My Music Page
Over the years I have developed a true love of music which essentially began with my involvement in the music department at Adams State College (ASC) during my time there. I eventually ended up double majoring and completed my B.A. in trombone performance in '98. Ever since my active involvement has slowly decreased but I still strive to remain active. Currently I'm playing with the Oak Ridge Community Band which is a welcome opportunity to continue playing.
My musical training up to this point has been very erratic. I first started playing trombone with the Musikverein Prellenkirchen . Almost having lost my interest at this time it was rekindled during my years at A.S.C. and has prevailed up to this day.
Over the years I had the opportunity to study with various teachers but the most impact to my playing was definitely during my time with Tony Chipurn. Unfortunately this was during my first few years of graduate school and so my progress was limited but I still often draw on things exposed to back then.
This brief background serves as a motivation of my maintaining this site. I hope it will be useful to both friends and family as well as the trombone/music enthusiast who might find some useful information here.
Music
I have found it difficult to organize the various areas in music
into discrete categories to help with the organization and manageability of my
site and so there will be a significant overlap between the various categories
and they are only meant to provide a starting point not an definitive
guide.
Trombone
While it took me a while to get sold on trombone playing, I now couldn't imagine not playing anymore. I'm currently still playing on my old Bach Sradivarius-42 BO dating back to my college days, but have since switched mouthpieces to a Doug Elliot one (Rim:LT 101, Cup:LT H and Shank H9 - just posted here so I don't forget).
Composition
During my studies at Adams State College (ASC) I have written various compositions. While in retrospect I deem most of them less than stellar, I have a couple of them available here.
Fugue in f-minor - This composition is the result of a project for Counterpoint at Adams State College in the Fall of 1997. The piece was written with the intend to resemble a Baroque keyboard piece, that is, not only to stay within the formal structures of that time but within the harmonic vocabulary as well. Both the subject and both counter subjects are written in invertible counterpoint. The structure may seem artificial at points but is more a result of the fully invertible counterpoint and the emphasis on structure and formalism.
A Midi file of this piece is available here.
A very nice day - as written during my applied composition studies with Dr. Peter Fischer at Adams State College. Structural in simple binary form the importance of this piece lies solely within the harmonic progression and vocabulary. Set to a Chopin like arpegiated accompaniment the single lined - homophonic - melody sometimes splits into cords creating the effect of a third part. This development is gradual ending with almost choral like settings, abandoning the single line for the full chords of four point harmonies. Finally the pieces ends in a 3 part polyphonic statement of the theme concluded by a full tonic chord spanning five octaves - thereby arriving at a higher level of polyphony.
A Midi file of this piece is available here.
Links
A collection of useful links. These include performance, equipment and listening oriented sites.
Woodwind and Brasswind - online instrument retailer.
International Trombone Association - Professional organization of trombone players.
zZounds - Online retailer of musical instruments, pro audio equipment, DJ and recording gear.