The last few weeks since the festival have been filled with a lot of little projects. I wrote a quartet piece for a composition contest in which Jake, Charles, Daniel and I recorded. (We'll see what happens with the competition in June! I'll post it once I know the results...good or bad, I'm proud of the piece!) I've also been working a lot with the international department, we have accepted 20 new exchange students, and I will be their "mom" next year. I've been sending a lot of emails and corresponding with tons of coordinators to get this to work. Definitely earning that pay check! Teaching has been going super as well, and my students are doing such a great job. The student from Italy is probably the hardest working, non-major student that there has ever been. It's really exciting to see him progress, and it's a challenge for me to make sure that I present quality information and tasks! Performance wise, Ensmeble Evolution will be going on the road with Anders and our good friend and vocalist Anna Larson. This weekend we'll adventure into southern Sweden to work with some beginning percussion students and drumset players, give some concerts, and work with the Swedish Army Band percussionists (and hang out with Rolf!) We are excited to see more of Sweden, meet new musicians, and share what we've been doing up here in Piteå. It will also be exciting to test Jake and my manual car driving skills... :)
The most time consuming project that I've been working for is the Kickstarter project that Jake and I have initiated. It's called "Compose. Perform. Inspire. New Voices in Percussion Music" and we are raising money to commission four great composers to write for us. Jake and I click musically and personally, so in March we decided to really go for it as a duo. We decided that the best way to be a unique duo would be to write music for ourselves, as well as get some brand new repertoire under our belts. We have some super talented friends which we wanted to involve, and I've been following the Kickstarter funding website for some time. It was only natural to use this platform to make our idea come to life. Plus, Charles, Anders and all our friends and family are totally supportive and enthused about our success so far. We've created a rich creative environment up here, so it's been fun to see how the ensemble changes for each idea.
Check out the Kickstarter website and our video for more information! We have one week left to meet our goal....it's ALL or NOTHING! I think we can do it! We've already booked studio time to record the CD and can't wait to start planning the tours and most importantly....learning the music!
The most time consuming project that I've been working for is the Kickstarter project that Jake and I have initiated. It's called "Compose. Perform. Inspire. New Voices in Percussion Music" and we are raising money to commission four great composers to write for us. Jake and I click musically and personally, so in March we decided to really go for it as a duo. We decided that the best way to be a unique duo would be to write music for ourselves, as well as get some brand new repertoire under our belts. We have some super talented friends which we wanted to involve, and I've been following the Kickstarter funding website for some time. It was only natural to use this platform to make our idea come to life. Plus, Charles, Anders and all our friends and family are totally supportive and enthused about our success so far. We've created a rich creative environment up here, so it's been fun to see how the ensemble changes for each idea.
Check out the Kickstarter website and our video for more information! We have one week left to meet our goal....it's ALL or NOTHING! I think we can do it! We've already booked studio time to record the CD and can't wait to start planning the tours and most importantly....learning the music!
