Category: Music, Art and Life

Performance 5 Film Score Fest ( 6/10/2023)

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I’m attending 25 Live Performances by the end of 2023!

Since 2017, I have mostly had the opportunity to attend Film Score Fest as a participant. However, this year was different, as I was a spectator!

Film score fest is this special event hosted by MnKino where composers and film makers are paired together to make a film based on a theme that is assigned to all of the filmmakers. The thing that makes this event extra unique is that the film and score premier with a LIVE orchestra playing the music!

There were a total of 16 films, each with a unique visual style and equally unique scores.

As a member of the Minneapolis Music Scene, I recognized several of the orchestra players and had a blast saying “Hi, I know you!” to most of them. I also had fun supporting my colleagues and not having the anticipation of waiting for the film I composed the music to come on screen, so it was easier to enjoy all of the films this time around.

A few film scores really caught my attention. Radience, composed by Mitchel Dietz was gorgeous and the film by Chris Lange only Amplified how beautiful it was with the film’s colorful visuals. Ken Takata provided one of the most unique takes on a film score that I have witnessed yet on a mostly standstill film, Macbeth (5.5.22) by Tatjana Dankovic. He improvised a distal, yet pleasant score on the piano as the film played, displaying nighttime images of the city and text.

Although I appreciated each film and score, my favorite combination had to be the last film, Little Godzilla. Emily Boyajian’s score complimented Kat Aymeloglu’s film flawlessly and it was SUPER ADORABLE!!!!

If you want to see the livestream playback, you can catch it here:

Performances 3 & 4 at the MMTA Convention (6/11-6/13/2023)

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I’m attending 25 performances by the end of 2023!

As this was a convention full of music teachers, there were plenty of opportunities to attend some performances.

For this report, I want to focus on 2 student performances that were memorable from the weekend.

The first came from the Music Bridges participants. Music Bridges is a program where students pick a theme that interests them and prepare 2-to 3 pieces of standard repertoire to perform. It is a nongraded performance, but gives the students an opportunity to share their creativity and music making, as well as get some performance experience in a less stressful way than a contest or formal recital.

The first performer looked to be in elementary school. She picked Movement as her theme and performed 3 pieces. I think one was titled Kangaroo Jump. She’s also an ice skater and dancer, so she showed a video of her skating to music and choreographed a dance to The Beatles “Twist and Shout” that she shared with us at the end.

The next was a girl close to graduating high school who picked the composer Aram Khachaturian. Before her report and performance, I only knew him for The Sabre dance due to it being played at Buffalo Sabres Hockey games growing up. She shared some wonderful waltzes as well as a duet with her brother. For the creative part, she reported on his history as a perceived “Soviet” composer and shared a photo that she recolored by hand to better reflect Khachaturian’s true nationality and political beliefs. She clearly took hours on this project alone. and played beautifully all the way through.

The second performance came from the guitar showcase.

Although most of the presentation was talking about the MMTA guitar cirriculum that they offer, there was a performance from a young student, probably only 11 or 12 by their appearance. This student came in from Wisconsin to perform for us. What inpressed me the most was how determined and focused he was during his performance, and it was a treat to hear him as well.

They ended the showcase with a trio of Latin American music shared between the student, teacher, and presenter. It’s not every day that you get to hear a guitar ensemble, let alone one that was clearly having fun in the moment of reading and performing this piece for us!

My only regret from the convention is that I forgot to write down the performer’s names in my program as I was too busy listening and enjoying their art. If they see this blog post someday, I hope they can smile at the fact that they brought me joy from listening to them and that I hope they continue making music for the love of it!

Performance 2 – Lady Band ( 6/3/2023)

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I’m attending 25 performances by the end of 2023!

The Second Performance that I attended was because I had the privilege of performing in the Stravinsky Octet with this newly formed group, Lady Band.

However, as the rules are that the majority of the performance had to be given by someone else, I will count this.

This Concert was unique and rather intimate, as we were packed into Violet Wine Winery. Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed due to the tiny space and crowding from people, I soon felt more at ease as the first notes were played by the mini chamber ensembles in this group. Although I did not partake, the winery had wines and vodka paired with each of the pieces which added to the ambiance.

