2012 ETW

The 2012 Eastern Trombone Workshop was a great event this past week. I was very pleased with my performance. Still to this day, performing in front of a room full of trombone players can be nerve racking. However, the trombone community is such a friendly one and our performance was well received. This particular ETW was special because I first attended this workshop as a student 10 years ago in 2002 when I was a member of the Southern Miss Hub Bones, who won the National Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition. There were many exciting concerts and masterclasses. One of the highlights was hearing Andy Martin perform. This guy is amazing! Major kudos to Sam Woodhead, Chris Branagan and the rest of the staff for putting on a wonderful event. I'm definitely looking forward to next year's ETW.

SXSW: Non-Classical

One of the great things about living in Austin, TX is South by Southwest (SXSW) a music and film festival. Many bands throughout the world come to this week long event to perform in downtown Austin. The traditional music that is normally performed is rock and rap. Last night I had a chance to experience Non-Classical, which is founded by Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei Prokofiev). Non-Classical is based out of London and focuses on contemporary music. Last night's performances featured many of my old classmates the Bel Cuore Saxophone Quartet, Owen Weaver, Aiana String Quartet and Line Upon Line Percussion Trio. The performances were well received. I think that it is a great thing to support this music which is not normally recognized at SXSW.

Trombone Headlines

The past week and a half has certainly been an interesting week in the "trombone world". First off, congrats to James Markey for becoming Doug Yeo's successor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I believe that this audition was definitely a "Clash of the Titans". Some of the world's finest bass trombonists, who hold positions in some of the top orchestras, competed for this prestigious chair. This new section with Toby Oft, Steve Lange and Jim Markey is going to be amazing! I remember when Doug Yeo visited UT-Austin during my Masters in 2006 and he said that within the next 5 years there was going to be some major auditions that will take place and there will also be a domino effect along with certain people winning jobs. This is certainly the case. Many of these awesome bass trombonists who competed for the Boston spot will now have to gear up for the New York Philharmonic's bass trombone position. Some of those BSO finalists hold positions with the Met, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony and Atlanta Symphony. If one of these gentlemen win the NYP position, there will be another domino effect. This can be a good thing because these positions are normally occupied for 20+ years. I think that it is no surprise that James Markey won this position, especially after setting the bar on how to perform excerpts on his orchestral excerpt collaboration with Paul Pollard released in June 2011. If you haven't bought this recording, I highly recommend that you make the purchase.

In other news both Ian Bousfield and Jeremy Wilson are stepping down from there positions with the Vienna Philharmonic. Being from Tennessee, I am happy that Jeremy is returning home and teaching at Vandy. Be on the look out for that studio in the future! I found an interesting article regarding this topic. It's worth the read.

Vandergrift High School Band Program

I know that I have neglected this page for quite sometime. I figured that with a busy performance schedule, it would be a great opportunity to share my experiences and to talk about the different venues along with the talented students that I get to coach. Last weekend I had the honor to be invited as the guest artist at Vandergrift High School's Concerto Competition. Vandergrift High School is apart of the Leander Independent School District and is in their 3rd year of existence. On Thursday night I had the opportunity to listen 12 finalists and critique them before Friday night's performance. The venue reminded me of American Idol. Each student was a very strong musician. Many of the finalists performed their selections from memory, which was also impressive. There were three flute students that I thought were very exceptional. Other finalists that stood out to me performed a piece by Weber on Eb clarinet! and also a performance of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 1 by a freshman. I would like to congratulate the band director staff (Jeremy Spicer, Mike Howard, etc) for doing a fine job with this band program. They hosted a very fine event which was well attended. I also had the opportunity to perform a mini-recital at the end of Friday night's performance which was well received. The weekend didn't stop there...Pops concerts and a performance at St. James' 85th anniversary also kept me busy! Finally, The McCain Duo just posted a new promotional video. Be sure to check it out!