Caribbean Holiday Celebration 2016

Concert Program

University Percussion Group wins Competi...

On May 2, 2014 the BCCM/CSULB University Percussion Group won the 2014 California Percussive Arts Society College Percussion Ensemble Competition. This is the second year in a row that they have won the competition. The ensemble performed Sun by Baljinder Sekhon and Quad Helix by Clay Condon (PAS California Ensemble Program) and was awarded a new Yamaha Grand Symphonic Series Maple Snare Drum for placing first. Thank you Yamaha Percussion! The group competed against 4 other colleges, including Chapman University, San Jose State, Fresno State and San Joaquin College....

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 –...

New CSULB Percussion Program Website

At the beginning of the month, I created a new website for the CSULB Percussion Program. I wanted a place where I could post photos, videos and stories about the percussion program. I also wanted a place to reach out to our community and let people know about all of the great concerts and events that are going on in the percussion program. It has been a great semester! We wrapped up the year with our annual Caribbean Holiday Celebration concert with guest artist Liam Teague. I will post a recap to the entire semester in the coming weeks. Until then, please check out the...