Long time, no blog!

A PLU Christmas in Benaroya Hall, 2010

I haven't been on here in FOREVER!
A lot of it has to do with the fact that plu.edu has screwed up my blogger, and I am forced to use Safari (rather than Google Chrome) to access the blog.

LAME.

Well, now that I'm here, I might as well post some updates about the coming year:

A PLU CHRISTMAS "MAGNIFICAT"
http://www.plu.edu/christmas/home.php

Everything you've ever wanted to know about getting tickets, etc is on the above link.

ALSO!

Chorale will be touring to Texas in January! Woot!
Austin - Dallas - San Antonio - Houston

ALSO!

In February will be the Washington Music Educator's NW Conference in Yakima, WA. I'm very excited for this year, as I have been nominated as the WMEA Collegiate President. Ahh!! :-)

ALSO!

March is madness for choral directors! The American Choral Director's Association is having their NW Conference in Seattle. This year, BOTH Choir of the West and Chorale were invited to perform. Such an honor. I can hardly wait!

Projects + Updates

In the midst of preparations for Alaska, I am launching a few new projects for the summer! These will certainly prove my busyness for the next year or so!

First, my new show, "Spektakulär!" will be entered for consideration in Enumclaw High School's One Act Competition 2012. I am incredibly stoked for this show! Taking place in pre-war Germany, a misfit circus troupe thrives for the hearts and minds of their audience, while averting chaos, tragedy, and Nazi's.

The second project coming up is also exciting! I am managing an artist! My brother, Reece, is starting up his own band called SoundChekk. What he's got so far is pretty cool, and we hope to release a demo CD by the end of the summer. Click here to check out his blog: http://bit.ly/iY9R1D

What else is going on? ...

Chor of the West and the University Orchestra (Kammermusik) just returned home from a tour in Germany and France. In Germany, the Choir competed at the Harmonie Music Festival and took 2nd place overall. PLUtonic took first along with the men's group. I'm hoping that I'll be able to tour sometime in the next couple of years with them. How incredible!

Well that's it for now! My goal is to blog about once a month with updates (since it gets super difficult to keep up!) Enjoy your summer, I'll post pictures of Alaska in about 30 days!!!

PLUtonic + Desmond Tutu

Hey ya'll! Haven't blogged in a LONG time! Mostly been busy with college, life, and all that good stuff.

BUT.

One thing that happened recently is certainly worth mentioning on my blog.. PLU's Male A Capella group, PLUtonic sang at the Greater Tacoma Foundation's Be The Spark event at the T-Dome! Archbishop Desmond Tutu was there and the guys even got to fist pump Tutu!

I stepped in and ended up being their honorary manager. Tabling for PLU and celling PLUtonic CD's was most of my job - the other most of my job was representing Pacific Lutheran as their only official rep (what?!) and keeping track of PLUtonic. It was a fun and incredible experience I will never forget!

I hope next year there will be another Be The Spark event that I can participate in. I'm really looking forward to next year and all the exciting things that are happening! (I'm an RA, I'll be a Sophomore, I'll be auditioning for Choir of the West and PLUtonic! Ahh!)

Cal.If.orn.ia!!!

Next week for Spring Break, I will be headed down the coast for California! Some friends and I plan on camping our way through N. Cal, spending time in San Francisco, and camping at Big Sur. I am incredibly excited to embark on another crazy adventure and hopefully gain some sun!

These past few weeks have been quite a ride! So Much MIDTERM!! Ahh!

Anyways, I'll be posting pictures and stuff as we go. (Hopefully).

If all else fails it will be on my twitter account.

Have a great Spring Break everyone!!

MENC-NW 2011

I'm a little behind on my blogging, but have just now gotten time to catch up on what's been going on. This weekend I joined several other PLU Music Education students at the Music Educator's National Conference - Northwest Division Conference in Bellevue, WA. The PLU Men's Chorus and University Symphony Orchestra showcased some works at the conference as well. It was a wonderful weekend filled with networking, teaching, learning, and concerts.

