tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67856158673218793522024-03-19T16:53:48.023-04:00Jonathan Helton's BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-70585879090512392192019-07-16T22:26:00.004-04:002022-02-20T21:40:45.223-05:00Saxophone Stuff I LikeAs promised to attendees at the University of Florida High School Saxophone Camp held this past weekend, here is a list of saxophone equipment I like:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhccUTf_qnVh8LGNtZqPuCMl31tjDYDvLSpboRT8I2Qp7HyrqvyHQKDFgV8evDSuqOMT9tMo1-hNk4J5gMPfGzVgfansr7OehWfPWpQHiX9SNHhIKVWn80_HtFjgj2hFHdufN4BoaY4RG/s1600/serIIten.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="573" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhccUTf_qnVh8LGNtZqPuCMl31tjDYDvLSpboRT8I2Qp7HyrqvyHQKDFgV8evDSuqOMT9tMo1-hNk4J5gMPfGzVgfansr7OehWfPWpQHiX9SNHhIKVWn80_HtFjgj2hFHdufN4BoaY4RG/s320/serIIten.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="color: #e69138;">What I play (alto)</span></b><br />
Reeds: Vandoren "Blue Box" 3.5<br />
Ligature: Rico H Ligature<br />
Mouthpiece: Selmer S80 C*<br />
Saxophone: Selmer Super Action 80 Series II<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Stuff I use</span></b><br />
Bambu swab<br />
Rico/D'Addario Reed vitalizer system<br />
(or a heavy-duty ziplock FREEZER bag and Boveda 72% 2-Way Humidity Control packs)<br />
Hetman Sythetic Heavy Key Lubricant #18<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Other things I know and like</span></b><br />
Selmer Model 42 alto saxophone (tenor is Model 44)<br />
Selmer Seles Axos alto saxophone<br />
Rousseau NC4 mouthpieces<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Products I hear good things about</span></b><br />
Good first Jazz mouthpiece: Meyer 5 or Meyer 6<br />
Yamaha EX Custom saxophones<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">Phone apps I use (Android)</span></b><br />
Guitar Tuner Free (n-track studio)<br />
N-Track Tuner Pro<br />
Pro Metronome<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-30933254576915694582019-06-25T17:59:00.000-04:002019-06-25T17:59:06.107-04:00Saxophone Altissimo<i>This post provides notes on a session presented at the </i><br />
<i>2019 Mendoza International SaxFest in Mendoza, Argentina on June 8, 2019.</i><br />
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LOS SOBREAGUDOS EN EL SAXOFÓN<br />
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Estrategias para desarrollar un registro sobreagudo sólido<br />
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Dificultades al aprender los Sobreagudos</div>
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- ¡Chillidos!</div>
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- Nuevas digitaciones</div>
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- Nueva manera de soplar</div>
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Dificultades al enseñar los Sobreagudos</div>
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- El profesor no puede ver lo que haces</div>
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- Todos tenemos cavidades orales diferentes</div>
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¿Qué necesitas para mejorar tus sobreagudos?</div>
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- Preparación</div>
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- Técnica</div>
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Desarrollando el oído interno</div>
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- Para tocar con confianza en el registro sobreagudo, debemos ser capaces de oír los tonos</div>
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Embocadura</div>
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- Mantenga una embocadura normal, firme, estable</div>
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Aire</div>
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- Un apoyo continuo y consistente de la respiración es vital para producir sobreagudos resonantes y llenos.</div>
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Flexibilidad</div>
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- Las notas sobreagudas se crean al manipular el flujo de aire con la lengua. A esto le llamamos ‘voicing’ </div>
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Coordinación</div>
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- Los dedos y la lengua deben moverse juntos. Es esencial una coordinación precisa para lograr una técnica de sobreagudos limpia y definida</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-90402147952495783962017-10-10T17:16:00.000-04:002017-10-09T21:26:00.331-04:00The Musician’s Musical ExperienceMusicians don’t always have the same listening experience as non-musicians. Unfortunately, the music we love the most and are most connected to (music for our instrument), while it can be very moving to perform, is often ineffective at providing us with a significant musical experience when listening. Sure, we’re impressed by an amazing performance, but the emotional power of this performance might actually touch a non-musician more profoundly.<br />
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When we listen to others (or ourselves) play our instrument, it is difficult to avoid listening on a technical level. We can hear the tone on that middle C#, we know that playing the fast altissimo stuff is hard, we’re waiting to hear “the tough lick” in the piece, etc. We are saddled with too much baggage to really be engaged in a rich musical experience. This is not to say that there may not be moments that do touch us, but so much is lost on us due to our familiarity with the instrument.</div>
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If we listen to another closely related instrument (i.e. a saxophone player listening to a clarinet), we are probably still too close to the act of performing for the music to have a profound effect on us. There are still issues here. Is the breath steady? Is the reed too hard?</div>
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When listening to instruments that are very unlike our own (i.e. wind players listening to string instruments) the music has a better chance of reaching us since we are further from the technique of the instrument. But we do have the professional-musician mindset that may still cloud our listening experience. Is the tone even? What about the pitch on that low note? Man, this is a hard piece!!</div>
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In order to actually experience music more in the way non-musicians do, it might be better to listen to music that, as a solo instrumentalist, we cannot perform. Large ensemble works are great for this. The repertoire for orchestra, wind ensemble, and chorus provides a wealth of very powerful music that can provide us with significant aesthetic experiences. Chamber music, electronic music, jazz, bluegrass, and other styles of music are also good options for the musician’s listening list.</div>
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Different styles of music can speak to us in unique ways. One of my most memorable musical experiences took place after an artist conference in North Carolina. A number of guitar and banjo players (maybe a harmonica player too) got together to jam, to sing, and to share some Appalachian mountain music. I sat and listened. The picking and strumming went on for hours. I was transfixed and deeply impressed by how this music--born of tremendous suffering, sorrow, joy and tenderness—was able to touch me on a very personal level.</div>
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<i>Food for thought. I'd be interested in your comments/experiences (click the comment link at the end of this post).</i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-55373572044654930072016-02-01T10:46:00.000-05:002016-02-01T10:46:59.399-05:00Stuff I LikeSimply, a list.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MPHN648/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">Aukey 24 watt Rapid car charger</a>.<br />
Featuring two, 2.4 amp charging ports, this thing can keep your phone charged even if you are using power-hungry navigation apps all day long.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MN2N3CU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00">Micro USB Charge-Only Cable</a><br />
Need a quick charge? You may not be able to use this cable to sync your phone or tablet to your computer, but boy does it charge fast!! The difference is especially noticeable in the car, or when charging from a USB port on a computer. I keep one in the car, and one plugged into my computer at work.<br />
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Roller Coasters<br />
With <a href="http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-tampa/">Busch Gardens</a> and <a href="https://www.universalorlando.com/">Universal Orlando</a> nearby, there are plenty of exciting options. Favorite nearby coaster: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp5Dw4pBbns">Sheikra </a>at Busch Gardens and its 200-foot, 90-degree drop. Hope to get to roller coaster mecca <a href="https://www.cedarpoint.com/">Cedar Point</a> (Ohio) before too long.<br />
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<a href="http://solarshield.com/">Solar Shield Sunglasses</a><br />
Sun protection that can be worn over prescription glasses without scratching them, or making you look like a geriatric glaucoma patient.<br />
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<a href="http://www.republicwireless.com/">Republic Wireless </a><br />
<a href="http://www.republicwireless.com/">Cell Phone Service</a><br />
$10/month. 'nuf said.<br />
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<a href="http://www.motorola.com/us/Moto-X/FLEXR1.html">Moto X</a> Cell Phone<br />
Lots of cool features. Looks great, too.<br />
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The Google Universe<br />
Seamlessly work across devices--phone, home and work computers... Fantastic apps (calendar, maps, Google Now...), desktop applications (Audacity), and, of course, the Cloud (Google Drive).<br />
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Popcorn<br />
My favorite snack/comfort food. Extra tasty eaten with thin-sliced cheddar cheese.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">MUSIC GEAR</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Selmer Paris Super Action 80 Series II Saxophones</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Selmer Paris S80 Mouthpieces</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Vandoren Traditional Reeds</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">N-Track Tuner App</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Metronome</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcQwI5Y2wxKZaTlhcD2FyyWaBJbOFrY3qwTgYAKE8nfR7S1jziWMPb4YIL1Ldahbtdi9z4u7pY4knTZd0CFBWGzrT9tF8UmNRvj057jLKzhU5c_KjM9YMvoynFUdNLumY6R7T_qPBNKew/s1600/prius+flipped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcQwI5Y2wxKZaTlhcD2FyyWaBJbOFrY3qwTgYAKE8nfR7S1jziWMPb4YIL1Ldahbtdi9z4u7pY4knTZd0CFBWGzrT9tF8UmNRvj057jLKzhU5c_KjM9YMvoynFUdNLumY6R7T_qPBNKew/s320/prius+flipped.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.toyota.com/prius/">Toyota Prius</a><br />