The First piece was a Woodwind Quintet titled Composition en Rouge, Bleu et Jaune by Tawnie Olson. This piece Transported me to a blue city scape and played with . I especially enjoyed the Timbre of all of the voices in unision rhythm toward the ending, as well as the playful, bouncy motif that occured a few times in the piece. The musicians appeared to be enjoying those moments as well.

The Second Piece, N.A.L.A. by Andrea Tarodi was my favorite of the program. The beginning especially reminded me of Gustav Holst’s The Planets with the harp and flute colors. The ostinato reminded me of Saturn, while the timbres and melodies were remeniscant of Neptune and Venus in my opinion. It was played Beautifully as well ! This piece soothed me from the claustrophobia I was beginning to experience just in time to perform the octet.

Overall, it was a nice concert, and the intimacy and atmosphere of the winery added to the experience, but I was definitely glad to be out of that cramped space!

Performance 1/25 St. Lewis Park School Band Concert (5/16/2023)

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I’m attending 25 performances by the end of 2023!

The first performance that I attended on this endeavor was an off-chance intent to support my students.

To Preface, my other gig aside from composing and occasionally performing, is as a private music instructor. I teach many students in the St. Lewis Park school district.

It just so happened that one of my students canceled their lesson on the Tuesday evening of (one of) the end-of-the-year band concerts- as it happens to be a large school district. When I found out that they were soloing on their first Jazz concert, one of my other trombone students let me know that they were also performing- that day lol-and I had the time, I had to be there!

Normally I can’t make evening weekday concerts as I teach until 8 or 9 pm most evenings so this was a bonus.

While I knew that some of my students would undoubtedly be performing, I had no Idea that a grand total of 6 were playing. Those stinkers never told me when their performance was, hahaha!

As this was the first band concert I’d been able to attend, I had no idea what to expect. First of all., the auditorium was HUGE!!!! It made the auditorium that I attended convocation in as an undergrad feel small in comparison. I was amazed at just how nice it was, and how packed with supportive parents, family, and staff it was. A few teachers that teach at Maestoso were there as well to support their students. It was a heartwarming site, as there was not an empty seat in the room.

First, the Jazz Band performed and I learned of the Donut Bribery ( ok- it’s the volunteering of students to bring in Donuts every morning rehearsal) that fuels this group.

The piece that stood out was Moondance by Van Morrison. Several students took solos which, especially for 6-8th graders, is an extremely brave thing to do. I know several adults who refuse to even try, so Kudos to those kids. Also, not to brag- ok, to brag- my student played the loudest most confident sounding solo in that piece. I was one proud teacher that evening!

Then I got to hear the 6th 7th and 8th grade bands perform.

My favorite piece by the 7th grade group was Blinding Lights by The Weekend, because it had the most energy and you could see that the students seemed to enjoy performing it.

Despite the usual intonation issues that usually plague this age group as they are learning how to control their instruments and listen- a skill that takes time to build- you could really tell that they were listening and making an honest effort. They were experiencing Teamwork through the lens of a musical ensemble, and having taught several of students at one time or another, it was a treat to witness their growth.

It was also enjoyable witnessing the different groups of students announce the pieces. I’m glad to see that this district allows this opportunity for students, as it gives a chance to work on stage fright and/or shine in a different way. One duo was particularily hilarious trading off every other sentence and making back and forth jokes.

When the 8th grade group performed, the piece that stood out the most was a piece called Corinthium by Michael Sweeny. This was a full circle piece because I remember working with my first official trombone student on it prior to the pandemic, 3 years ago. The piece was deemed too difficult for the group and dropped ( Although I will tell you the then 5th grader was crushing it for her ability at the time). I then got to help her on it during the pandemic, but it was again dropped by the director. Once again, this piece made an appearance in November during this student’s lesson and I never heard anything about it again after that. What a HUGE surprise to get to hear this piece by this group that included my student performed it was, and they sounded GREAT!

