Before you call me names for having The Sound of Music in a blog post, listen to this:
Author Archives: Alex
Redesigned “music” page
If you haven’t noticed already, I completely re-designed the Music page of my site. I think it makes the music easier to navigate. The large categories are on the left, then you can click each invidual piece from the center column. The previous version had all the music on one page, and while it was easy to see each piece and required fewer clicks to listen, I think this version is easier to navigate. It organizes the pieces quite a bit better, almost like a file browser.
On a side note, I plan on adding more of my recent pieces once I get the time to do so.
Not doin it right…
I saw this picture at the gas station last night. One of the things you’ll learn about me is the fact that I can’t stand most contemporary media, including advertising. This mostly happens because I think way too much, and ridiculous things bother me way more than “normal” people.
I found it hilarious that this ad portrays a sense of “casual dude” with the jeans and the “behind the back” credit card flash – but the guy has fifteen dollars sticking out of his back pocket. Who does that? Who wouldn’t fold that money so it doesn’t fall out? Or maybe put it in your wallet? What do you want me to be thinking here? “It would be easy to steal this guy’s stuff if I was a trained thief” is what I thought.
Marching time is here
I was thinking of that Charlie Brown tune “Christmas Time is Here” when I wrote the title to this post, and then I thought about how awful a movie that would be, and then I realized I’m too lazy to go back and change it even though I took the time to write the rest of this sentence……….are you still reading?
I’m headed up to Northwood High School in Nappanee tonight to meet with their new director (who happens to be a friend) Eric Criss about their fall marching show. I owe a lot to Eric for putting so much trust in me when we first started working together when he was at Columbia City. I’ve learned a lot from being able to essentially design their entire show (except for guard stuff) for 2 years. Its taught me about working with the strengths and weaknesses of small band programs. They didn’t march a drumline, for example, so I had to rely on the pit for a lot of the pulse and drive throughout the show (which they handled quite well at the performances I was able to catch).
Beyond that, I’m trying to get Carroll High School’s show finished as well. Right now I’m writing for three bands (possibly four) and several other bands are performing previous compositions of mine. At some point though, I think I’m going to have to set a limit on the number of shows I write. I worry about taking on too many clients and not doing my best work. I would say 5 to 8 would be the maximum amount I’d want to have. I want to be able to focus on my wind ensemble and other writing and not use up all of my ideas with marching band. Plus, I have some major problems with the direction of modern competitive marching band that I won’t go into right now.
Hello there, interwebz!
Thanks for stopping by. Since you’re reading my first blog post I suppose I’ll tell you a little bit about what I plan on writing about here. The answer is…pretty much anything. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m one of those people that has too many interests and never enough time in the day to do what he/she wants. I suppose this has both good and bad implications for a blog author. The upside is that I can potentially appeal to a large audience with varied interests, while the obvious downside is that I won’t attract anyone because I never stay on the same subject. I guess I’ll just have to try my best and see what happens. Stay tuned for posts that might actually be interesting.