50 miles per gallon, thank you.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5p7NUMYKRykBlYuOkuw-B6tiILLIQtr54rYh5ewAslGA3wxTmuDr8GvblzJBd48E6aqG_450ALB2bvCDPKV38-8SwmRRjXN4kZGuADNday8LLfUdTuUJdCdP7Y11LAFmPpbim7DzoM7I/s1600/deep+dish+pizza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5p7NUMYKRykBlYuOkuw-B6tiILLIQtr54rYh5ewAslGA3wxTmuDr8GvblzJBd48E6aqG_450ALB2bvCDPKV38-8SwmRRjXN4kZGuADNday8LLfUdTuUJdCdP7Y11LAFmPpbim7DzoM7I/s200/deep+dish+pizza.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
PIZZA in Gainesville<br />
<a href="http://www.leonardosmillhopper.com/">Leonardo's of Millhopper Deep Dish Pizza</a><br />
Rivals the best Chicago has to offer. I know--I lived in Chicago for 13 years. If you haven't been to this place,<i> go there now</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.piesanostogo.com/index.html">Piesano's Pizza</a><br />
A most excellent thin-crust, wood-fired pizza. Plus free garlic rolls.<br />
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<a href="http://www.blazepizza.com/">Blaze Pizza</a><br />
Tasty, fast, pick-all-the-toppings-you-want-for-one-price, even-thinner-crust pizza.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oCyxNr3FTvv_ls8vfOx3QaZXsByIdXKqj3WgTVXcKyqHOKvt7Nc2TTl57KNn1Tfi-4qFGW2eLpf6QyIRBsfnbXShyphenhyphen7x0g4hXXPYA-aFFlYr8DSKaLAYfXqO0PHvpEjmuARqcqKkvBY0t/s1600/lenovo-laptop-essential-g50-back.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oCyxNr3FTvv_ls8vfOx3QaZXsByIdXKqj3WgTVXcKyqHOKvt7Nc2TTl57KNn1Tfi-4qFGW2eLpf6QyIRBsfnbXShyphenhyphen7x0g4hXXPYA-aFFlYr8DSKaLAYfXqO0PHvpEjmuARqcqKkvBY0t/s200/lenovo-laptop-essential-g50-back.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/g-series/">Lenovo $300 laptop computers</a><br />
My go-to computer for work, communications, and video streaming. Saw one with an Intel i3 processor for $270 recently. More power than most people will ever need. And if it gets lost or stolen....hey, it's only $300.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_L9L1j_dm6KfDHk_2J9i9km4NF0UokLZPowOu50EQrHp5DUeAxm58807erJullGpkHp1S6Fh9ipByQ-7CT8zPH_-71g9SwpVr8seyr8sNNY-bDiU292oE63j5nPI04fNyhRjshwl5SEg/s1600/sx+vc+CD+cover001+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_L9L1j_dm6KfDHk_2J9i9km4NF0UokLZPowOu50EQrHp5DUeAxm58807erJullGpkHp1S6Fh9ipByQ-7CT8zPH_-71g9SwpVr8seyr8sNNY-bDiU292oE63j5nPI04fNyhRjshwl5SEg/s1600/sx+vc+CD+cover001+small.jpg" /></a></div>
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CD: "Music for Saxophone and Cello" by the Helton-Thomas Duo<br />
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Steak<br />
Rare/Medium rare.<br />
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Cell Phone Apps:<br />
HERE<br />
Offline navigation. Turn-by-turn navigation without using any cell data. Works all over the world. I used it in France this summer. THE app to use around town or out of the country. Priceless! (also, free!)<br />
WAZE<br />
The navigation app I use on long trips. Circumnavigates heavy traffic, road closures. Warns of road hazards, traffic backups, speed traps.<br />
MOTO ASSIST<br />
Reads incoming texts when driving. Also allows you to reply to texts hands free. Can silence the phone at night while you sleep.<br />
GOOGLE CALENDAR<br />
Seamless integration with the desktop version. Can automatically silence the phone during meetings (or concerts). Tap the location of your event and it will open a navigation app.<br />
MOTOROLA CONNECT<br />
Allows you to send texts from your desktop computer. You can also ring your phone, in case you've misplaced it.<br />
GOOGLE NOW<br />
Talk to the phone and it will look stuff up for you, or make a call, or send a text, or find a restaurant....<br />
N-TRACK TUNER<br />
The only tuning app I've found that can hear very high notes.<br />
MR NUMBER<br />
Blocks spam phone calls and texts.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-55309399282369761812014-07-11T07:12:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.645-04:00Saxophone Equipment Recommendations<i>This post provides supplemental information for my presentation at the Florida Bandmasters Summer Professional Development Conference on July 10, 2014.</i><br /><br /><b>Recommended Mouthpieces</b><ul><li>Selmer S-80 C*</li><li>Selmer S-90 190</li><li>Selmer Concept</li><li>Rousseau NC4</li></ul> <b>Recommended Saxophones</b><br /><br />Student Models <ul><li>Selmer 500</li><li>Yamaha 26 (23)</li></ul> Step-Up Models <ul><li>Selmer Model 42**</li><li>Yamaha 480 (475)</li><li>Yamaha 62-II (52)</li></ul> Professional Models (new) <ul><li>Selmer Super Action 80 Series II</li><li>Selmer Reference 54</li><li>Yamaha 875-EX (with a V1 neck)</li></ul> Used Professional Models <ul><li>Selmer Super Action 80 “Series I”</li><li>Selmer Mark VI</li><li>Selmer Balanced Action</li><li>Yamaha 62 (52)</li></ul> <div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-75066033086800520152013-09-28T07:00:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.686-04:00Business Tips and Tax Strategies for the Independent Music Teacher<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This post provides resource links for my presentation entitled <i>Establishing a Private Teaching Studio: Business Tips and Tax Strategies for the Independent Music Teacher<span style="font-size: small;">, </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">m</span>ost recently presented on September 28, 2013 at the Florida Collegiate NAfME State Conference in Lakeland, Florida.</span></span><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Growing Y<span style="font-size: small;">our Business</span></span></span></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span>Advertising</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span>Print, Social Media, Online advertising</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span>Web site</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span>Brochure, Business cards</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>Music stores</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span></span></span></span>Get to know the owners, buy reeds, music</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span></span></span></span>Eventually you will want them to stock music for your students </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span>Offer free clinics to schools</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span>Offer incentives to current students for referrals</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span>Perform, network</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – Play in a l</span></span></span></span>ocal concert series or library</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – Play in </span></span></span></span>churches, get to know music directors</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – </span></span></span></span>Make contact with school music directors</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – Perform in the </span></span></span></span>Community Band/Orchestra/Chorus</span></span></span><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Business Model<span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>Sole proprietorship. One owner--you.<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>Business name = Your name<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">. You can register a </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>dba with your local government if you want to operate under an assumed name ("Bob's 39th Street Music Academy"). Most people just use their own name.<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>Cash accounting<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>Fiscal year (calendar year)<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• </span></span></span></span>No inventory<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• All investment is </span></span></span></span>“At risk”<br /><br /><i>The above items are all called for on the various tax forms. Choose these options unless you have a compelling reason to make another choice. The listed options are the correct ones for a service business like music teaching and performing.</i><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Deductions and wh<span style="font-size: small;">ere to declare them</span></span></span></h2><h3><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Schedule C</span></span></h3><span style="font-size: small;">• Advertising: print ads, web sites, business cards, brochure design/printing<br />• Car expenses: mileage, tolls<br />• Depreciation: instruments<br />• Insurance: instrument<br />• Legal and Professional Services: collabor<span style="font-size: small;">ative musicians</span>, accountants<br />• Office expense: paper, pens, tape, envelop<span style="font-size: small;">es, </span>printer toner…<br />• Repairs: instrument, computer<br />• Supplies: Music, reeds, strings, valve oil, rosin, books, tools, tuners, CDs, music downloads...<br />• Travel: hotel, meals, entertainment expenses<br />• Other:<br /> – Concert tickets<br /> – Association dues (MTNA, NAfME, CMS, NACWPI, NASA, ITG, IHS, NFA...)</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">– </span>Union dues<br /> – Postage</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> – Costumes<br /> – Computers (restrictions<span style="font-size: small;"> apply)</span><br /> – (Phone--must be able to show proof of percentage of business use--phone numbers/minutes)</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> – Web hosting fees, domain name registration (but not Internet service provider costs</span>)<br />• Use of room in your home<br /> – Exclusive use<br /> – Percentage of rent, utilities</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>You do not have to teach in your home for an office space to be deductible. It just has to be a dedicated room. One huge advantage of a home office: all your driving to other teaching/performing locations is tax deductible. Without a home office, you cannot deduct the trips to and from home (commuting miles).</i> </span><br /><h3><span style="font-size: small;">Form 1040 - Adjustments to Income</span></h3><span style="font-size: small;">• Qualified Performing artist expenses<br />• Moving expenses<br />• Percentage of the Self-Employment tax<br />• Retirement contributions (SEP, SIMPLE, etc.)