Do you remember two years ago? Do you remember my arrival here in Connecticut? Let me get nostalgic.

When I moved here I lived out of a car for a week. Crazy to think about. So much has changed in these past two years. I’ve had wonderful opportunities, met great people and really accomplished a lot. I’m on a great track and I’m very excited about what the future holds. Officially Heather & I are returning to Chicago. Home…right? It’s strange this has been home for me. This was a branch…it was my being on my own and establishing myself. This was a big step.

First Flight marked my 30th piece. That’s crazy…

When I moved here I had like 1 good piece…hah…prolly still do.

You know if you ask me what’s my favorite piece I would probably say it’s the most recent…usually is. But there is a piece that sticks out and surprises me every time I hear it…which is not very often at all. It hasn’t even been performed in a large setting.

Anyways back to the matter at hand…the move.

Our apartment is building with boxes…and sadly it’s not a fort…perhaps I should ask Heather if we can build a fort…

I have truly enjoyed my time here. I will miss everyone a lot and I wish everyone the best of luck. But fear not! I will be returning sooner than you know. There is already a return trip being planned. There is a ton of new music and there are many anouncements that I’ll probably make tomorrow. But as for now I become more and more excited about Chicago-style pizza.

To my friends from Chicago, I can’t wait to see you soon. To my friends here in New England, let’s party.

Announcements tomorrow ya?

Yesterday was that four hour exam, and it took me four hours. I can’t believe how long I was in there. But I hope I used my time well. It feels good to be completed. There was so much excitement…two years of prepping and finally the day had come. I can’t say I’m not relieved. Do you know how excited I am to listen to different music!?

Well let me tell you what I’m going to start listening to:

Kamran Ince
John Tavener
Robert Simpson
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Michael Torke
John Adams

So much music to get to listen to now. It’s exciting.
So Comps aren’t completely done. There is an orchestration project we must do. That’s what I’m finishing up now. It’s cool, it’s a piano piece to be arranged for orchestra. Simple task right? Hah, so many ways to do things. Oh so many. So I’m gonna get back to that. Then it’s John Williams with the Hartford Symphony tonight with Mr. Ben Park.

609 Days

In my 609 days here at Hartt I’ve studied and had a terrific time. It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come as a musician and scholar too. I’m pretty proud of my thesis, I think it represents me well. I’m very excited to get feedback on it and prepare it for performance[s]. Currently I’ve been composing the further movements of the second string quartet. Capitalized? I’m not sure…anyways, it’s really coming along. The second movement is quite slow and I’m using some far out techniques, so that will be rad. So today features a lesson on that then my thesis stuff.

The comprehensives have continued to eat my life up. I’ve been listening constantly. On top of the study groups Heather has started quizzing me 25 listening examples at a time. Progress definitely, I’m getting more and more right each time. So it’s steps in the right direction. Currently I’m listening to Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1. Great piece.

The photograph is from our time playing with Fluxus stuff. We did a performance of a fluxus piece in SoundArt. Interesting stuff, but mirrors are fun too…

So I will get back to work and I’ll see you on the other side.

So with all these things complete, I sit here at the desk I assembled two years ago. Time has gone by. I won’t get overly emotional on the upcoming move yet. Oh I haven’t told you? My time here in New England has come to an end. Officially, it’s time to move on. Move somewhere and progress. Time for a change of scenery.

This last weekend we visited family up north. Twas our final trip up for a while and it was wonderful. Great to see family and the old home. Nice to say hang out with those crazy cousins and also see the mountains. That’s now the farthest, furthest? I don’t know…but somethingest Heather’s ever been north. Pretty exciting, I know. So that was all good. Life has been full of comprehensive studying. I’ve been working on organizing and just listening nonstop. Right now I’m listening to Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Good stuff.

Have you played AngryBirds Space yet? It’s terrific.

So the Mallet Quartet is in good shape, just cleaning it up before sending it out. I had it in great shape but then I decided to change the page layout. That always causes issues, so I must fix that. The 2nd String Quartet is now going to be multimovement. Dr. Gryc had suggested such a development and the more I thought on it, the more I agreed. So some really interesting things are in work for that. Trying to expand things as always right?

Ok ok ok, no I haven’t ordered GW2 yet. I’m just not completely convinced because I don’t know when it’s going to be released. That worries me. So…I think I want to wait till I know there is a release date. Sorry ArenaNet. If I had more of a disposable income perhaps I’d be more liberal with my moneys.

Well back to work. I’ll update more of the San Pedro stuff as well.

I’m sending out Mallet Quartet to hopefully get that played, that would be amazing. The dream. What else what else what else. How’s about comps. Those are goin’ on pretty hardcore. I can’t wait to finish those comps and then listen to different music again.

I also gave my second presentation on the music and life of Lucio San Pedro. That was pretty awesome. I’m really hoping the audience enjoyed that and that it went well. So that’s cool too. I’ll be uploading some music to the site as well as maybe my power point. I feel like I should update wikipedia…it doesn’t have very much information on him.

Anyways come take a listen to

This performance was by Heather and myself.