Good morning! I apologize again for abandoning this diary of musical insight from a somewhat well trained amateur musician. It is funny that starting a new blog for work has brought me back to this blog today. Life, again, swept me away from my musical musings, yet life has deposited me again along its soft, sandy shores to write to you, loyal and undaunted reader, my inconsequential and lackluster opinions and experiences in music.

Since last writing, my non-musical schedule has increased, causing me to relax my role in the ever-improving UMBC Symphony. They really are a great bunch of young players and I am excited for my alma mater as they grow better and better musicians and prepare to move into a new facility. The spring concert is approaching and I am only playing on one piece and playing second trumpet, which is just fine with me. I will be performing on Parade by Erik Satie. This was one of my favorite pieces from college when everyday was filled with analyzing the fascinating works of the late romantic, impressionist, and modern music eras. Parade is a ballet with caricatures of different circus acts. The original performance had its sets and costumes designed by Pablo Picasso, concept written by Jean Cocteau, and was written for Diaghilev's ballet, and the choreography by Leonide Massine. It truly was all the mediums of the time merging into one.

To perform the piece is just plain fun. There are typewriters, a lottery wheel, milk bottles, a little ragtime, and of course the siren. The siren poses the only difficulty, which is to not smile and giggle during those sections when playing. The piece, in my opinion, is very successful in recreating the fun atmosphere and transporting the listener to the mood of a circus. Check it out on May 5th at UMBC Recital Hall.

In other musical news, a friend and I attended the Bond and Beyond concert by the BSO. I am a huge James Bond fan (I will not bore you trying to justify my statement). The pieces selected for the concert were quite nice overall. I was happy to hear the main themes from You Only Live Twice, and From Russia With Love, and the guest vocalist did well with the theme from Goldfinger. After intermission, the program strayed to Secret Agent Man, the Soul Bossa Nova (Austin Powers theme), and Concerto for Cellphone, before returning to Bond for the theme from Skyfall, and then a medley of themes they missed to close the concert. The Concerto for Cellphone, which is a charming piece, and not really written to be a mockery, was performed as such. The guest vocalist didn't have the pipes to hold up to Adele with the Skyfall theme, and in my opinion, the orchestra was not putting its full effort into the surprisingly challenging music from the James Bond films. I was also irritated that the orchestra used a synthesizer for the trademark low range electric guitar solos in the principle James Bond theme. The keyboard didn't sound like a guitar, nor did the attack of the notes sound clean or edgy. The intent of the concert was billed to honor the music, while it felt like the concert was made to mock. I understand it was a pops concert, but as a James Bond fan, I felt as if the group was humiliating one of the key characters: the soundtrack. You can't separate the image of Sean Connery riding along the romantic Orient Express without hearing those sweeping strings, or Daniel Craig running through the streets of a city in Madagascar without the flairing brass behind him. The concert left me somewhat heartbroken, to be honest.

Thanks to graduate school and being a grown up, I had to be more selective of my summer music ticket purchases. I chose two shows. Fun and the Lumineers. I will do my best to write about those shows in the near future. Until then, my loyal, loving, doting, reader, I bid you a good afternoon. 

Musical Catch-22

Hello my friend(s - I hope). I write to you tonight on the edge of my seat with nerves. This Sunday at 7:30pm is the UMBC Symphony Fall concert. It's featuring a performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. This piece has been brutal to my face every rehearsal and I am quite nervous about being able to sustain through it and survive. It's ironic that I would use the word survive with this piece. Shostakovich was trying to do just that when he composed the work. He was trapped in the most outrageous story of a musical catch-22 of which I have ever heard.

