The Summerglen Files

Something very, very, very cool has happened this week, something that truly moves me and sparks a jolt of excitement at the same time: My first student trombone choir is all girls! Now, many people may wonder why an all-girl trombone choir is such a terrific phenomenon, so here is some background story. I began [...]

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Whew! I haven’t been blogging as much as usual lately, because I’ve been running all over Raleigh finding places to play. For the past week, Andrew and I have packed up our instruments and scouted out different places and times to play free outdoor concerts during the summer. It’s been quite a learning experience, and [...]

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After a relaxing Memorial Day weekend, Andrew and I hit the park to start our new summer “job”, playing outdoors in downtown Raleigh. Since moving to Raleigh six years ago, I thought it was a shame that there were all these nice wide sidewalks and parks in downtown Raleigh, but there was only ONE street [...]

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On Thursday evening, Andrew and I took a trip to The Governor Morehead School to check out their year-end band and chorus concert. We first visited the school, which serves students with visual impairments, about a month ago when we led a workshop with their kindergarteners and first graders. The kids we met were so [...]

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This evening I played 3rd trombone in Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah with the Northeast Piedmont Chorale. The work itself is beautiful, and it’s easy to hear the influences of Bach and Handel (a couple of Mendelssohn’s favorites), as well as shades of the Romantic era when the piece was composed. Mendelssohn gave us low brass players [...]

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Whew! Last week was really packed–a show or rehearsal (or 2!) every day, a fair amount of travelling, and an ailing car. It will be nice to return to a more relaxed routine this week, and maybe get a little more sleep! For several days last week, I played in an orchestra accompanying the Mt. [...]

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This week, when I wasn’t playing for The Yeomen of the Guard, I played a very interesting, record-breaking gig. This was the shortest gig with the smallest audience I’ve ever played, and is quite possibly the most whimsical gig ever as well. On Monday, I received a call from a man in Pennsylvania whose sister [...]

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I’ve spent the last week in the orchestra pit of the Carolina Theatre in Durham, playing for the Durham Savoyards production of Yeomen of the Guard. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan, they collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, with W. S. Gilbert creating the words and [...]

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