One part that I found particularly interesting was the networking between college students. Educator's from other schools such as Central Washington University, Western Washington University, University of Wyoming, etc joined us in participating in sessions and concerts. It was great to see other students who I someday, may be teaching with. It was also a feeling of competition, and a reality of knowing that I will be competing for jobs against most of these people.

A lot of the sessions focused on teaching "music, not band/choir/etc." It was about teaching students to be musical being no matter what they were doing, rather than training them to be mindless drones who happen to know how to control and instrument. I took a lot of this into heart, and considered what kind of teacher I want to be in the future.

I look forward to conferences such as ACDA still to come, and can hardly wait to get my hands on more teaching materials!

room rest relief (crash)

insomnia creeps at my door
for i can sleep
no more.
(this pain has me on
a single, devoted string)

what words! what thoughts!
i cannot keep them out
they are the fuel to a burning flame,
a whistle, a loud banging (crash!)

relieve me from these sounds
these horrid noises
these

awakening! steady yourself! let me

(sleep)

Jared Leto + 30STM = l.i.f.e. . .

last night was the best night of my life.

my brother and i headed out into the horizon, faces burned by the gleaming sunset. Seattle was our destination. Nothing could stop us from getting to that theatre. Nothing could stop us from getting to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert.

at first we were surprised by how small the crows was.. but as time went on, people from all categories flooded the floor. before too long, we were squished towards the front, and had all sorts of bodies rubbing up against us. that's a concert.

Jared Leto is an incredible performer. I still can't get over how fricken close we were to the stage! It was so awesome!

At the end of the concert, Jared pointed people out in the audience to come on stage. Reece threw me up on his shoulders, and in a split second I was making eye contact with the one and only Jared Leto. I dove over the crowd and landed in front of the stage. Hopping up, I was within spitting distance of the band. Along with a group of lucky souls from the audience, I rocked out on stage with 30 Seconds to Mars. How. Awesome.

one of my favorite poems...

i thank You God for most this amazing...

     e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

A return from resistance!

Hooray! I have my blog back! For awhile, PLU and Google Accounts were having some issues, so I wasn't able to blog.

But now I am!

So where did I leave off...? Christmas Concerts! So we performed a series of six concerts in three locations. It was incredibly crazy considering finals were literally knocking on my door. But we survived! (Except Billy, I don't know if he made it through).

Poor Billy.

Other than that, I've been working on some new song stuff. Mostly helping my brother out with his new band adventure, Dreaming in Sapphire. I'll post some stuff as soon as we can get some recorded! Woot!

What else?

Oh yeah!!!

STATUS UPDATE! Ok so I've finished my show, status update, and it is currently in rehearsals. The show hits the stage mid-January at Enumclaw High School. I am SUPER excited about this because the cast is fantastic! Of the few rehearsals I've been able to go to, I get more and more pumped for the performance. These kids are amazing, and they absolutely LOVE having fun. I am so excited!!

Here's the show's synopsis:

"Four humans update their way through the social networking world, along with other entities of the internet. Catch a glimpse into the lives of these individuals who depend on Facebook as a platform for communication in society. Our actions speak louder than words, but even louder is what we post on Facebook."
     -status update by Kameron Jacobs

A PLU Christmas

This coming December, Pacific Lutheran University will be showcasing the Choir of the West, University Chorale, University Symphony Orchestra, and the University Wind Ensemble. This is the show you will not want to miss!

PLU will be performing concerts in Lagerquist Concert Hall - Tacoma, WA, Benaroya Concert Hall - Seattle, WA, and the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall - Portland, OR. Concert dates and tickets are available here. 

orff, orff, and more ORFF!

Ok. So got back from the Orff - Schulwerk Conference in Spokane. Us PLU Music Ed students were asked to help facilitate the conference.

It was quite the experience. I learned a lot about elementary education and such. Even though elementary is not the field I intend on going into, it was interesting to learn the teaching techniques.

In one session, we learned how to teach young children mixed meter like 7/8. I thought this was awesome because 7/8 can be really scary to some people. We learned a few songs and games to introduce the time signature, then we got to dance in mixed meter! It was awesome!!

Another session was more for me: "Artistry in Elementary Singers"
This choral director was amazing at making things easy and practical for kids to learn. I enjoyed it very much :)

On the other hand, we worked our butts off! Transporting instruments from room to room was the killer. The Spokane Convention Center is huge when attached to two other hotels! My legs ached so bad from all that walking! Ahh!

