Blown

Not going to lie, when I know a piece, and feel confident about it, I love to perform, especially jazz. Tonight our university's Jazz big band had a performance at a local brewery, and to be honest, I feel really damn good about myself after it. My performing was in time, on pitch, and at the end of the concert it felt like I had run a marathon, which means I was doing it very right (or...very, very, wrong). In any case, I was able to blast some true pitches in the altissimo register which is something I have never attempted in public before, let alone succeeded with. This concert was a good marker of progress in how far I've come with my artistry on my horn. Yes, I am taking time to be a little egotistical, but it's my blog, and I can talk about myself on it.
I just remember my first concert at this university, how shaky I was; my total lack of confidence showing through at every turn; my improvisation being tarnished and barely in the key. Not to mention the charts we were reading were really difficult to me at the time, and now I look back through and really see how simple they were... But that does mean progress, so I am going to take this time to enjoy my feelings of self worth.

Oh, and for those of you who came, thankyou for your continued support! Even if I don't say anything to you when you're there, it does mean a lot that you show up!

Once upon a dreary midnight

Those of you who don't know me, I work late nights. Not a true graveyard, just until midnight on weeknights. This open time of work (thank god for work study...) gives me plenty of time to start pet projects. My latest is trying to learn how to use music editing software. I run into quite a few snags on this project for a few reasons.
1) My computer is a piece of shit. Even when I bought it it wasn't up to technological specs. But, the impatient get second rate things I suppose.

2) These programs are freaking expensive, and I'm rediculously poor. For obvious reasons, this makes learning how to efficiently use these programs nearly impossible. Though I guess I shouldn't complain, the freeware teaches the basics, which are needed.

3) Time restraints! I am still in college, and I can't allow myself to become consumed by these pet projects so much, but I like to get carried away.

4) I don't know how to use a lot of the features. I'm a newb, I'm willing to admit it.

So that is just my newest fascination, but I love it a lot, being able to just create at will, that is art!

So the adventures continue!

We find our ever increasingly incredible hero Eliptical Man struggling with comprehending complex musical analysis. The Tubby Tabby nowhere to be seen, our hero must go it alone. The only supervillian here though, is Sibelius and his violin of contemplation.

And the flavor is...

So there is a trend I have noticed that exists within American (and many times British) popular culture, a trend of flavors if you will. They are not flavors as in, "stripey" or "vanilla" or "colorful" (though I'm sure those come and go in their own respects) I'm speaking of a more international flavor that popular culture focuses on. These flashes of worldly insight usually last only half a decade, but not usually more than a full decade.
To trend set, this is what I have down:
60's: Hindi music (thank you Beatles)
70's: British Invasion (punk, disco, metal..?)
early 80's: Native American
Late 80's/Early 90's: African (thank you Jackson, Gabriel, and probably a large list of others who wanted to Aid the world...)
Late 90's: I'm not too sure... Asian culture took over pretty steadily
Early 00's: Still a lot of Asian culture seeping in
Late 00's/early 10's: no clue. too early to tell really...

But I feel that these trends are pretty true. I am coming from mostly a musical idea behind this keep in mind, and I feel I can give a few good examples to support these if people really want to get into it, but that is only if they really feel it.

I always find societal trends fascinating because it happens by some unseen current that just sweeps over a large entity of people to become obsessed or immersed with another culture.

Unsolved

So internet t.v. sites are brilliant. I can screw around at work and kill two birds with one stone (three if I still have studying/homework to get done). Right now, I'm watching X-Files and Desperate House Wives pretty regularly. It's great. That's all. Now, back to the weird shows I watch.

Wanted so Bad...

I can taste it! Well, after you practice and play on your horn for hours everyday, it IS rather difficult to get the taste of reed, plastic, metal, and the city's water out of your mouth. I am going to be doing a half recital this semester, and under normal circumstances you spend a full year preparing for any sort of recital, mostly because you are required to do a masterpiece of great difficulty and establish a program that will last 30min for a half recital, or 60min for a full one. I am doing one of the cornerstone masterpieces in the professional saxophone repetoire this semester, and I'm bringing it all together in a month. That is 1/9th the normal time that this piece usually demands, but dammit, I want to put on a junior (half) recital!

I am not going to lie, this semester has seen the fewest amount of credited hours I have ever taken at this university with 14. Yet due to my own damnable determination, I have convinced myself that I should and need to put on a recital. I suppose this feeling has been building up since this is my fifth year in the music department (second as a major) there are some "underclassmen" that have already given their senior recitals over me. This is not to say they are any better of musicians then me, but it does make me feel inferior, which I am not too much a fan of. Not to mention, I have seen some great talent pass through this school on the sax, and it is those individuals I am trying to catch up to, and if at all possible in this life, pass. So, the fact that I have the drive and the chuzpha to try for a recital only months before it needs to be finalized, means that I want to be one of those "legacy" musicians.
What I mean is, I want freshmen to remember me as being good and someone they want to play up to.
Not to mention, there are pieces that I have seen my fellow sax players perform, that year after year I am amazed that they were able to do it. Even the ones that I would place as being more mediocre, they were able to play their pieces and do it well. There is no piece that is more notable to me, and any more of an earmark of an undergraduates admission to the quasi-professional status than Alexander Glazunov's Concerto for Saxophone.
Every saxophone that I have seen come before me has played this piece, and to me, it is a monumental overtaking, one in which I want to tackle. Does this make me as good as those other horn players? Sadly, not even close. But it does meet one of my goals I was bound and determined to meet once I came to college.

That's one major part of my excitement for this half recital. Another- that means I am nearing the end of my tenure at my undergrad. That has so much lifting power, it's sickening. Just thinking that at the end of next May, provided everything goes according to plan, I'm going to have a college diploma and be working on my masters degree. It scares me to think that the safety net of college is so quickly coming to a close, but, I am excited for the new adventure.

And really, I think I am more excited to get the hell out of Pocatello and into a real town. I have my sights set on a goal, and come hell or high water, I am going to reach them.

Standing the Test of Time

So, I think i know how an artist is really one that I like. Unfortunately it takes me years to really decide (I mean, I can like a band/group/artist in the short term aka "right now" but then things can get boring, so I'm talking long term liking of an artist). It has to do with why I liked them in the first place, catchy tune, cool style, artistic statement... then, when out of the blue a long time later (those years I was talking about) I start getting those songs in my head, and like them, I know I like the artist (or song I suppose...). A lot of this has to do with how I grow and learn as an individual, as well as a musician, and am able to understand and interpret the song/artist.

It seems silly, but I think it is a good post mark of how far I've come in a time. Just my thought for the night.