<br />• Health insurance<br />• IRA<br />• Student loan interest<br />• Tuition, fees</span><br /><h3><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Form 1040 - Other <span style="font-size: small;">credits</span></span></span></h3><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">•</span> Standard deduction</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">•</span> Ex<span style="font-size: small;">emption</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">•</span> </span></span></span>Education Credits </span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Deductions reduce your tax liability considerably--up to 28% of the cost of items deducted. So $4000 in deductions could save you over $1000. Another way of thinking about this: you get a 23 or 28 percent discount on any music-related item you buy! Keep careful records of your expenses and you can save thousands of dollars per year.</i></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i> </span></span></span></span><br /><h2><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tax f</span>orms you<span style="font-size: small;"> will need to file</span></span></span></h2><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf">Form 1040</a> <span style="font-size: small;">-<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>basic tax return form***</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf">Sch</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf">edule C</a> <span style="font-size: small;">- </span>to report self<span style="font-size: small;">-employed income</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf">Schedule SE</a><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">- </span>to pay the <span style="font-size: small;">employer's <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">portion</span> of </span></span>Social Secu<span style="font-size: small;">rity and Medicare t<span style="font-size: small;">axes**</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8829.pdf">Form 8829</a> <span style="font-size: small;">- </span>if you claim a home <span style="font-size: small;">office deduction</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4562.pdf">Form</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4562.pdf"> 4562 </a><span style="font-size: small;">- </span>if you clai<span style="font-size: small;">m a deduction for a<span style="font-size: small;">n <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">instrument</span> or computer</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf">Form 1040-ES</a> <span style="font-size: small;">- </span>for paying quarterly <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">estimated</span> taxes</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">** Note: <span style="font-size: small;">if your taxable SE income (after deductions) is under $400 you are not required to pay SE tax.<span style="font-size: small;"> However, it <span style="font-size: small;">will benefit you to declare enough income to pay some <span style="font-size: small;">self-<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">employment</span> tax <span style="font-size: small;">each year. Your <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">eligibility</span> for Social Security benefits is <span style="font-size: small;">base<span style="font-size: small;">d on the number of years you have been paying into to <span style="font-size: small;">it, as well as your total salary. <span style="font-size: small;">A small tax payment now will earn you a year of eligibility<span style="font-size: small;"> and</span> c<span style="font-size: small;">an be very valuab<span style="font-size: small;">le when yo<span style="font-size: small;">u re<span style="font-size: small;">tire.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> (If you contribute to Social Security and Medicare through deductions from another job, you won't need to worry about this,)</span></span></span></i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> *** Negative income (declaring more deductions than you have in income) can offset income from another job. However, if you continually declare a loss from your self-employed business, the IRS may decide that this is just a hobby and disallow all of your deductions.</span></span></span></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></i> </span><br /><h2><span style="font-size: small;">IRS Publica<span style="font-size: small;">tions for small business</span></span></h2><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Self-Employed"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Self-Employed</span></span></a><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tax Guide for Small Business </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf </a><br />Starting a Business and Keeping Records </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p583.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p583.pdf</a> <br />IRS Tax Calendar for Small Businesses and Self-Employed </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1518.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1518.pdf </a><br />Business Use of Your Home </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p587.pdf </a><br />Retirement Plans for Small Business </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p560.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p560.pdf </a><br />SEP Retirement Plans for Small Businesses </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4333.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4333.pdf</a><br />Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship) </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf </a><br />Business Expenses </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf </a><br />Miscellaneous Deductions </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p529.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p529.pdf </a><br />How to Depreciate Property </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p946.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p946.pdf </a><br />Depreciation and Amortization </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i4562.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i4562.pdf </a> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In<span style="font-size: small;">formati<span style="font-size: small;">on on Schedule C <span style="font-size: small;">income and Sc<span style="font-size: small;">hed<span style="font-size: small;">ule SE tax</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-Individuals/Frequently-Asked-Tax-Questions-&-Answers/Small-Business,-Self-Employed,-Other-Business/Schedule-C-&-Schedule-SE">click here </a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">to link</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inform<span style="font-size: small;">ation <span style="font-size: small;">on Estimated Tax payments</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf </a></span></span> </span></span></span><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-size: small;">Other Resources</span></h2>"Establishing a Private Studio" New England Conservatory Career Services Center<br /><a href="http://necmusic.edu/pdf/careerservices/Career_Services_Establishing_A_Private_Teaching_Studio.pdf">http://necmusic.edu/pdf/careerservices/Career_Services_Establishing_A_Private_Teaching_Studio.pdf</a><br /><br />Music Teachers Helper, Teachers' Blog<br />(Studio management software site. The blog is good. I don't know anything about the software.) <br /><a href="http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/starting-your-studio/">http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/</a><br /><br />Sample Registration form / Studio policy / Fee schedule<br /><a href="http://www.happymusicstudio.com/pdfs/Private_Registration_Form.pdf">http://www.happymusicstudio.com/pdfs/Private_Registration_Form.pdf</a><br /><br /> McKnight, Michael. <i>Exploring the Private Music Studio: Problems Faced by Teachers in Attempting to Quantify the Success of Teaching Theory in Private Lessons through One Method as Opposed to Another</i>. Master's Thesis. University of North Texas, 2006.<br /><a href="http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5356/">http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5356/</a><br /><br />Tips from Piano Teachers<br /><a href="http://www.mtna.org/member-resources/teaching-tips/studio-operations/">http://www.mtna.org/member-resources/teaching-tips/studio-operations/</a> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">MTNA </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://mtna.org/">http://mtna.org/</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Internal Revenue Service </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.irs.gov/">http://www.irs.gov/</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />Small Business Administration </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.sba.gov/">http://www.sba.gov/</a> </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-29154787723391537662012-07-17T12:17:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.622-04:00Ibert Factoid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUWzQmzEsYpNlP6NEMcvAKt9HCSmmq9-gcvESNBiJg4eQaurvOVUAU-MJNZWg5SBibdJJCHWtto5j44KIZQtmBj0G3bgtEftsSs27u24jFX1uOynGqaqmTB61Zg5dh029D4tjPt95vXlw/s1600/Ibert+f-nat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="37" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUWzQmzEsYpNlP6NEMcvAKt9HCSmmq9-gcvESNBiJg4eQaurvOVUAU-MJNZWg5SBibdJJCHWtto5j44KIZQtmBj0G3bgtEftsSs27u24jFX1uOynGqaqmTB61Zg5dh029D4tjPt95vXlw/s400/Ibert+f-nat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />At dinner in St, Andrews, Scotland earlier this week, Jean-Marie Londeix related an interesting story about the Ibert - <i>Concertino da Camera,</i> probably the most famous saxophone concerto.<br /><br /><i>Jean-Marie Londeix used to practice and sight-read music with his sister on piano. One day they were playing the Ibert </i>Concertino <i>and M. Londeix's sister mentioned that he was playing a wrong note. He was playing an F-natural (as notated in the score of the earlier editions, mm. 2 and 4 in the excerpt above) and his sister pointed out that it should be an F-flat. Later that week he played the piece in his lesson for Marcel Mule. M. Mule insisted that it should be an F-natural, as in the part. After some discussion, Mule said he'd ask the composer. Jacques Ibert cleared up the misunderstanding and reaffirmed Londeix's sister's observation. From then on, Marcel Mule also played the F-flat.</i><br /><br />Daniel Deffayet and Jean-Marie Londeix collaborated on the corrections to the part that is being published today. They fixed some inconsistencies (wrong notes) in the saxophone part, and they added Marcel Mule's articulations. The articulations as published in the earlier part were those of Sigurd Rascher. The articulations that were originally written by Jacques Ibert were published in the original 1935 part, and are still in the orchestral score as published today. Ibert did not call for ANY articulated scales in the entire piece.<br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-46709484015289076662012-07-07T14:16:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.633-04:00World Saxophone Congress XVI<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here is more information on the pieces I will be performing at the World Saxophone Congress this week:</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">________________________________________</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wednesday, July 11, 2012. 