You gotta see this

If you're like me, you're sitting at home at the computer thinking to yourself, "It is so hard to find good jazz bassoon music these days." Well, guess what!?! I found some. This is most of the bassoon studio at CU-Boulder playing a student arrangement of Cold Duck Time. It is not only really fun, but there are some comedic parts in there too. Click the picture and enjoy!

Darrelpalooza

My friend Darrel found out last May that he has Hodgkins Disease, a type of limpthoma cancer. Darrel and I went to high school and college together and have been good friends since our senior year in high school. He is a bassoonist and we have played in numerous ensembles, been to many parties, gone hiking, backpacking, and have traveled together. He's been a major influence in my life and although it has been hard to keep up with him since I moved to Texas, I wouldn't be suprised if we end up as life-long friends.

This picture was taken just after our graduation two weeks before he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Desease. He has been through four major chemotherapy sessions (6 weeks each) and lots of radiation. In January he found out that he had a malignant nodal relapse and would probably need a bone marrow transplant. His insurance only covers part of this operation.

Yesterday I found out that the CU Bassoon Quartet is going to have a benefit concert for him to raise money to pay for the operation. This quartet is made up of his friends in the bassoon studio at the University of Colorado-Boulder. They have some really great publicity and apparently hung their posters all over the city of Boulder. I am excited to see how the community responds, and certainly all of Darrel's friends. I believe there is a way to donate if you go to the website, so check it out.

Update

I have about 55 minutes before symphonic band rehearsal, so I thought now would be a good time to write. I'm sitting in the computer lab at the college of music. It is an extremely nice lab with very good computers, both PCs and Macs. Each computer station (total of about 50) has some really nice stereo headphones and an electronic piano for any music student with an ID to use.

To the left is part of my most recent homework assignment. Each measure is a list of notes which may be played using the fingering (valve or slide position) noted at the bottom. It is for brass methods: a class where I learn how to play (and teach) trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba at the rate of two instruments per semester. I have to learn virtually all of the instruments as a music education major. This semester I am working on horn, snare drum and cello. I hope to learn tuba, xylophone, and double bass this semester as well.

I am working on a really fun Spanish piece for clarinet called Hommage a M. de Falla by Bela Kovacs (pronounced koh-vahch) as well as the Clarinet Quintet by Mozart for Clarinet in A and string quartet. I'm not sure if I'll try to find a quartet to play with me or not, but it could be fun. I hope to give a solo recital in the fall. It is interesting that I love clarinet now more than ever now that it is not my primary focus; now that it doesn't really matter compared to my work in the field of music education.

Otherwise, Dawn and I are doing well. We celebrated 6 months of marriage a couple of weeks ago by eating dinner at Bennigan's and going to a Dallas Symphony concert. The traffic was terrible and it took us one hour to drive four miles, but Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was amazing. The hall was a bit hot and the seats were tight so I suppose I prefer the Fort Worth Symphony to the Dallas Symphony.

We are having more fun together and are getting to spend more and more time with our new friends. I got to drive out with two other men from homegroup this weekend to go boar hunting. We didn't really see any boars but I did get to shoot a rifle. I enjoyed the great exercise and the camper we stayed in was really comfortable. Our wives had a sleep over and had a lot of fun as well.

Usually I try to be more philosophical or try to tell just one story instead of many. I don't plan to get in the habit of writing about everyday life like this, so this is an exception. I am sometimes annoyed by people who do that exclusively. What kind of blog writing are you most drawn to?

WeeMee

Here is my WeeMee. I'm not sure why I chose to be under water, but it is funny with the fish flying by. I enjoy my iPod. Yes.