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• 14:00 Have fun, safe travels, and break a leg Bear River Choirs in Los Angeles this weekend! #
• 22:20 listening to Finlandia by Jean Sibelius on @Grooveshark: tinysong.com/sPkg #nowplaying #

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• 13:29 begins 4 weeks of cleaning/organizing the Band Room today. #
• 15:54 fun giant rain and thunder in the 530 today. Woohoo! #

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• 20:32 Crazy music elephant @ Rio Band Room - moby.to/q701j2 #

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Running in Circles

There are seasons of my year when I am very busy, very stressed, and incredibly tired. Thankfully, these are balanced by time that I have to recharge, restructure, and relax.


The busy time of my year usually begins in August.  I am working at preparing plans for the upcoming school year. I am attempting to finish any Summer projects around the house or at school that may still remain. Marching Band begins. This period, that spans through October, is the busiest of the year as I have the most rehearsals, trips, and performances outside of the school day. We are also learning and recording audition music for the Western International Band Clinic during these months. Band, drumline, color guard, sectional rehearsals, occasional evening or weekend rehearsals. Not only is more time spent outside of the school day, but it is often spent outside in the sun - adding to my general fatigue.

Following Marching season, we have just barely over a month to prepare for the Winter Concert. This is stressful because it generally takes us a little longer than a month to prepare a concert. It is always rushed and the stress of not meeting the deadline is great. I'm actually putting in some scheduling changes in the 10/11 school year to address this and hopefully reduce stress.


December begins festival season for Jazz Band which carries through April.  This year, there has been a great deal of stress regarding the scheduling (and conflicts concerning) these events. More so than the stress of preparing the music to a high level, which is also felt. We had issues of conflicting dates with other organizations on campus, and then festival conflicts with our own events once they were finally set. Our big Swing Dance (a pillar of the band year) was knocked around like a pinball until it finally landed on the date of our favorite festival. The festival lost out - or we did on participating.  A sad attempt was made to attend another a week later, but so much time was put into the Swing program that there was really nothing appropriate to take to festival and we withdrew.  This sort of jockeying and uncertainty grows anxiety. The Swing Dance itself is 20-25 songs played in 3 hours by one group. This is no small feat and the band does a great job with it. I do always have a concern that it won't come together and I lose quite a bit of sleep during this time thinking about details and worrying about certain songs. This doesn't even address publicity, sponsorships, decorations, or refreshments.


March and April typically is the time the Symphonic Band attends festivals. We work very hard to present the most musical program possible. All of the work of these months is then distilled into a 20 minute performance for a grade. No pressure.

Well, now all of that has passed. May is a time of greater stress for students. AP tests, Prom, standardized state testing, Senior Project presentations, etc. But for me, it begins the second period of my year. The time that allows me some restructuring and regeneration. Yes, we still have our Spring Concert on campus. We still play for graduation. But these are considerably less anxiety-filled. I now feel I can breathe a little more freely. I begin looking at ways to refine the process for next year. I feel I can spend some time teaching music theory and not just pounding away toward the next performance. I feel I can afford to take time cleaning and organizing the room. And then there's my garage.


Once Summer hits, I still have Summer Band. We meet twice a week for a couple of hours and play as a pick-up band. It's fun. But there is time to work at home. Time to read. Time to sit in the sun and think and stop thinking. Time to play with my kids more. Time to vacuum my car. Time to work in the yard. Time to practice my horn. Time for a hobby. Painting? That's my goal.  This year, I intend on cleaning out the garage by the end of June and set up a little studio to do some painting. No stress. This is the kind of goal that will only relax me the more I work toward it. And then.

And then it begins all over again. The hope is, though, that each cycle I go through gains refinement through experience. Perhaps by the time I am set to retire, I will have learned how to productively relax and can finally take up golfing.


Paintings:
"Harmony" by Tony Broadbent
"Yin Yang Fish Portrait" by Yu Gong-Quan
"Wake" by Tony Broadbent

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• 09:49 heading to school. Golden Empire Band Festival at Sac State today. #
• 13:11 The warm up room at Sac State - moby.to/yjfhct #
• 15:58 A stop on the way home - moby.to/9jrtzv #
• 21:00 two nights, two movies. The Hurt Locker yesterday (excellent) and the Blind Side tonight (jury is still out). #

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• 13:25 packing up the band ship for the Golden Empire... Tomorrow's program: Marquina, J. S. Bach, and Nelybel / 1:45 Sac State #
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• 21:03 @egersis twitpic.com/1hxnqi - Drunk mascot. #