3:00 pm</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">All Saints Church</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">St. Andrews, Scotland</span></div><div 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mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jonathan Helton, soprano saxophone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Michael Bovenzi, alto saxophone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joseph Tomasso, tenor saxophone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don-Paul Kahl, baritone saxophone</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Jonathan Elliott</b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Quartet for Saxophones (2010)</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Wheel</i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Organum</i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Prayer</i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Calliope</i></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">PBP Music</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.jonathanelliott.net/">http://www.jonathanelliott.net/</a><br /><a href="mailto:je@jonathanelliott.net"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">je@jonathanelliott.net</span></a></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">Georgy Ligeti</span></b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">Sechs Bagatellen</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Allegro con spirito</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Rubato, Lementoso</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Allegro, grazioso</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Presto ruvido</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Adagio, mesto (Bela Bartok, in memorium)</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"> Moto vivace, capriccioso</span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">Schott</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">Adapted to conform more to the original piano work: </span><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Musica Ricercata</b> (1951-1953)</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">________________________________________</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thursday, July 12, 2012, 2:00 pm</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">San Salvador's Chapel</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">St. Andrews, Scotland</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Florida Chamber Saxophonists</b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sarah Hersh</b></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Four for Two (2012) World Premiere</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Jonathan Helton</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Michael Bovenzi</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not published</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse;"><div><a href="https://mail.ufl.edu/OWA/redir.aspx?C=46c8e99475714b1099625749574c1156&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sarahhersh.com" target="_blank">http://sarahhersh.com</a></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com">sarahlhersh@gmail.com</span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"> </span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"> </span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"><b>William Albright</b></span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com">Doo-Dah (1977)</span></div><div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Jonathan Helton</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Michael Bovenzi</span></div> Geoffrey Deibel<span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"></span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"><br /></span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com">Dorn Publications</span></div><div><span _ao="3" _dn="Sarah Hersh" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="sarahlhersh@gmail.com" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="sarahlhersh@gmail.com"><br /></span></div></span></span><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-15558717557528702542012-07-06T22:55:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.604-04:00Saxophone and Cello<div class="MsoNoSpacing">I’ve been performing with cellists since 2002. It all started for me when I bought Edison Denisov’s Sonata for saxophone and cello and went to look for someone to play it with me. My current collaboration is with Steven Thomas, my colleague here at the University of Florida. We’ve been playing together since 2008 and have performed for audiences in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, and France. Watch for our newly recorded CD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Music for Saxophone and Cello</i>, to be released by Centaur in early 2012. Performing with cello has been a lot of fun. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Now, saxophone and cello may seem like a rather unexpected instrumental combination. Okay, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> an unexpected instrumental combination. But, hey, we didn’t make this up. Jean-Marie Londeix’s indispensable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Repertoire Universel de Musique pour Saxophone 1844-2003 </i>lists thirty-eight original works for saxophone and cello duo written between 1965 and 2002. Others have been written since and we premiered another new one just a couple of weeks ago.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">I find that the saxophone and cello can blend surprisingly well. Truthfully, I am amazed at some of the sounds we make together. To get an idea, you can hear a couple short audio excerpts on our web site at: <a href="http://heltonthomasduo.com/">http://heltonthomasduo.com/</a> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/saxcello/images/rehtalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/saxcello/images/rehtalk.jpg" /></a></div>Steven Thomas and I have rehearsed together a LOT. In my many years of playing chamber music I have found that with certain people ensemble playing and musical expression seem to just “click.” Steven and I have this together. Our musical ideas and sensitivity to the expressive needs of a particular piece tend to be very complimentary. It is very nice to be in agreement, or to find that we have the same types of questions for a composer. Also, it did not take us much time to learn to play together, with good ensemble. The sound clips on our web site are taken from our very first concert together. I am really thankful that Steven is willing to put in so much hard work to learn this repertoire. Cellists have so much other great music they can be performing!</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Several of the pieces in our repertoire have been with us since the beginning. We have performed Edison Denisov’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sonata for saxophone and cello</i>(and a few other pieces) over 20 times. Living with music for several years, performing a lot, rehearsing and traveling together all make for an ensemble experience of significant depth and maturity. Every time we come back to familiar music we are surprised at how well it goes together. It’s like putting on a comfortable set of clothes; it just feels right.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">We continue to add new music to our repertoire. New music helps us grow as we face new challenges both technical and musical. It also allows us to play return engagements at places that request it! We’ve enjoyed performing a wide variety of pieces and, in many cases, working with the composers who created them.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-73536932798574852722011-11-08T07:36:00.000-05:002015-09-22T09:40:29.680-04:00Working with Composers: Jonathan Elliott<div class="MsoNoSpacing">Sometimes you just get lucky. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">One day I received a phone call from composer Jonathan Elliott. He had heard a recording of the Master’s Degree recital that I had performed at Northwestern University and he wanted to write me a piece. What do you say when a composer asks if he can write you a piece? I was thrilled. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Jonathan, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago at the time, wanted to write a work for soprano saxophone and piano. Back then, I didn’t have a very useful soprano. I managed to talk him into writing an alto piece by telling him the alto had this great altissimo range. I was working on John Anthony Lennon’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Distances Within Me</i> at the time and truly believed that altissimo should be used, as Lennon seems to have done, without regard for the fact that it can be difficult. So I told Elliott that the range of the alto went to the altissimo F. I gave no other qualifications. He decided to write the piece for alto because he wanted to “use some of those low notes.”</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomDetsF8DGgETxDbmjsDe8K2xhDagvMF8-l20vNOWKYkiKzj6b4GvDywoNbEcfTA4pd_M74pnu1040nTdbCZNLP-Pb8Q38RNepvm9ZV4QDGH7mcUjYz9P6D7zy9aosMFZIki8V26JS8g4/s1600/elliotEpiph001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomDetsF8DGgETxDbmjsDe8K2xhDagvMF8-l20vNOWKYkiKzj6b4GvDywoNbEcfTA4pd_M74pnu1040nTdbCZNLP-Pb8Q38RNepvm9ZV4QDGH7mcUjYz9P6D7zy9aosMFZIki8V26JS8g4/s320/elliotEpiph001.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>Some time later, the piece arrived in my mailbox. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Epiphany</i>for alto saxophone and piano by Jonathan Elliott. Probably half of the piece was in the altissimo. I spent a year learning it. It became my altissimo etude book. Every day I spent lots of time playing the convoluted passages, large intervals and tremolos he had written above the ‘normal’ range of the instrument. Needless to say, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> got my altissimo chops in shape.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i>Epiphany</i>, as the composer states, is a piece written for two virtuosos. Yes, the saxophone part is crazy difficult; but the piano part is insane! I performed the piece in Chicago a couple of times—once at the University of Chicago, and once at the New Music Chicago festival. The piece subsequently won an BMI composers award. It is a very powerful piece of music.