I guess I should explain what I mean by a musical catch-22. Musicians, especially those who make a career of it, are always in an on-going battle between playing or writing what they like against playing or writing what will make them money. So you can be happy and broke, or miserable, and not quite as broke. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. For example, I hate playing church services normally because the music is drab, the directors tend to take themselves and their choir of ten old people way too seriously, and the pay is then low because they try to make you feel guilt for charging a church for their services. But it's pay. (To churches like that, remember you hired me, not vice-versa. You'd pay my brother to fix a clogged toilet so you pay me to make people not sleep during your sermons. Anyways, this is about to break my rule of no personal feelings so I better stop.) Last Christmas, I had come close to finding that happy medium. We had decent pay, a cool director and we got to play some of our own arrangements. That was a bit of luck on our part. Shostakovich fixed his musical catch-22 with with a stroke of genius, and a slight shot of luck. Here's the brief background to this piece.

Shostakovich's previous composition, an opera, was a real stinker to the Soviet officials. See, even the arts were monitored in Communist Russia. If a piece was seen as insulting to the Russian people, it was struck down, and sometimes even the composer would vanish. So Shostakovich had a major patron, a guy paying him to write music. After the opera, they tagged a leaky treason charge on the guy, and before he knew it, he was in front of the firing squad. Shostakovich's friends had also started to disappear after meeting with some government officials. So, here is Shostakovich, who loves to write cynical parodies of Nationist marches and incorporate them into his work and insult the Stalin regime. He needs to write a piece that doesn't do that so he doesn't find himself in Siberia, but he can't compromise his artistic integrity and feeling that as a human, he has the right to speak out. He also has to write to make money, but also to not just disappear. So he now has the granddaddy of all musical catch-22's.

Shostakovich at this point, even has fellow composers watching over his compositions and assisting him. This is where he demonstrates his genius (besides when you hear the performance this Sunday at the UMBC Recital Hall). He starts looking back at the music of one of his heroes, Gustav Mahler. Shostakovich was being told to simplify his music. Mahler was the master of taking something extremely simplistic and growing it into a massive work of majestic proportions. So, Shostakovich takes this concept, and mixes it with ambiguity. He establishes a simple theme of minor sixths that even reduces itself in a few bars, to three short repeated notes, reminiscent of Beethoven's Fifth. This simple motif of repeated notes carries you through the whole symphony. Shostakovich works in his march parodies, but they are more subtle. The Communist regime hails them as great Nationalist marches while the audience hears a march that is almost childish. The Communists heard Shostakovich rebuilding himself as a "Soviet Composer" while the public heard his rebirth as a more subtle satirist and related to the pain the government had put him through. He had done it. Not only did he write a successful piece that both sides liked, he didn't find himself in the goulag after writing it.

In no ways do I think any of us could ever relate to Shostakovich's amazing tale of thumbing his nose at Stalin and making Stalin like it. But I feel his pain. This performance leaves me in a catch-22 of sorts. Every other day, while on the treadmill, I burn calories to this amazing piece. I listen to a recording I got from the library of Leopold Stokowski pounding the London Philharmonic through this piece of ambiguous satire. I listen to their brass and strings both duel the incredibly challenging parts. I almost think Shostakovich wanted to put the performers through the strife that he was facing. But I listen, and I hear the big money maker pros make mistakes. This piece, in itself, asks the performer to make a deadly choice. Do you go for perfection, or do you go for energy? The piece is forty-five minutes long and the brass gets the third movement off. But the demands when playing are very high. The parts are intense, and normally extremely important. I know a lot of you would be asking, "Well Rich, all orchestra trumpet parts are like that, why is this one so critical?" My answer isn't going to be clear. Just know that it is very different. When looking at the part, and listening to the piece as much as I have, you can tell Shostakovich knew exactly what he wanted. How do I sound triumphant, yet mocking, but precise, bold, and chilling? This piece, unlike the marathon that is Tchaikovsky's 5th, or Howard Hanson's virtual horn and trumpet concerto that is his 2nd symphony, it requires a trumpet player to play with almost reckless abandon. You need to just put your sound out there. You can't take a single second of this symphony off. My stand-partner and I are trading some parts back and forth to avoid complete exhaustion, but this piece was written to exhaust. When I'm not playing I still have to follow along as if I am playing otherwise the ideal of the piece is lost. This is the first piece I've played in symphony that I learned more about from listening, than rehearsing. The London Philharmonic didn't get all the right notes. Neither did the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting. But this is the great catch-22 that Shostakovich created when he wrote the piece that solved his own problem. And it makes you ask yourself as a musician, what do you hope to achieve in your playing when posed with the choice? Right notes or the right feeling? All the recordings I could find of this piece are live. None of them made in a studio. What does that portray to you? That the audience is needed? The energy required to convey this piece can only be captured in the concert hall? One music critic said that the piece unifies the audience and then takes them on a collective emotional wave. I think it does that for the performer as well. In this case, what do you really do? You can only rehearse the tough parts so much before they kill you. The rehearsals have the brass section frothing at the mouth for the conductor to not stop us in rehearsal. I think this means we're ready to make our choice. You may ask what my choice is in this situation? Well, for the struggle that Shostakovich endured to give the world this magnificent piece, I'm going to give him everything I've got. I'll meet the rest of you on the lower right hand side of the page.