All in all, I really enjoyed listening to what my students have been working toward and getting to see their surprised faces when Miss Sam made an appearance at their Band Concert. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

I’m Attending 25 LIVE performances before the end of the year!

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people performing on stage

For the second half of the year, I am undertaking a bit of a challenge. I’ve resolved to attend 25 live performances before Midnight on December 31st, 2023.

Why am I doing this ?:

1) Seeing live music is good for me as a composer and performer and I don’t do this nearly enough.

2) I want to do a better job supporting my colleagues, as I’ve been a bit of a hermit for the most part for the better part of a decade.

3) It is my hope that by making this journey public, it will inspire other musicians to support their colleagues by doing the same ( let’s face it, we don’t do this enough for each other) Also, as a teacher, I am doing my best to teach my students add their families to support live music by attending concerts beyond what they atttend for school ensembles, and foster a more supportive community in the arts for the future of our field.

4) By comitting to this publicly, I’m hoping that I get more direct invites to events ( and not just facebook calendar invites as I tend to forget about those until it’s too late to decide to go) and occasional nudging to complete this challenge if I fall off.

Here are the Rules:

1) The concert can’t be my own gig. However, if the majority of performances were NOT by me and I stayed for the entire concert these can count.

2) Genre does not matter. Nor does the professional status of the musicians. I may report on a school band concert, and then a heavy metal concert in the next entry for example.

3) Each time I attend a concert, I will write a review on this blog. Most of these will be short and I may combine a few concerts onto one blog entry if I attend a bunch in a short stretch of time.

Happy Musicing and if you live in the Minneapolis Metro, please tell me about your gigs~ preferably at least a few days ahead of time please and thank you!

2023- Let’s DO THE THING!

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round brown and black analog clock

Happy 2023!

This is the post where, every year, I usually list the goals that I intend to accomplish.

What am I doing to make things happen this year?

Well, I’m taking the lessons learned from the past few years and instead of posting goals like I have been, I am instead posting the actions that I am building into my daily and weekly routine to make things happen.

If you read the post from a few days ago, it was apparent that some of the goals that I intended to accomplish did not happen as planned. Instead, I am taking a new approach to accomplish the goals that were left, AND set myself up for even more success in the future, in whatever form it may come. Some things are going well, and I will continue to keep up the habits I’ve already established.

Action Item #1

Schedule Composing, Instrumental Practice, Gym, Meal, and Email time into my calendar at SPECIFIC BLOCKS OF TIME.

Sunday evening at 7:00 is when I have scheduled to plan out the week. My phone is programed to remind me to do this.

Every month, I have a concrete checklist of music business Items that I have to schedule on my monthly calendar before transfering to my weekly. These include things like writing the newsletter for my composing business, checking on contest info for students, and other specific communications and research items.

The 28th of the previous month is when I have scheduled to take care of this. However, getting into the habit of writing down monthly appointments into my calendar as they come up has helped with planning in the past.

Some of these are floating tasks that have to get done at some time on the scheduled day or week. Having a visual checklist helps me with this!

Action Item # 2

Replace Phone Screen time with the activities listed above.

Although the Tik Tok and Twitter addiction has been hard to break, I’ve been improving at using it as a reward rather than disassociating with it.

Also, my new rule is No Checking Email past 7:00pm! Otherwise, I have a tendancy to overthink about how to respond and agonize about it all night instead of sleeping, which I totally should do instead for health reasons.

Action Item # 3

Adopt a CONSISTANT bedtime and wakeup routine.

Although I do the expected things like showering and brushing my teeth every day at.. some haphazard time, my morning has only had one thing consistent up until now: Coffee. I do not wish to replace this wonderful to me beverage I lovingly call Godberry juice, as I genuinely enjoy the taste and it’s become a personal staple for waking up. However, every day has been varied and sometimes I forget to eat breakfast or shower and all of a sudden it’s 15 minutes until I’m supposed to leave to teach and I haven’t eaten lunch yet.