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">I picked the piece up again to perform at the 1998 Biennial Conference of the North American Saxophone Alliance that I hosted on the campus of Northwestern University. My goal in choosing music to perform for other saxophonists, is to share new or neglected music that I’d like other people to hear and want to perform themselves. I had hoped that my colleagues would get to know this amazing piece of music and choose to add it to their repertoire. I was surprised by the reaction to <i>Epiphany</i>. Many people praised the work, but seemed too terrified to take on such a difficult piece.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">A few years later, the composer did remove much of the altissimo from the piece when other saxophonists suggested it was unplayable as written. I still hear it in the higher range, and think it is more successful that way. If you want to work on the piece, <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/p/contact.html">contact me </a>and I can let you know how to convert your score back to the original version.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUVzXFw8pPnVPyt2sW9fP0jXwElSLEKIw-tvGo2MB_J3tOoAw38vk9aNX6MV-PTygmtcp-MaYIQD2doUSQQ59ICPpOrXufUa61-S9kuyydr9K0BIuhQCVEa_6GjPPdjmfvr5t8mzuJNlO/s1600/elliot4003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUVzXFw8pPnVPyt2sW9fP0jXwElSLEKIw-tvGo2MB_J3tOoAw38vk9aNX6MV-PTygmtcp-MaYIQD2doUSQQ59ICPpOrXufUa61-S9kuyydr9K0BIuhQCVEa_6GjPPdjmfvr5t8mzuJNlO/s1600/elliot4003.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div><br />In 1999 I received a grant to explore the composer-performer relationship. With this funding I was able to commission a new piece and travel to the World Saxophone Congress in Montreal for the premiere performance. Reflecting on the reactions at the 1998 NASA conference, I asked Jonathan Elliott to write an easier piece. My hope was that saxophonists would hear this piece and want to play it. Jonathan had moved to New York by this time and was reconsidering his compositional style. No one in New York would spend a year learning your music. So this project seemed to come at a good time.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">The result of this collaboration was Jonathan Elliott’s <i>Odd Preludes,</i> for saxophone and piano. I premiered the work at the WSC in 2000. You can hear it on my recently-released album on the Centaur label, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/p/discography.html">American Music for Saxophone and Piano</a>. </i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Elliott wrote<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Field Music: Ash</i> for me in 2005 after I asked him for a work for saxophone and cello. He decided to use the opportunity to revisit and work through his feelings regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. He lives in Brooklyn Heights, quite close to the World Trade Center. He witnessed the event up close which had a profound effect on him (and this piece). Elliott lost some friends on that day and the creation of this work became part of his grieving process. When he finally sent me the score, he admitted that writing it was one of the most difficult things he had ever done.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdIQhtczcuhMbVa791G9F38CqJYONoCXiUwftebbp8OzXs6xzPOMVTO_j9o8GxJ4gzmcKPokoCbIwqum1n7Pxco_ughOH9K466fvrRKB7jhh3_0XJCR01FOMWdshVzTdE42CIEFxcls7Y/s1600/ash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdIQhtczcuhMbVa791G9F38CqJYONoCXiUwftebbp8OzXs6xzPOMVTO_j9o8GxJ4gzmcKPokoCbIwqum1n7Pxco_ughOH9K466fvrRKB7jhh3_0XJCR01FOMWdshVzTdE42CIEFxcls7Y/s320/ash.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>Performances of this incredibly moving work are always met with a strong emotional outpouring from the audience. At one concert in Shanghai, China we were overwhelmed by the audience response. They stood, they clapped, they cheered, they cried. Unbeknownst to us, our concert had been scheduled on the second anniversary of a Chinese national tragedy (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake">Great Sichuan Earthquake of 2008</a>). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Field Music: Ash</i>, written in response to an American national tragedy, touched the hearts of the Chinese people that night in Shanghai.<br /><br />You can hear <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Field Music: Ash </i>on my new CD, <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/p/discography.html"><i>Music for Saxophone and Cello</i></a>, to be released in early 2012 on the Centaur label.<br /> <br /><b>Works for saxophone by Jonathan Elliott:</b><br /><i>Epiphany </i>(1986), alto saxophone and piano<br /><i>Six Motions</i> (1992), alto saxophone and piano (originally, cl/pno)<br /><i>Revolve, Seven Views </i>(1994), alto saxophone and piano<br /><i>Odd Preludes </i>(2000), alto saxophone and piano<br /><i>Friss </i>(2001), alto saxophone and guitar (originally, fl/gtr)<br /><i>Saxophone Quartet </i>(2010)<br />Work in progress for saxophone ensemble (2012)</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Should you be interested in performing some of Elliott's music, you can find him at:<br /><a href="http://www.jonathanelliott.net/">http://www.jonathanelliott.net/</a><br /><a href="mailto:je@jonathanelliott.net"><span _ao="3" _dn="Jonathan Elliott" _e_onclick="onClkRcp(event);" _e_oncontextmenu="onRwCm(event);" _e_ondblclick="onDblClkReadRcp(event);" _em="je@jonathanelliott.net" _fjnk="1" _rt="SMTP" _siptrsp="1" _uri="je@jonathanelliott.net" class="rwRRO" id="spnFrom" title="je@jonathanelliott.net">je@jonathanelliott.net</span></a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-61633432896084639732011-10-20T17:28:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.650-04:00Programming for the WebAs a graduate student in the late 80s, I became one of the first beta test users of the Northwestern University email/Internet system. (my email address was: jah@nwu.edu) Things were different then. The Internet consisted of just a few locations, delivered as plain text to terminals with a connection. The only half-way interesting thing (the only thing, really) I can remember from those times were the newsgroups—forums where topics from sports, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4ufOibFCc6dEsMhVJ_lbohtzD-XaRIktD0nwgJQuJYS0z1Y6R7YT8sVW8GiXdw-aGI3UtVpH7P6d6wftHazLbtjiFpu135lj0afHRh41xUlku04kVA5DwE7UcwvDX8VWWDDdBnPUjIBv/s1600/usenet.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4ufOibFCc6dEsMhVJ_lbohtzD-XaRIktD0nwgJQuJYS0z1Y6R7YT8sVW8GiXdw-aGI3UtVpH7P6d6wftHazLbtjiFpu135lj0afHRh41xUlku04kVA5DwE7UcwvDX8VWWDDdBnPUjIBv/s200/usenet.gif" width="200" /></a> computers—especially computers-- and many other interests could be discussed. Over the next few years, some of my friends at universities around the country obtained email and long-distance, almost instantaneous, email communication became possible. Before long, the Internet went graphical. It was quickly populated with thousands of commercial sites. In fact, there was so little content of interest online, I dismissed it as just a big advertising venture. It was easy to ignore. A few yeas later, in the early 90s, I began a hobby of writing web sites using the HTML programming language. I never did anything serious with this until 2005 when I created the University of Florida Saxophone Studio web site. This site is based on a template provided by the university that I highly customized by editing the HTML code. I continue to maintain this site by editing the HTML. <a href="http://www.arts.ufl.edu/music/saxophone/">http://www.arts.ufl.edu/music/saxophone/</a><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgbN8_N8hPTtePqG1mJnb0oAQmO3jGnmL7_AhlVRK_DJo3pGPjVIVuEcLJzLpFNCulvC1DG3fGtx99AIqyksBwNKBAo3zLfRpoHi65BA4qJUHFVOaVHOe-YiIzLLeSYFmKjmqjWklSkk4U/s1600/studiosite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgbN8_N8hPTtePqG1mJnb0oAQmO3jGnmL7_AhlVRK_DJo3pGPjVIVuEcLJzLpFNCulvC1DG3fGtx99AIqyksBwNKBAo3zLfRpoHi65BA4qJUHFVOaVHOe-YiIzLLeSYFmKjmqjWklSkk4U/s200/studiosite.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Since then, I’ve read a lot more on HTML, XHML, CSS, web design, information architecture, etc., and I've created a few more web sites:</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing">► An individual account at UF which serves as an index to my various professional pursuits, and hosts some documents for the Executive Committee of the North American Saxophone Alliance. <a href="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/">http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/</a> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">► A site for my duo, <a href="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/saxcello/">http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/saxcello/</a> This site has proven very useful for marketing the duo for concerts and tours worldwide. I created this site from a generic template for a two-column page layout. This took a bit more work than my earlier sites since this template was very basic and included no content or placeholders.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74JYyh1leDgJ4Mzt6jpG_xI5X7fDwr04JDtE_9oS4qg2eJDtJJVgp-yPaaxjvTVttlTIjKcZuy7fsdXWBVDU6e0DDR7bSt8Vdhh6c8iKcaDZ4wzgI4coHbaIBns-b9d1uP2-5dIyc38LX/s1600/onyxsite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74JYyh1leDgJ4Mzt6jpG_xI5X7fDwr04JDtE_9oS4qg2eJDtJJVgp-yPaaxjvTVttlTIjKcZuy7fsdXWBVDU6e0DDR7bSt8Vdhh6c8iKcaDZ4wzgI4coHbaIBns-b9d1uP2-5dIyc38LX/s320/onyxsite.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">► The Onyx Saxophone Quartet site: <a href="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/onyx/index.html">http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/onyx/index.html</a> This was the first site I composed entirely from scratch. I now see a lot of room for improvement here, but am not sure when I'll find the time to get back to it. I spent a lot of time making the graphic buttons and header image.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">► Recently, I created <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/">http://www.jonathanhelton.com</a>. This site was created on the Blogger Blog site using their content management system. It is easy to set up, customize and run a blog at blogger.com, but it took a lot of work to edit it so it looks and acts like a “normal” web site.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">► I’ve also created a new site for the Duo at: <a href="http://heltonthomasduo.blogspot.com/">http://heltonthomasduo.blogspot.com/</a> Another adapted blog site.</div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcv5orkG_z64IsU5ZA-Mw7UrHeUo-b13ZkcXAT2nsuV2cExk7lD0KGFd2TnwoGP7l3vVfLHH4JZ-H2xd41KbQPk0Bm-B4hnhQr6Je1CiA19W4PpADDzaqevMl6ftcQKqaVbU-iIGCooyz/s1600/duosite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcv5orkG_z64IsU5ZA-Mw7UrHeUo-b13ZkcXAT2nsuV2cExk7lD0KGFd2TnwoGP7l3vVfLHH4JZ-H2xd41KbQPk0Bm-B4hnhQr6Je1CiA19W4PpADDzaqevMl6ftcQKqaVbU-iIGCooyz/s320/duosite.jpg" width="168" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original duo site.