It's Hard

Hello friends, I'm sorry I have not written lately. This blog entry though is just going to be some observations and an update of musical events going on.

First off, the UMBC Symphony concert is this weekend, which will again feature my brass quintet in the lobby playing for guests waiting for the doors to open. We decided that it would be fun to add a drummer to the mix since we decided to do an all rock set this time. I'm very excited to debut the arrangement of the Overture from "Tommy". We are also doing "Under Pressure" by Queen, and "More Than a Feeling" by Boston.

The Symphony concert itself is only utilizing me for the Triumphant March from Aida, which is a lot of fun and a whole lot of playing. I'm going to miss having my Tuesday nights occupied by music. This problem is exaggerated by the fact that my summer musical has been canceled. I really won't HAVE to touch my trumpet again until September, but you know that won't happen.

On the arranging front, I have been on a Who kick with "Happy Jack" and "Behind Blue Eyes" now under my belt and in the quintet binder. While on this exploration of The Who, I learned that they really enjoy the key of D, and really how important Keith Moon was to the group. His complicated, and stream of conscious style of drumming really highlighted the rhythmic pulses of the group and is evident as the back bone of the compositional style of the group. This is easiest heard when listening to the album, "Its Hard" which featured Kenney Jones on drums since Keith had died. This was their second album without Moon. The sound of the band is still pretty good, but its missing a dynamic and the group sounds much more conservative. After listening to this album, I decided to put on "The Who by Numbers", which was the next to last album Keith Moon played on before his death. The entire album just has this pure energy that is generated by his rumbling toms and a budding anticipation of a massive fill happening at any time. I discuss this because I also learned today Mike Myers (of Shrek fame) will be playing Keith Moon in an upcoming biopic. I fear this could be terrible and not work at all. He kind of resembles him but I am in no mood to hear Mike Myers' terrible english accent for 2 hours in a serious manner. I can't even stand the Austin Powers stuff. I don't think he has the acting chops to portray the deep and complex battles Keith Moon had with chemical addictions. What would be next here? Casting Seth Rogan to play Roger Daltrey because of his curly hair? This smells of a terrible idea, but you know I will go see it to pay my respect to one of the best bands ever and the best rock drummer ever.

Good day my friends. I leave you with a video of Eminence Front with a much better drummer, Zak Starkey. He's the son of Ringo Starr, and former student of Keith Moon

Funk You Very Much

Greetings friends. I am back from a short break due to not having a computer. I write to you tonight about the last two concerts I attended.

