Moving Complete

Hell there,

Moving is mostly complete I can begin to re-focus on practice for the recital. But, not too much before four rehearsals and a performance with the Utah Wind Symphony on David Maslanka's Symphony No. 9. Which as it turns out is the Western Premier which is pretty cool.

It's hard not having the time to practice right now because of moving and working. But I have been planning a ton. I finally got an email back from the accompanist that I wanted for my recital, he's on board. So right now waiting for two more pieces of music that haven't come yet to finalize the set list. I've even laid out the stage setup to scale. Partially because I'm a little OCD about things but mostly because I had to make sure that it was going to fit into the space that I intend to use. I don't know why the school insists on the percussion department, the one department with the largest instruments, using the smallest recital spaces. There's always a way around, just gotta find the loophole. ;)

I have been eating better for the most part which makes me feel better overall. The practice and workout routine become more bearable as I do it more. There are a lot of reasons not to continue, a lot of excuses, but I don't have any other choice but to succeed at what I've set out to do. I can't fail because the only one I'm letting down is myself.

It's time to work out some more stickings for the Concerto. This piece is a monster of a piece but once it's done it'll be one of my proudest moments. Technically the days are longer right? Well at least more sunlight which means more time to work out the kinks in the performances. Here we go!

Recital beginning

OK, so no, really. This is not the beginning of the Recital process for me. But this is the beginning of the end so to speak. The process for my recital has been one that has spanned over the last 4 years of study at the University of Utah School of Music. And, yes, I've been planning it for almost that long. Although the majority of the planning has been done this blog is to represent my timeline and document the process along the way; for my own sanity of seeing some, even if little, progress toward the end goal as well as to keep me on track and moving constantly forward.

So first things first here's the list of repertoire for my recital. It has taken me some time to build this list of wants/needs properly but I'm pretty sure this will be the end product. But as all things go there's no guarantee so always be ready for changes.

Lonely City Suite - Baker
Monte Nido - A. Lee
Mental Separation - Barnum
White Knuckle Stroll - Cangelosi
Prelude/Hotdog - Greb
Challenge #2 - Delacluse
Wicca - Cangelosi
Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra- Koppel


The exact order has not been finalized but this is the starting order I'm going to work up and once I can play it all fairly comfortably I will start to rearrange I'm sure.

This list looks a lot less daunting looking at it in this format, although I know there's worlds of work to go.

The other side of my recital blog that I wanted to let you in on is one of health, both mental and physical. As I move forward I am going to be taking on a few challenges outside of just practice. In preparation for my recital I will also be focusing on my health and in turn my mental health through exercise and a change of diet. I may not report everyday on the status of health as I go along but I will stop to mark milestones from time to time.

Here's to a productive and BUSY summer.

MPW