</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDHIUdagIAHnvUBeKEoQug_xCxiPgcdCqetwOxrFVc-qZaOehQBbK1GAEytqb89uf3EhJqjG4GGXc3VZqCw547k4RkvSJ8mDBRGyjPxkxUPzK5WRmz-MTX7_3CR1eow-2dxWLxukxbM9F/s1600/duonewsite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDHIUdagIAHnvUBeKEoQug_xCxiPgcdCqetwOxrFVc-qZaOehQBbK1GAEytqb89uf3EhJqjG4GGXc3VZqCw547k4RkvSJ8mDBRGyjPxkxUPzK5WRmz-MTX7_3CR1eow-2dxWLxukxbM9F/s320/duonewsite.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New duo site.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="clear: both;">Last week’s project was to re-create my personal site (jonathanhelton.com) for use on another web server. The blogger-based site is rather complicated. It has all the code in one file and uses a number of convoluted if/then statements, javascript, etc. to display the different “pages.” Plus, there’s all that blog code that I don’t need for my site. The design is pretty straightforward, so I thought I could clone it by writing code from scratch. After a bit more research and several hours of trial and error, I think I’ve succeeded. Take a look at my clone site at: <a href="http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/jh/index.html">http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhelton/jh/index.html</a><br /> </div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnsGoKB8pQVez0c_X7ooESKn2mQhQ65kLfb8pPOKN3XYxzFWZdPrK3v7lrmesWVWAN5kFdlNEL9mPKR-zJMVDAkH5m0dynLBGLZG5U1O6tj8gBttNVgQOiBelYk8hicAwjqzSR-zq3u4P/s1600/jhclone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnsGoKB8pQVez0c_X7ooESKn2mQhQ65kLfb8pPOKN3XYxzFWZdPrK3v7lrmesWVWAN5kFdlNEL9mPKR-zJMVDAkH5m0dynLBGLZG5U1O6tj8gBttNVgQOiBelYk8hicAwjqzSR-zq3u4P/s200/jhclone.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">The tricky parts were:</div>► The navigation buttons. Emulating the look and function of those on the blogger site took some work. I knew the basic CSS technique of creating navigation buttons from an unordered list, but getting everything to line up, getting the entire “button” to change colors when you hover the mouse over it, making the entire box clickable, hiding the dotted outline that appears around the link when you return to a page, making the borders look good, matching, colors, etc. all took some time.<br /><br />►Aligning the CD images on the discography page with the associated text also took a few minutes to figure out. The text and the images all wanted to behave their own way. A few CSS class designations later, and now it works great!<br /><br />The rest of the design was pretty straightforward. It was a good XHTML/CSS project. I gained a much better understanding of how to position and format things with CSS, creating a clean, useful, and standards-based, web site. <br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-65008541233145318002011-10-05T11:26:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.656-04:00Why I love to practice<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The other day I was anticipating my first practice session of the morning and contemplating the act of practicing. How many times have you put off your practice? “I’ll write just one more email” or “I’ll read one more chapter” or "Let's check Facebook one more time"…. We’ve probably all made excuses at one time or another. Now, however, I find that I really like to practice. This transformation of attitude has come for me, I think, because I have become a very effective practicer. I really can see improvement happen from day to day and I find this to be very exciting. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some things I do:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>Slow, accurate practice</b>. I often tell my students to “never miss a note.” If we are <i>always</i>playing the right notes, mistakes are much less prone to happen.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>Many, many repetitions</b>. I had a piano teacher once who told me that he never practiced anything up to tempo, because what we really need to do is to teach our fingers <i>where</i> to go; the speed will come naturally. I find that after a zillion repetitions my fingers just play the notes all by themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>Stay relaxed</b>. Tension is like static for the brain. If we play with tension then the brain is busy sending signals all over the place when all you really need is to just move one finger down 37/100ths of an inch. Relaxed practice really helps my fingers to remember what they've done so I need fewer repetitions to actually learn something.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">- <b>Practice small bits</b>. I always break difficult passages into small pieces, often as small as two- or three-notes long. Smaller groups are easier to learn. I often boast that I can play any two-note lick. (And, of course, this is probably true for most anyone.) Isn’t everything we play made up entirely of two-note fragments? And practicing small bits helps me stay relaxed.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>“There is nothing more precious to an instrumentalist than the ability to work efficiently -- to know how to accomplish the maximum in beneficial results while using the minimum of time to do so.”</i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">–Ivan Galamian</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQgM079MgZ2zgBhlMV322ytexqrJxKc2Rl-IerEFsWiR2O8NEJJokxBU-gtfwx169FNydNHs_I1FcFXmyGtCrA6RT0k0FwaaHuBFwzxO2QMOfhOxtYu-t9h8q45pvZ0VBK2cK-6CSYAi0/s1600/galamian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXQgM079MgZ2zgBhlMV322ytexqrJxKc2Rl-IerEFsWiR2O8NEJJokxBU-gtfwx169FNydNHs_I1FcFXmyGtCrA6RT0k0FwaaHuBFwzxO2QMOfhOxtYu-t9h8q45pvZ0VBK2cK-6CSYAi0/s200/galamian.jpg" width="153" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ivan Galamian (1903-1981) taught violin at the Curtis Institute and at the Julliard School during an American teaching career that spanned more than 40 years. He was a teacher and mentor to many of the world's most celebrated violinists including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jamie Laredo, Dorothy Delay, and Glenn Dicterow (concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic). In his 1962 book, <i>Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching</i>, Mr. Galamian describes three different kinds of practice:</span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. <b>Learning notes</b>. An essential, and rather self-evident, step with which we are all well acquainted. For many, this takes up the bulk of the practice day. Great performing artists need to do more than just this type of practice.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. <b>Shaping the music</b>. This is a separate way of working on a piece where musical concerns take priority. Maybe you miss a note, or have bad hand position at times, but during this type of practice the focus should be on shaping the phrases, refining the vibrato, working to be sure the music sings through your instrument. To some extent, this is a part of all of our practice. However, consecrating more time solely to this pursuit may make the difference between becoming a good player or becoming a great player.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. <b>Practice performing</b>. Performing on stage in front of hundreds of people is quite a different experience from the woodshedding most of us do in the practice room. Regular time spent visualizing the concert experience and playing sections without stopping and with great energy and concentration helps to make the concert experience a bit less foreign.</span><br /><br />Someone recently remarked that many young players put down their instruments because they are not happy with how they play. They went on to say that many of these people should really be the ones continuing in music because they have a critical ear and can tell that something needs work. I would add that the trick is finding the way to improve. Good teachers, a discerning ear, and excellent practice habits are essential keys to making significant musical progress.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-73510710303201087242011-09-28T02:00:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.674-04:00Working with Composers: Augusta Read Thomas<div class="MsoNormal">This is the first in a series of posts describing various performer-composer interactions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFk1MWTl6M-5ko7olyWeHqv41oCaGk95vlJYopTn3pGQ7FhOcySzdobDMjG1Nv8Rrv0Saq-BwZBWefXOxNzTvKS7tjRWM1N_IWJsFC1WohGur_EjD3wc9GWTiiKf13p-cmaPdI3W447bDc/s1600/art_2011_headshot_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFk1MWTl6M-5ko7olyWeHqv41oCaGk95vlJYopTn3pGQ7FhOcySzdobDMjG1Nv8Rrv0Saq-BwZBWefXOxNzTvKS7tjRWM1N_IWJsFC1WohGur_EjD3wc9GWTiiKf13p-cmaPdI3W447bDc/s200/art_2011_headshot_sm.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">August Read Thomas. <i>Photo © Young Lee</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Augusta Read Thomas has held faculty positions at the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, and served for nine years as the Composer-In-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 she was inducted into the <a href="http://www.artsandletters.org/">American Academy of Arts and Letters</a>, the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Her music has been described as "striking in concept, texture and timbre." "Thomas's music…fairly explodes with an extroverted boldness of utterance audiences and musicians alike find challenging yet immediate. It's music that doesn't sound like anybody else's — music that insists you pay attention."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">My duo with cello has performed and recorded <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lake Reflecting Stars with Moonrise</i> by Augusta Read Thomas. When we first approached Ms Thomas to obtain copies of the score, she couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the prospect of us playing her music. It is so nice to have composers really voice their appreciation for what performers do. As we prepared the work, and performed it during our 2010-2011 season on concerts in Florida, Canada and China, we stayed in close touch with the composer. She was also very eager to meet with Steven (my cellist) when they were both in New Haven, Connecticut working with the orchestra there As a result of our feedback regarding the piece and, I’m sure, of her having now revisited the piece, she made a number of changes in the parts—changing rhythms, adding new notes, re-beaming rhythms. Many of these changes were only finalized two weeks before our recording of the work. Through this entire process, Ms Thomas was the epitome of the gracious, open, generous, and appreciative composer. Such a joy to work with!! So much so, in fact, she ingratiated us even more to her piece.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF9eEmvebAJvK2WWkeiy2xOLXfRtruwjE6lT8hFQnR-hFB4j3BYPUeJeHg8_-EMMgBHZsqLNUdW1psCx02TLhys-qUnCJ8xh5aEAH3LtsicxWlH4C75884CvRZGmhrrw9ti1c7b5B-DgSl/s1600/celloCD8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF9eEmvebAJvK2WWkeiy2xOLXfRtruwjE6lT8hFQnR-hFB4j3BYPUeJeHg8_-EMMgBHZsqLNUdW1psCx02TLhys-qUnCJ8xh5aEAH3LtsicxWlH4C75884CvRZGmhrrw9ti1c7b5B-DgSl/s200/celloCD8.