Even after being home, I'm glad I participated. It was fun, educational, and great bonding time :)

new developments...!!!

Well its been a little while since my last post. Apologies, but I have been incredibly busy with the preparations for Spring.

Next weekend I will be attending the National Orff-Schulwerk Conference in Spokane, WA. I am one of three first-year students who were invited to go with the PLU Music Ed department. I am not particularly interested in Elementary Education, but I think this conference will prove as a notch in my belt. I am excited to meet other educators and learn about the field.

Speaking of being excited, my mind has been floating in the Choral Music Education clouds for quite awhile. With traveling to Bellevue in February for the NW Music Educator's National Conference, as well as a week in Chicago for the National American Choral Director's Association Convention, I am in need of business cards. Whew. Lot of words. Working with a friend of mine here shortly on a possible logo... I'm pretty excited!

And on top of all THAT, I ordered a Mollard Conducting Baton today. Pictures to come when it arrives :)

I also have been working ferociously on linkedin.com and connecting with other choral masters. In the spring I intend on meeting and interviewing Eric William Barnum, a choral composer and conductor. He is currently working on his DMA in Choral Conducting under Dr. Geoffrey Boers at the University of Washington.

AND we are preparing for our Christmas series at Pacific Lutheran University. The Choir of the West, University Chorale, and University Symphony Orchestra are combining to perform The Pacific Sanctus by Robert Kyr. It is incredible. You really don't want to miss it!

To sum it all up, I am FREAKING EXCITED for all the crazy things going on!

success.

Taylor Capellaro, KeelyAnn Kelly, and myself after our concert in Lagerquist

After completing our fall concert series at PLU, I feel right at home. It wasn't until I was singing "Beautiful Savior" at the end when I realized that my place in this choir, university, and family is all I could ever ask for.

I am still walking on clouds after last night's concert. I can still feel the energy of the performance and the thrill of being onstage. I live for that feeling.

Without a doubt, this has been an experience I will never forget. It is really hard to "move on" from the high school choir, but university is where its at! I am with a great group of people who are all dedicated to an amazing cause: music. We all work together to create such a beautiful sound in an amazing hall.

I will say, that I was nearly out of my skin during Chorale's warm ups. I was chosen to lead them.

Imagine you're driving a huge truck. This truck is strong, yet bumpy and sometimes hard to control.

No imagine you're driving the smoothest BMW ever. It responds perfectly, it purrs, and it hauls ass. Yeah. That's what leading warm ups for Chorale was like. Amazing.

To my fellow ensemble members, I thank you for letting me be a part of this family. I thank you for introducing me to the music I was born to live in. :-)

agent of chaos

flooding your mind

confusion

chaos: the beginning of all things.

every cloud begs for room in the sky of the mind

wind blows from all sides

there is air

but no breath

suffocate in the anxiety of your own passions, freedoms, loves, and smiles.

crashing waves 

spikes

lightening

frost

surrounds you surrounding me.

no direction.

no guide.

no love...

news...?

well, well, well. if it isn't for that seasonal feeling of stress, homework, midterm and proficiency exams.

ahh....

I will say that University Chorale is really picking up. (We better be, after all we DO have a concert in a week).

Dr. Galante is an amazing conductor. Today he harped on the fact that we, as a choir, don't pay enough attention to the text of the piece. Which is very true. When singing in a different language, it isn't really easy to connect to the text. But ya just gotta break out those translations and get to work! The audience deserves to hear what the composer intended. There should be nothing less.

This Sunday, Pacific Lutheran University will be premiering a work by Ola Gjeilo called Meridian. It is combined with the University Wind Ensemble, Choir of the West, and University Chorale. Ola will be visiting us this Friday to rehearse with the piece.

Ola Gjeilo

It is an interesting work. Not really my "cup of tea" but it sounds pretty good. I guess.

In other news, I will continue my vocal lessons with baritone Charles Stephens. Yah?

I haven't had much time to get working on my OWN music. I wish I did. Gosh darn, I want to write so bad!!