Westside Pan Festival 2017

On March 29, 2017, Drew Holt and Cabrillo High School hosted the 10th Annual Westside Pan Festival at the Cabrillo High School Auditorium. The concert featured steel pan virtuoso Victor Provost and the steel bands from Stephens Middle School, Cabrillo High School and the CSULB Steel Drum Orchestra. The program included works by Victor Provost including Cocolobo, Samba Ouro Verde and a arrangement of Kitchener’s Rain O Rama.

Caribbean Holiday Celebration 2016

Concert Program

Passageways at University of Kentucky

On April 10, 2016, I had the opportunity to perform Baljinder Sekhon’s Passageways with the University of Kentucky Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Matthew Geiger. James Campbell has been the director of percussion at UK for over 30 years and it was an honor to perform with his ensemble. During my residency, I also presented my lecturer called “The 21st Century Percussion: Today, Tomorrow and the...

Long Beach Symphony Set-Up

From the Ground Up: Building a Long Beach Symphony POPS! Concert. Long Beach Symphony POPS! concerts are fantastic orchestra dinner picnics featuring 300 dinner tables of 10. Groups are encouraged to bring picnics and favorite libations or to arrange for catering at their tables before and during the performance. This is unlike any other concert that I play and I make a cameo in this video 2:34....

Percussion Paints Pictures

Over the past 17 years, I have been a member of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble. During this time, we have performed over 400 shows for the 2nd and 3rd graders in the Long Beach Unified School District. The LBSO commissioned Lynda Sue Marks  to write the show entitled Percussion Paints Pictures. The current ensemble is Lynda Sue Marks and Gary Long (percussion) with Jamieson Price. This show is one of the highlights of my year. Watching the 2nd and 3rd grade kids reaction to the music is priceless and I can’t wait for my kids to see the show...

Long Beach Symphony Kids Concerts

On January 22 and 23, 2014, I was fortunate to perform the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Concerts for Young People at the Terrace Theater. The program, entitled “An English Exhibition,” included: Star Spangled Banner, Trumpet Voluntary, Pomp and Circumstance No. 1, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Mars (from “The Planets.”). I am always grateful to play with the LBSO and I especially enjoy playing for all of the 5th Graders from the Long Beach Unified School District. Thanks Lynda Sue Marks and the staff of the LBSO for...

Concert Programming

I am always looking for ways to improve the concert-going experience. As artists, I think we need to find a better way to attract and retain an audience. We need to think about concert programming and how to put pieces together that will be interesting to the audience and help our students learn about musicality and programming. I have always disliked going to percussion concerts and/or recitals and watching percussionists move equipment in between pieces. For this reason, I generally choose to have three parts on my percussion ensemble programs with minimal (or no)...

Kopetzki Marimba Concerto

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I performed my Faculty Recital on Friday, January 31 and then I performed the Eckhard Kopetzki Marimba Concerto with the CSULB Symphony Orchestra on Friday, February 7. It was an honor to work with conductor Johannes Müller-Stosch and the students of the orchestra. Below are some photos from the concert. Thanks to Carolyn Bremer for the beautiful photos....

Faculty Artist Recital – Friday, J...

My upcoming Faculty Artist Series at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music @ CSULB will be presented on Friday, January 31, 2014 at 8pm in the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall. I have decided to perform the first half of the concert without a break. (More about that in a separate post on programming). The program will be: Red Arc/Blue Veil – John Luther Adams A Minute of News – Eugene Novotney A New Collaborative Piece with Martin Herman Pitch Drop – Dave Gerhart Warm It Up – Tom Osborne Kembang Suling – Gareth Farr Concerto for Marimba –...

PASIC 2013 – Thursday Recap

My morning started off with a visit to the exhibits. I can’t imagine a PASIC without a trip to the exhibits and the Steve Weiss booth. After a quick visit to the booths, I went to see the Michigan State Percussion Ensemble. They preformed the entire program from memory including Rain Tree and Xenakis’ Peaux. (For a complete listing of all of the College Percussion Concerts, check out the post I wrote on DrumChattr.com). After this performance I attended a Brazilian clinic by Marcos Santos and Grooversity. He introduced Brazilian rhythms to the audience in a...