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Look for the world premiere recording of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lake Reflecting Stars with Moonrise</i> by Augusta Read Thomas on our new CD, <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/p/discography.html">Music for Saxophone and Cello</a>, to be released in early 2012 on the Centaur label.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-90107513024148532272011-09-26T00:34:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.692-04:00Méthode pour Étudier le Saxophone<div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR"></span></i></div>Just finished re-reading this book by the eminent saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix. I studied with him one summer at the International Music Academy in Nice, France. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he does. I am always inspired when reading his writings, or reading about his life and work. James Umble’s biography of Londeix, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jean-Marie Londeix Master of the Modern Saxophone</i>, is a very inspiring description of his busy musical life (see my review in volume 26 of <a href="http://www.saxalliance.org/store/e-saxophone-symposium-vol-26"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Saxophone Symposium</i></a>). As I stated in my review, the book was mesmerizing; I didn’t want to stop reading. I was torn between not being able to put it down, and desperately wanting to go practice!!<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR">Londeix’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Méthode pour Étudier le Saxophone </i>was published in 1997. </span>It is intended to guide the student of the saxophone to the appropriate study materials; it includes a few specific exercises, and some instruction on the basic approach to embouchure, holding the instrument, etc. Included also, are nice annotated and graded lists of recommended etudes and repertoire. The volume concludes with “master classes” by Londeix on three works from the saxophone repertoire. These are very detailed performances notes on how to play extended passages from these works. In most cases he provides a paragraph or two on the interpretation of a measure or two of the musical text. <span lang="FR">The works studied include: Bizet – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">L’Arlésienne Suite</i>, Debussy – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhapsodie</i>, Milhaud – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">La Création du Monde</i>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Londeix includes some great tips for practicing intonation, finger speed, and tonguing. He also emphasizes the importance of the expressive element of music. In his words, “To learn to breathe and to direct the air is more important than learning to play fast.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_bQ7WwGbicx2qvtw1vBPFrhybD2xoUdUMEWae9w_k2PIyI6Tbt1M22tD9KVALDO26FkbHfkvX5DG5zMoP1uVDQeij6yQEgoJ6hLaTO1NV1qyU3f7V6e_MaPl15Vl6bsJ4XkA1DBHuZFh/s1600/londeixteachingmethod001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_bQ7WwGbicx2qvtw1vBPFrhybD2xoUdUMEWae9w_k2PIyI6Tbt1M22tD9KVALDO26FkbHfkvX5DG5zMoP1uVDQeij6yQEgoJ6hLaTO1NV1qyU3f7V6e_MaPl15Vl6bsJ4XkA1DBHuZFh/s200/londeixteachingmethod001.jpg" width="145" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Londeix, Jean-Marie. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR"> </span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="FR">Méthode pour Étudier le Saxophone. </span></i> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Paris : Henri Lemoine, 1997.<br />84 pp. In French, Japanese, English, and Spanish. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Highly recommended.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-4464543417079034292011-09-21T10:58:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.628-04:00My New Web Site<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ08ZmztxcL23ngORFLYcyeJV5V1duIcuOueoDkmFNqu9xOPJ80Rr0PdMagFmFkn8jFePwxHCzVm2Lwp1jiw2rwps6nOuYbt3JNVMPGLVYgG5CBxxUKxKDWIFls-0cf7IsKU7ThXMFw-sB/s1600/jhdotcom+site+screen+shot+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ08ZmztxcL23ngORFLYcyeJV5V1duIcuOueoDkmFNqu9xOPJ80Rr0PdMagFmFkn8jFePwxHCzVm2Lwp1jiw2rwps6nOuYbt3JNVMPGLVYgG5CBxxUKxKDWIFls-0cf7IsKU7ThXMFw-sB/s200/jhdotcom+site+screen+shot+2.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />I’ve recently created a new web site: <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/">http://www.jonathanhelton.com</a> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br />It is hosted by Google on their Blogger.com blog platform. My site is based on one of their “simple” templates. I tweaked it a lot to make it look and act like a web site (not a blog).<br /><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Take a look and let me know what you think!</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-50171377358274940762011-09-16T09:02:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.639-04:00Performing Chamber Music<div class="MsoNormal">Last night, I had the opportunity to take part in a faculty chamber music collaboration that featured nine School of Music faculty members. This was the inaugural event in the University of Florida School of Music Faculty Chamber Music Series. Nine faculty members were involved in the concert. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The work I performed was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Charades, </i>a piece for violin, tenor saxophone and piano by Sherwood Shaffer. Shaffer was my college theory professor at the North Carolina School of the Arts. His first work for saxophone, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer Nocturne</i>, was dedicated to me and is on my CD <a href="http://www.jonathanhelton.com/p/discography.html%20"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Music for Saxophone and Piano</i></a> that was released earlier this year. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Charades</i> is, as the title suggests, a parlor game played by the three instruments. The program as depicted in the music has the instruments taking turns presenting their “charade” while the other instruments try to guess it. Sometimes they will guess correctly, pat each other on the back and continue the game. Sometimes they are not such good sports and quarrels ensue. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">One of the great joys of music is the privilege of sharing the stage with fantastic colleagues. Whether performing in a duo with a pianist, cellist or percussionist; playing chamber music with a mixed ensemble or saxophone quartet; joining the traditional orchestra; or presenting a thrilling concerto performance; collaboration is one thing that makes performing music such a great experience. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with some very fine musicians during the course of my career. I owe them a debt of gratitude for helping to shape the musician that I am today.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-71529174158061824762011-09-14T21:05:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.662-04:00Chamber Music ConcertI'll be performing on the inaugural University of Florida School of Music Faculty Chamber Music Concert Series,Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 7:30 pm in room 101 of the Music Building. Admission is free! Bring your friends.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUklhNnYbK8Xhy5Rxefu2C2MdHOpd3gpqtrK5k1KwZV8wGssWMnVVrAFV9OOseSjyUXUXgve2-kEPYpZqzjutRYDwlDz0bqfGvUt_XwxsTyDj5DoPmclDCR8ohbHBY-ToqGpbrGu8F79Ym/s1600/musicsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUklhNnYbK8Xhy5Rxefu2C2MdHOpd3gpqtrK5k1KwZV8wGssWMnVVrAFV9OOseSjyUXUXgve2-kEPYpZqzjutRYDwlDz0bqfGvUt_XwxsTyDj5DoPmclDCR8ohbHBY-ToqGpbrGu8F79Ym/s1600/musicsm.jpg" /></a></div>The piece I'll perform:<br /><br /><i>Charades </i>- Sherwood Shaffer<br /> for violin, tenor saxophone and piano<br /> w/Janna Lower, vln & Kevin Orr, pno<br /><br /><br />Other tunes by Debussy, Haendel, Bach, Rossini.and Kopetzki will be performed by Kristen Stoner, flute; Laura Ellis, Harpsichord, Kenneth Broadway, marimba; Chip Birkner, percussion; Steven Thomas, cello, and Kevin Casseday, double bass.<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-9117892291073819612011-09-03T23:13:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.703-04:00Touring ChinaIn May, the Helton-Thomas Duo (<a href="http://heltonthomasduo.com/">http://heltonthomasduo.com</a>) completed its second recital and master class tour of China. This year we performed recitals and presented master classes in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Beijing. Concert repertoire for this tour was taken from our CD which we recorded soon after our return home. <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPig90Rju36B2IFIlxFQz2FFK3GEU6e5WQeNFVC8IO_iuEQ9eTR1bi6AiiwG1l8eH0RLtyoYCAQf4HWn8twdA11W6o020SS69Xecm4kFvVwXD-qTQyMLOEnde412Bk4V2YTygMJ3f0RnD1/s1600/341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPig90Rju36B2IFIlxFQz2FFK3GEU6e5WQeNFVC8IO_iuEQ9eTR1bi6AiiwG1l8eH0RLtyoYCAQf4HWn8twdA11W6o020SS69Xecm4kFvVwXD-qTQyMLOEnde412Bk4V2YTygMJ3f0RnD1/s320/341.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The food is amazing.</b> During my first trip to China, every day for ten days I was treated to magnificent meals (banquets, really) for both lunch and dinner. I was stunned by the tremendous variety of foods; we went to a Szechuan restaurant, a Hunan restaurant, a Hot Pot restaurant, a Beijing Duck restaurant, and many more. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ln-qqgvk8UzVlfQ2k9B_7RnzWgPhHLLbbH5t30jOXVX3gjtb_vvw2sZ-wSaR6cTpQdNiHsTJ4I6vyWdP6ukbjqlqB4vmnroJ2Oj3Rl-7CAQqpdqmXh1sgTG2p2DWcf3rNIOrzzWJbGts/s1600/China+2011+275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ln-qqgvk8UzVlfQ2k9B_7RnzWgPhHLLbbH5t30jOXVX3gjtb_vvw2sZ-wSaR6cTpQdNiHsTJ4I6vyWdP6ukbjqlqB4vmnroJ2Oj3Rl-7CAQqpdqmXh1sgTG2p2DWcf3rNIOrzzWJbGts/s1600/China+2011+275.JPG" /></a>Each one was radically different from the others. In fact, it was five days (ten restaurants) before I even saw one dish repeated. The contrast with what we call Chinese Restaurants in the US couldn’t have been more striking. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After three visits to China (2007, 2010, 2011) I have become a more adventurous eater. Some of the more exotic foods I have tried have included: snake, duck gizzard, calmari, kiwi juice, abalone, dragon fruit, sea cucumber, duck lung, and a number of things I could not even identify. I even liked a lot of it (the kiwi juice was amazing; snake, quite tasty)! <br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8KqDzJHoqVWCeUWupE9zPPP7ufiVi8eFzOBgk1z7QZRM7xjdaNJbbrnkpEkOQyVyMGL4WklITQVUZSrLx0jQuRdxRPicemhTDlnt9EuCMCYQKqAtd0m8DKTSnFZwWyjMJm_AZHrTaCD8/s1600/China+2011+333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8KqDzJHoqVWCeUWupE9zPPP7ufiVi8eFzOBgk1z7QZRM7xjdaNJbbrnkpEkOQyVyMGL4WklITQVUZSrLx0jQuRdxRPicemhTDlnt9EuCMCYQKqAtd0m8DKTSnFZwWyjMJm_AZHrTaCD8/s200/China+2011+333.