we couldn't do it ourselves. They were fun, and nice, and funny, and great listeners, and I respect all of them a lot. The members were the best group of people I've ever been a part of. I haven't ever felt a drive and a passion for success and quality like what I felt at Santa Clara, but that drive didn't turn them into jerks either; they were usually really nice people, with interesting real lives and ideas and stories, and they were a great group of people to be around. And the volunteers were wonderful; the food was good, they were always really sweet to me, and they cared so much about us that it always put a smile on my face. If it wasn't for all of the amazing people I was around this summer, I wouldn't have enjoyed my time nearly as much as I did.

I also got to travel the country, sleep in a pretty nice bus, play great instruments (thanks, sponsors), and get a nice tan from being outside all the time. All that was pretty nice.

But the real reason people march drum corps because they want to grow. Most people only expect to grow musically, and everyone does, whether they want to or not; you can't fight progress when you're playing your instrument for ten hours every day for three months. Some people only grow musically though, and they're missing out on what I think is the coolest part of marching: the development of self-awareness, independence, and character.

As a timpanist, I didn't really have a section. Sure, I was a big part of the pit, but even the pit splits into sections, and when they would rehearse as sub-sections, I would have to find something to do. I really enjoyed this time, because I could use it for a variety of different things I needed to work on. Sometimes, if I needed to work on a part, or I wanted to play something crazy for an exercise, I could sit by myself and practice; all of my improvement was dependent on my energy output towards practice, and not anyone else's help or lack of contribution. Other times, if it was really hot or I was feeling weird, I could sit down and think about whatever was on my mind. I made a detailed set of goals for this semester and how to achieve them, a lengthy list of life goals and things I want to do before I get old and die, and just thought about who I am and how lucky I am to be in the position I'm in in my life. These little bits of time where I was on my own helped me figure out how to organize my life, and hold myself responsible for my successes and failures, and not rely on anyone but myself.

Those aspects mean the most to me, because I feel like those were my biggest issues before this summer. But as the summer went on, I also started to be more selfless, look out for other people, and help whenever I could. I tried not to complain about anything, and eventually there wasn't anything I could find to complain about. I learned not to take anyone for granted, that almost everyone is pretty cool and nice, and I shouldn't be so shy, so I slowly met more and more people as the summer went on. I was always happy, even if it was raining, or we had a weird show, or the food was bad, because I knew I could count on myself to be happy; even if I was really bummed, I had friends that could cheer me up, and if that didn't work, I would eventually remember that nothing is really a big deal unless you make it one.

This was the best summer I've had so far. If you're in a position where you can march, I definitely recommend that you march with the red and green. If you're not in that position, hopefully I inspired you to make the most of whatever you have, and to grow and become something amazing. And hopefully I can remember all of the things I did and all of the lessons I learned for a long, long time.

M