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A lesson in painting with words

Meanwhile a wide boundless plain encircled by a chain of low hills lay stretched before the travellers' eyes. Huddling together and peeping out from behind one another, these hills melted together into rising ground, which stretched right to the very horizon and disappeared into the lilac distance; one drives on and on and cannot discern where it begins or where it ends. . . . The sun had already peeped out from beyond the town behind them, and quietly, without fuss, set to its accustomed task. At first in the distance before them a broad, bright, yellow streak of light crept over the ground where the earth met the sky, near the little barrows and the windmills, which in the distance looked like tiny men waving their arms. A minute later a similar streak gleamed a little nearer, crept to the right and embraced the hills. Something warm touched Yegorushka's spine; the streak of light, stealing up from behind, darted between the chaise and the horses, moved to meet the other streak, and soon the whole wide steppe flung off the twilight of early morning, and was smiling and sparkling with dew.




excerpt from "The Steppe" by Anton Chekhov

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• 20:43 is reading Chekhov's "The Steppe". #

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Strings in the earth and air

Strings in the earth and air

Make music sweet;

Strings by the river where

The willows meet.

There's music along the river

For Love wanders there,

Pale flowers on his mantle,

Dark leaves on his hair.

All softly playing,

With head to the music bent,

And fingers straying

Upon an instrument.

by James Joyce (1907)
Painting: "Willows at Sunset" by Vincent Van Gogh (1888)

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Like Rain it sounded till it curved

Like Rain it sounded till it curved
And then I new 'twas Wind --
It walked as wet as any Wave
But swept as dry as sand --
When it had pushed itself away
To some remotest Plain
A coming as of Hosts was heard
It filled the Wells, it pleased the Pools
It warbled in the Road --
It pulled the spigot from the Hills
And let the Floods abroad --
It loosened acres, lifted seas
The sites of Centres stirred
Then like Elijah rode away
Upon a Wheel of Cloud.


Emily Dickinson
Painting: "Ocean Waves" by Connie Tom

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• 12:13 Swing Dance over. Next on docket: Concert Band Festival Saturday and the ubiquitous grading of Frosh Tech papers oft postponed. Oh, yard? #
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• 20:34 at Rio, holding a comnunity band baby shower on the patio. #

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The Wind

Of all the sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a charge to me
Like that old measure in the boughs,
That phraseless melody

The wind does, working like a hand
Whose fingers brush the sky,
Then quiver down, with tufts of tune
Permitted gods and me.

When winds go round and round in bands,
And thrum upon the door,
And birds take places overhead,
To bear them orchestra,

I crave him grace, of summer boughs,
If such an outcast be,
He never heard that fleshless chant
Rise solemn in the tree,

As if some caravan of sound
On deserts, in the sky,
Had broken rank,
Then knit, and passed
In seamless company.

Emily Dickinson
Painting: "Trees in the Wind" by Bob Dornberg

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• 23:26 Another Swing Dance in the books, Woo! - moby.to/hecd8h #
• 15:47 heading up the hill to take down dance signs. #

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“Swing into the Night” 2010

“Swing into the Night” 2010
Our largest performance of the year is now in the past once more.  Each spring, the Jazz Band puts on a three hour long swing dance with between 25 - 30 different songs from the 30’s and 40’s.  This is a huge undertaking for my high school group (which is still performing at festivals, traditional school concerts, and local service clubs all year long).


Transforming the cafeteria into a swing-era nightclub takes months of planning and a good deal of the day with a full complement of helpers.  This was going on simultaneously with a 3 hour dress rehearsal Saturday morning. I had two hours from the point the decorations were in place until when I needed to be back. During this time, I went to Starbucks and worked on final touches to the program and the announcer’s script.  We’re also starting a new thing called “Instrument Angels” that needed a flyer made up.  Got changed.  Directed traffic.  Public arrived.  Dancing instructor replacements needed - quick!  Found! Whew!!  Three hours on stage with four 10 minute breaks.  Great turn out.  Fun time. Lot’s of dancing, eating, socializing, and music loving.  90 minutes of cleanup.  Half hour drive home.  I lost 6 pounds!


Today I spent 2 hours driving up to school and taking down the four 8’x4’ 5/8” plywood billboards that have been up for the past few weeks.  Now the Swing Dance is officially over.


It really is a great event because of who it brings together.  High school students, young adults, parents, grandparents, otherwise unconnected seniors from the community, swing dance circuit regulars.  Everyone has a great time and it isn’t weird for a 16 year old couple to be dancing next to a pair of octogenarians. 