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The cities are huge.</b> Beijing is a city of 30 million people. Forty-five minutes away by train is Tianjin, a city of 8 million people. Okay, so it <i>was </i>a bullet train that cruised at 355 km/hr (220 mi/hr), but still...so many people, so near each other. And when you are in the city on foot, you quickly learn that the maps make things look quite close together when they really are not. A good pair of walking shoes is indispensable!<br /><br /><b>Jet lag.</b> It seems that most people can adapt to the 12-hour difference in time pretty well when travelling from the US to China. The difficult part is adjusting to the time change when flying from China to the US. It has taken me two weeks or more to get back to normal after one of these trips. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHg5O-UK7lEMAPR6ZeHjonTqqa9Zx6YZsisU-j7C89mpnn2dxprjqXtMD_t8lmEXqYh365eCPLviqVqbvjbwiijMl6g1k3aGg2GLpQV_DuvXgvJh2PUoKFkKP_VqdDZbyWWmbWAnKxs-QG/s1600/China+2011+317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHg5O-UK7lEMAPR6ZeHjonTqqa9Zx6YZsisU-j7C89mpnn2dxprjqXtMD_t8lmEXqYh365eCPLviqVqbvjbwiijMl6g1k3aGg2GLpQV_DuvXgvJh2PUoKFkKP_VqdDZbyWWmbWAnKxs-QG/s200/China+2011+317.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The people are nice.</b> Everyone we met in China was very gracious and generous toward us. Everything from their smiling faces as they welcomed us in airports and train stations, to the lavish welcome dinners with friends, to their attentiveness in master classes and concerts, and the genuine interest shown in our experiences and opinions, displayed the genuine warmth and good-heartedness of everyone we met.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oKqTvqvD2xAgmTF4cH5NtIwOUWNFqHu091G-9ZW1TGNtt3Ew8vCD8rzgGonU7ANe8WIeg8SmEKhaaIw_q07z7Lsu5G61yLrPUHcFS05DDKvJ6__OSBzu2g4t5f2b4t57FMK_P6mT520K/s1600/China+2011+233.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oKqTvqvD2xAgmTF4cH5NtIwOUWNFqHu091G-9ZW1TGNtt3Ew8vCD8rzgGonU7ANe8WIeg8SmEKhaaIw_q07z7Lsu5G61yLrPUHcFS05DDKvJ6__OSBzu2g4t5f2b4t57FMK_P6mT520K/s1600/China+2011+233.JPG" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">We're looking forward to our next visit in 2012!!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-24725535892363826492011-08-30T09:27:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.611-04:00Recording Tips<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In June, the Helton-Thomas Duo recorded the first CD devoted entirely to original works written for saxophone and cello: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Edison Denisov – Sonata (1994)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Libby Larsen – Bid Call (2002)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Augusta Read Thomas – Lake Reflecting Stars with Moonrise (2008)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dorothy Chang – Walk on Water (2004)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mark Engebretson – Four Short Songs: a certain sadness (1991)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jonathan Elliott – Field Music: Ash (2005)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The recording sessions were held in Steinbrenner Hall on the campus of the University of Florida. This is a large, exceptionally quiet hall that proved acoustically ideal for our purposes. The recording was done by Candlewood Digital (<a href="http://www.candlewooddigital.com/">www.candlewooddigital.com</a>) of New Fairfield, Connecticut. Wayne Hileman was the producer, and Richard Price engineered the disc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Recording is an extremely demanding exercise. It bears little resemblance to performing. We recorded for four days, five-and-a-half hours to seven-and-a-half hours per day. While recording, the senses are heightened and the pressure is on to perform everything perfectly, over and over again. A concert performance lasts maybe 90 minutes and everything flies by once. Performers don’t get tired, and the excitement and energy brought to the event by the audience is revitalizing. But in the recording studio there is no applause. Every “take” is under the microscope. Should we re-do that section because the nuance of one note was not exactly right? Do the performers have the chops to play that lick 10 more times? Is there time?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJCN5wgyqiT0vgHlvo6CrkktaEH4azbfr0fCqyqVtoQN1zP2ENFfx1x5xOEGypUw2WGqfXRkUO9Fwgu4V5uXI-sSGEm1G2n7BNi4bNP0xSsbIclF2UYmKxPINshKn1jFqEXOFwftjtr-dn/s1600/audio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJCN5wgyqiT0vgHlvo6CrkktaEH4azbfr0fCqyqVtoQN1zP2ENFfx1x5xOEGypUw2WGqfXRkUO9Fwgu4V5uXI-sSGEm1G2n7BNi4bNP0xSsbIclF2UYmKxPINshKn1jFqEXOFwftjtr-dn/s1600/audio.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the second solo disc I have recorded with world-class producers and recording engineers. (The first was recorded in Prague in 2004 and released in 2010.) Here are a few tips on making a great recording:</span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Hire the best producer and engineer you can afford.</b> In this day of super-available technology, some musicians want to save money and record themselves. While this may be fun, exciting, and a lot of hard work, it won’t result in the best product. Professional recording companies bring with them amazing equipment—most notably, microphones worth thousands of dollars each that can make a huge difference in the sound of your recording. Perhaps more importantly, they bring a couple of additional sets of experienced ears to the recording studio. They can hear if something is not exactly in tune or exactly together. They make sure all your articulations are consistent, the balance is right, and the music is performed as it is written. They hold you to a higher standard. It’s like having 25 hours of private lessons in one week! Working with talented producers can be a tremendous opportunity for growth as a performer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Be prepared. </b>Know your music cold. It is best to have performed the music many, many times before entering the recording studio. In order to make the best use of your time in the studio, you need to be able to play the pieces over and over again, consistently.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Get in shape.</b> This is something we don’t think about much, but recording sessions are long and grueling. They take more chops and much more physical and mental energy than we routinely put into our art. Practice, yes, but also make sure you are in top physical condition. This will pay off at the end of every day of recording.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Be patient.</b> Keep your sense of humor. A good producer will help you to feel comfortable in the studio. You will get a good take, eventually. If you are relaxed and enjoying your music, you will get a good result.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Plan to use two or three reeds for one CD.</b><b> </b> Your reeds will die. They will get waterlogged. They will crack. This much playing is tough on reeds. </span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Plan for the effects of travel.</b> If you travel to a recording studio, give yourself time to get over jet lag. Make sure to keep your reeds in a humidity-controlled environment; you really don’t want to get to the studio and have no working reeds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Take care of yourself.</b> Sleep well; watch what you eat and drink. You need to be at your best for several days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Wear warm socks.</b> You won’t wear shoes while recording!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuq6k-8AHwAS7vf3k6mgPOVLuQnM1smILMwYy-TQxmUJ9Vje0WbULLEkNN_YOYuXQbg8ZGxs4oYf3fLfMvSYXWaW3MtKfTXeiDcaspg7pSDCCSo7iCgHh_4m6TTcoxMYs2oVuPXD6cdJR4/s1600/recordingstudio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuq6k-8AHwAS7vf3k6mgPOVLuQnM1smILMwYy-TQxmUJ9Vje0WbULLEkNN_YOYuXQbg8ZGxs4oYf3fLfMvSYXWaW3MtKfTXeiDcaspg7pSDCCSo7iCgHh_4m6TTcoxMYs2oVuPXD6cdJR4/s320/recordingstudio.JPG" width="281" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Music for Saxophone and Cello</i> with Jonathan Helton, saxophone and Steven Thomas, cello, will be released in early 2012 on the Centaur label.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-9771715201629025982011-08-28T21:02:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.710-04:00A. Lincoln<div class="MsoNormal">I just finished reading this 2009 best-selling autobiography of Abraham Lincoln by Ronald C. White, Jr. Normally, biographies do not show up on my reading list, so I was a bit apprehensive when I picked up this 796-page tome. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book a tremendously engaging read. It is full of political intrigue, Civil War strategy, and well describes Lincoln's growth from small-town lawyer to the commanding leader of a growing nation. Lincoln's eloquent speeches take center stage in this narrative, illuminating the sharp mind, the sense of fairness, the ability to navigate treacherous political and interpersonal situations, and the growing faith that this great man possessed.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_gGe01M-x2F6er9WWKqW7CIdbS6i-W2ZMhwI9eXLBsOzCGe0CVqiOWsw1S0ijwQ0lbmOQthSCSQdkTqSJHHE7y6NxND-IkY4Zmmuk8xHpDR5u1dMUNA5eiPOE_T_8ufJQr1aWUyO8FmP/s1600/alincolncoversm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_gGe01M-x2F6er9WWKqW7CIdbS6i-W2ZMhwI9eXLBsOzCGe0CVqiOWsw1S0ijwQ0lbmOQthSCSQdkTqSJHHE7y6NxND-IkY4Zmmuk8xHpDR5u1dMUNA5eiPOE_T_8ufJQr1aWUyO8FmP/s1600/alincolncoversm.jpg" /></a></div>White, Ronald C. <i>A. Lincoln: a biography. </i>New York: Random House, 2009.<br />Highly recommended.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785615867321879352.post-72614694593621585262011-08-26T23:42:00.000-04:002015-09-22T09:40:29.668-04:00SabbaticalWell, I'm on sabbatical for the 2011-2012 academic year. So I've started a blog. <br /><br />Sabbatical projects for the year include:<br />- Recital and Master Class tour of China (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou)<br />- CD recording of music for saxophone and cello<br />- Visiting Scholar Residency, University of Western Ontario<br />- Saxophone and Cello Recitals<br />- Saxophone and Piano Recitals<br />- Perform Paul Richatds' <i>Bat out of Hell</i> concerto with the UF Wind Symphony<br />- Record Paul Richatds' <i>Bat out of Hell</i> concerto with the UF Wind Symphony<br />- Write a saxophone technique book <br /> ...<br />I'll practice, read, and write something daily,<br /><b>For a year and a day.... </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0