Week in Review & Friday Link Dump
Well, I survived my first Unofficial (as in Unofficial St Patrick's Day) at the U of I ... meaning I had class and work today, so I didn't participate. I did witness a lot of green around campus, though, and I'm sure I'll hear some great stories from my friends about the day.
It was another long week, but overall quite good. We read my arrangement of Franz Biebl's Ave Maria in tuba ensemble, and everyone, professor included, liked it. I also started working on my arrangement of Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin in my euphonium lessons (soon to be published by Olenik Music), and that was a hit too. I finished transcribing a song, and am just working on inputting it into Sibelius; my arranging list is getting whittled down, but I always seem to add on to it. I guess it'll be a lifetime endeavor. As I told a friend, "arranging is what I do!" I also realized that I can focus the most when I'm working on an arrangement; it's very easy to ignore texts, email, Facebook, etc. when I'm working on something like that. If only I could transfer that concentration and motivation to other aspects of my life ...
We started working on new music in Wind Symphony. I'm playing piano on Grainger's Gumsuckers March and two pieces I was unfamiliar with, but I already like after the first read: Concerto for Wind Orchestra by Colin McPhee & Le Bal de Béatrice D'Este by Reynaldo Hahn. Be sure to come to the concert on April 1st if you're in the area.
I read a lot of good articles this week, so here's a link dump. Check 'em out:
- More news about the (debunked) "Mozart" Effect
- "The Truth About Your Immense Weirdness": My favorite part: "We are far more united in our bizarre little survival schemes and eccentricities than by nationality, race, gender, religion or ideology."
- NPR Music celebrates Chopin's 200th birthday in a Chopin-tastic way
- Dark Night of the Soul is finally going to be officially released.
- Teachers need lessons in pop culture.