What I’m doing with my Summer Vacation

…Besides work that is. This summer happens to be a special one as it is the first that I am staying full time in  the state of Ohio. To celebrate this fact, and the fact that It’s my last summer as an undergrad (hence possibly the last summer for awhile that I will have this much time on my hands) I have created a list of goals that I want to accomplish before the first day of the Fall Semester.

Goal number one: Compose/arrange twenty minutes of music

So far I am about 8 minutes in. At the moment, I am working on the following:

1)Orchestrating the rest of Of Wizards and Dragons For Wind Ensemble-and in the process learning how to orchestrate

2)Working on Music for The Adventure Path series-and hoping to write a blog post about it soon

3) Writing an accapella vocal piece per request of my teacher

4) Correcting old scores, touching up Hoover’s Paradise, and finishing my just for fun band arrangement of Ghostbusters.

Goal Number Two: Get as much trombone performance and practice in as possible

I am doing this by making sure to practice every day, participating in the YACCB, reading in a weekly Orchestral Excerpt reading club, and playing duets whenever I can. Even though I am a composer, I believe that it is just as important to keep my playing chops up. How else will I meet and convince musicians to give my music a chance one day? Also, I have too much fun playing the trombone to give it up now.

Goal number Three: Learn something new

This goal is being accomplished by researching and practicing orchestration, reading lots of books on the subject, and learning about building websites. Also, Pennsic is coming up so I will hopefully be learning a lot about life in the Middle Ages there as well.

Goal number Four: Make sure that I spend some time with Friends every week and do something non music related with them (at least 3 hours per week).

This is not as easy as it sounds. When you devote your life to becoming a musician, a lot of time is invested in practicing the craft  and  it is sometimes easy to forget about everything and everyone else that is important in your life. Also, I have found that sometimes trying something new that is not related to composition somehow inspires the mind to create something, even if the only reason is that the brain is getting rest from thinking constantly about music. I have created a list of friends and family that will be receiving a handwritten letter every Friday (one to two people/ week) from now until the first day of fall Semester. Also, I need to take a day to write a list of things that need to be accomplished this Fall. Oh Yeah, I also intend to get my driver’s license before I forget.