Lately I’ve was sick. So finally the cold is completely gone, and it seems like this whole allergy to whatever in the apartment has been resolved too. Thank the lord. Well…it’s January 24th. It’s 2:15pm and it’s 54 degrees out. This is so odd…It’s also the first day of classes. My final semester. Hazzah. I don’t have classes today which is an even bigger Hazzah! My part-time schedule is pretty relaxed class wise. I don’t have a heavy class load for the first time since…I don’t know. High School? 8 credits. Amazing. So I have a class about Sound Art with Lisa Coons, that should be excellent. Then it’s just our normal composers seminar, and two lessons. I’m excited to further my research with Dr. Carl on Lucio D. San Pedro. The grant I received will really help to get that moving, and I should be posting interesting things about that soon. Finally I’ll be studying composition with Dr. Gryc. This should be great. I’ve been blessed with many great teachers. It was a tough decision but the choice to study with someone different each semester has been a good choice…so far. I’m excited to gain another perspective about my music and really move forward. So what will I do with all this extra time? Compose a lot. I didn’t really get much done last semester because I spent most of my time studying. So this semester will grant me the opposite. A lot of time to do music stuff. I’m teaching more, that’s always exciting, and of course there is the comprehensive exam. I’ve been studying for this since I moved to Hartford over a year ago. I’m really starting to buckle down on this now though. It’s tough, it’s a huge challenge, but it will be fine. Thankfully Dr. Macbride’s course on Music since 1950 really helped prepare me. Other than that I just need to keep listening and do more score studying.

I’ve been writing a lot on my Wind Ensemble piece. It’s so great to work on a large ensemble piece again. I haven’t touched one of these since the Autumn. I feel like I’ve really gotten some momentum going on the piece and it’s developing quite nicely. I’m still struggling a little bit in seeing where the piece is going, but as far as developing, I think it’s something great. I’m really proud of it so far and I’m hoping it will turn out to be a game changing piece. Aren’t we all?

Other than that, there really isn’t much news. There should be some more events coming up but finalizing the dates has been a drag…so…patience. Patience on me probably for waiting for performers and venues…I doubt you need much more patience.

Oh, I’ve finally seen Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Dark Knight is better…but I enjoyed them both.

Until next time.