And let’s not forget about the music. We’re preserving this great American music that was such a huge part of the early 20th century popular culture - and is in the direct ancestry of pop music today.  I feel it my responsibility as a music teacher and musician to keep the music of the past alive in the hearts of the current generation. Particularly music that is part of their national heritage.  


As long as it gets the toes tappin’, Swing Music will live strong.

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• 15:44 Set up & Rehearsal done for Swing into the Night 2010 - moby.to/wqdkaa #

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• 12:27 has a number of irons in the fire. #
• 22:27 enjoys eating corn on the cob typewriter style in order to create a cool cube out of the remains. #

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• 10:24 @HiBerke same #starbucks promotion in the States. I believe it's a #TaxDay thing. #
• 12:19 Working on Swing Dance program (@ Starbucks) 4sq.com/9a5xVQ #
• 13:33 back to Bear River for 'Bruin Time' Jazz rehearsal. bit.ly/cXsOqj #
• 17:22 @Yelah214 & @PinkCloyd55 The Bari got checked in until tomorrow evening. bent posts & a few other things. Can you have an Alto for tomorrow? #
• 19:49 working on writing out jazz piano parts and looking at photos. #

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• 14:38 Aiming and focusing lights for the @BearRiverBands "Swing into the Night" Big Band Dance - Join us Sat 7-10PM BRHS #

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If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;


If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;


If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";


If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man my son!

by Rudyard Kipling
Photo: Rudyard Kipling with his father, John Lockwood Kipling c.1880

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• 13:46 @kitherkatrina I still want one. #
• 14:17 it's a good thing there is so much water up in outer space. I'd be worried about the supply following all of this rain. #
• 18:46 is off to band practice for the first time in a number of weeks! #

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• 16:34 I love rainy days. Unpacking from the Utah trip, playing w/ PhotoShop, cleaning garage, parts on Sibelius, & writing. A good day. #
• 20:31 @bxchen Mahler Symphony #1. Oh yes, this will work nicely. #

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From My Wedding

I've always loved this picture of my family from my wedding.  Now that my Dad is gone, even more so.  From left to right: my Dad, Mom, me, Grandma Ila, my sister Natalie, and bro-in-law Geoff.

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• 16:56 having a relaxing day of Spring Break. Caught a couple movies. Gonna read & practice. #

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• 05:43 heading home today. I think we may need a 2nd Suburban to carry everything. #
• 07:46 What do you mean 'dog door'? - moby.to/e517x5 #
• 07:54 See you in the Summer, A.J. - moby.to/clixa8 #

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• 10:28 another trip to the dump, cleaning out the yard, and Costco pizza. All this and more in another exciting episode of... my life. :D #
• 21:47 @pianotyke We are not playing Just One of Those Things. #

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• 10:15 Amazing floral arrangement! thx KTGY - moby.to/2qgiqu #

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• 07:30 More cousin play time. - moby.to/mkew49 #
• 14:30 met Deanna & Kris for noodles. - moby.to/likj08 #
• 14:38 MACU reunion. - moby.to/2tnr5j #

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• 14:26 doing yard work and cleaning closets at the parental homestead. #
• 17:29 heard Dominos Pizza has completely reinvented themselves for the better. If their online ordering is an indication, the pizza will be epic! #

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• 08:44 White Easter - moby.to/60x3pe #
• 08:59 Found her Easter bucket! - moby.to/suet31 #
• 18:33 Out for a walk in chilly SLC - moby.to/akwcw4 #

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• 08:32 Number 4 at the Kiwanis breakfast - moby.to/o5va5b #
• 08:40 Susie w/ the Gold Rush Brigade - moby.to/ehnisv #
• 12:22 MUCH more snow than last week - moby.to/aoj9v8 #
• 18:53 Very chilly in Wells, Nevada #
• 19:55 just entered Utah under cover of darkness. #
• 20:01 @garrett648 We were at Donner Summit #

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• 12:47 now has no responsibilities whatsoever for 9 days... Easter Break!! #
• 17:55 Cross-threaded! #
• 17:56 @pianotyke correct, make sure to circle the type in pen. #

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• 14:29 Swing Dance boards ready to go! - moby.to/r0m74c #
• 17:31 listening to Larry Young "Testifying" #jazz #nowplaying #MusicThursday #organ #
• 18:22 @PAGRok ahhhhh!! Texting while driving.... tisk, tisk, tisk #

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