1/6/2012 - Break

It's still winter break for me, and I've had a pretty productive one so far. Aside from seeing all of my friends back home and going to do fun things I was missing out on in Texas, I've worked on my musical stuff, whether that's practicing, composing, transcribing, or just studying things. I made a schedule at the beginning of break, and I haven't stuck to it very well, but I've still been working on the things I would like to get done before I go back to school.

Here's a little sampler of what I've been up to, I'll put everything in separate posts so they don't take up so much space:

I set up a bandcamp account, because it has a really accessible design and layout, it's free and I can put everything I make in one place. If you're curious, check mine out:

http://masonlynass.bandcamp.com/

I haven't been composing very much at home, but I did finish an arrangement of a traditional Javanese Gamelan tune:



And an arrangement of one of my favorite pieces of classical music (and there's a lot of classical music), 1812 Overture:



I'm pretty proud of that last one. The drum parts were pretty fun to write.

Let's see... I've been working on some transcriptions, mostly just for fun. I played Tony Williams' time on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven," I've finished writing out tunes by Maps and Atlases and The Number 12 Looks Like You, and I'm working on Jack DeJohnette's time on a recording of Chet Baker playing "Autumn Leaves." I'll put those up separately.

I'm almost finished with a simple piece called "Opening (from Glassworks)," written by Philip Glass. Hopefully I can record it and put it up here, and I'd like to play it on departmental when I get back to Denton.

Other than that, I've just been playing drums, finding good new music, and making shirts:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.337718482904839.94366.201132159896806&type=1

That's what I've been up to. Hopefully you're having a good break, or a nice warm winter, anyways.

M