First is the concert put on by The Killers. They are touring currently to push their third album (Sawdust was a collection of unreleased tracks), "Day & Age". My feelings for the album was that it was very synth heavy, and I wasn't sure if it would work for a live show. I was very wrong. The Killers now how really put together a great, top class, live show. Brandon Flowers has developed a great front man persona, a mix of Springsteen, Bowie, and a hint of Mercury. The only hang up is that they only had three albums from which to perform. Due to this, their set list was a bit predictable, but always enjoyable, as I really can't think of a song by them I don't like. The show was your routine opener for 45 minutes, then The Killers played for 2 hours.

The opener, M83, was pretty good. Their stage presence rubbed me the wrong way as neither vocalist faced the stage. Their songs with lyrics weren't very entertaining. This band really shined in its instrumentals, especially with the beast they have on drums!

The second concert I attended was with a concert virgin, and she lost her cherry the best way possible. We saw George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. They were hot. I can't describe it much more than that. The opener, Let the Monkey Go, played for an hour, then Parliament came out and played for four hours! FOUR HOURS! Four glorious, groovilicous, galactic funk oozing over the celestial spirits jiving all at once. GC and P-Funk hit all their big hits; "Aquaboogie", "Flashlight", "Stomp", "Atomic Dog", plus just letting the band go in these jam sessions that were inspired by some chemical stimulation. With massive solos, especially in "Maggot Brain" played by Mike Hampton on guitar, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy for hours without a break. It was the first concert I left early. I couldn't take anymore. They exhausted me. The party was intense! I was disoriented when leaving Ramshead Live to where I had to lean on the wall to put my jacket on. Mind you, I had nothing to drink. This was my first concert at Ramshead, and I have to say I was impressed with the venue. Good sound, simple layout, great views. My friend ended up having the time of her life. She got to see Gary "Starchild" Shider (dude in a diaper) in person. What's amazing about him is he wears a diaper and Nike's on stage. Strange this is, you don't find it strange. He calls the shots in the band, he calls out the sections and the solos. You can't question his authority and his choice of apparel. You basically say to yourself "Dude in the diaper is the head honcho, that's that."

I have currently started working on a new musical, "Big River" which opens March 13. I get to play some country music, which is a fun change. Also, this Sunday, UMBC Symphony performs at 8pm. Hear me play Rimsky-Korsakov!! Check these things out.

I'd like to take a moment to just apologize for not writing as much in my blog. Things have picked up for me in other areas of my life which has made me not as prolific. But on the horizon, theres the Keane concert and potentially seeing Twisted Sister and Extreme. Don't think I've forgotten about you, loyal reader. There's plenty of fun on the horizon. As for now I wish you good night, and that you don't miss your vocal cues.

Its the time

Well first off, Merry Thanksgiving to you, my loyal readers. I do know its been awhile since my recent publishing but you must understand holidays, family stress and videos games have taken a toll on the time I can dedicate to this blog. Never mind the endless preparation for Christmas gigs.

So this entry will be scattered as usual as it will cover a couple issues these past few weeks have brought up. First off, the UMBC Symphony concert last Sunday went incredibly well. The group pulled off almost professional level performances of Stravinsky, Bizet, Mendelssohn, Strauss, and Mozart. I must say this concert left me quite winded due to the recent dietary changes I have made. Less calories = Less fuel for a performing. I cracked a few notes but overall I felt good about my playing. The quintet also played before the concert in the lobby, and as usual people enjoyed my arrangements. They especially liked the arrangement of the Godfather theme for tuba, and Good King Wenceslas. So lets say it was a success.

In the mail today, I received my copy of Jekyl and Hyde Concert Tour. This is PDQ Bach's newest CD. It was recorded live at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills, MD. I was lucky enough to attend this concert for a bargain of $11. It was quite interest to witness how these sessions work. The string quartet that was there was able to pick up in the middle of phrases, and actually sound like they had played all the notes before it. Almost like a live "drop the needle". At this concert I was also blessed to meet THE PDQ Bach himself, Professor Peter Schickele.


With that photo I must say good night and take care, and may your turkey left overs be tender and moist.