To start with, I will begin my day with showering, teeth brushing and a glass of water BEFORE Coffe. Coffee is a reward for taking care of these important things. Also, my second cup of coffee will be accompanying breakfast, which will not only save time but serve as a habitual reminder to eat.

At night, I’ve been winding down with Tea over the last month which has helped. I will also be replacing the phone habit with reading on time. Lately, I’ve been switching between the two. Leaving the phone downstairs has helped. Soon, I will NOT be looking at my phone past 9:00 and instead be reading physical books.

Action Item # 4

Add my original compositions 1 piece a day to my WOOCOMMERCE Store. ( 10 minutes/ morning) to start.

For now I will leave my stuff up on Sheet music Plus as well for a wider reach, as I’m still working to build an audience that will purchase my music and play it more often, funding my good habit 🙂 I am, however, changing each compositions individual page to link to my Woo Commerce Store Page, in order to get a better idea of who is buying my compositions, keep in contact in case they would like help from a living composer, and the added bonus of getting to keep more of the profit.

I’m starting with Digital downloads and then will add physical copy offerings as I learn more about how to run the storefront. It looks like it will also calculate shipping, even overseas, so that is a plus.

I also have it scheduled to publish on both my Facebook Business page and Twitter Profile when I add a new piece to the store for some added awareness.

Once I run out of pieces I’ve already added to SMP, this will shorten to 1/week or every other week as needed. Engraving and editing takes time.

Action Item #5

Form a habit of Posting 1x/day, focusing on no more than 2 social media channels at a time.

In order to succeed at this, I am going to post one time/ day on one of my channels as most of them are linked anyway. When applicable , I will repeat the post in a different format- i.e. Text converded to a 30 second Video.

(Note- I will be exercising Action Item # 2 to keep screentime from getting out of hand again).

Action Item # 6

Hold myself accountable for these items!

If you know me well enough, please don’t be afraid to ask how it’s going either. Let’s put that toxic guilt complex to good use!!!! lol

Realistically, integrating all of these steps won’t happen all at once or even ALL of the time. However, as I work on making this my new norm, it will be easier to get back on the wagon when I fall off, and continue making things happen this year and beyond.

I’ll start by scheculing checkin posts on my calendar.

2022- How Did I Do?

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green tree

Every year I have been setting Goals and offer a reflection at the end of the year. This is my reflection for 2022.

Composing

FINISH the projects from last year that were started.

Did it happen?

Hahahaha…nope. This year was a bit of a firestorm of unexpected difficulties that sapped my mental capacity and emotional energy for much of the year.

What did I finish though?

  • Pieces now offered for Sale- Allemonde de Eleri, A Well Traveled Rhapsody, Chorale on a Palestinalied, Fy Gwanwyn Sky, Painless Parker’s Giant Bucket of Teeth, A NOT FOR SALE ( because it would be illeagal for me to do it at this time to my understanding) arrangement of Kingdom Heart’s Music for Brass Band, and Several Arrangemts you can find on my Sheet music plus Publisher Page.
  • An orchestral Brass Fanfare that has yet to be Read!
  • Several Aural Sketches for Projects that were started last year. I am currently putting these on paper and assembling them to send out over January, now that I’m feeling less burnout.

Sell at least 1 score a month

Did It happen?

Not as I had hoped. Next year, I will be taking on a more refined approach to advertising my works for sale, including building an email list and newsletter. On the plus side, I’ve been selling 1 score/ month since September.

Start Making some Money from Composing

Did it happen?

Sort of yes. I did not get paid as a composer for writing this year. However, I did negotiate a paid commission to be completed this coming year, and for the first time in a long time. I will be paid as a writer in 2023.

Lesson Studio Goals

Build studio up to 30 students.

Have at least 2 big recitals this year ( With at least one being in person, Covid Pending), and generally find more performance opportunities for my students.

Host A Quarterly Studio GET-TOGETHER via Zoom with Games and playing opportunities for peers only.

Have more students participate in MMTA contests and festivals.

Increase educational content on the studio YOUTUBE channel. (sorry, as of now this is for MY STUDENTs only, although I may make some of the videos public eventually). Every other Friday, I plan on recording a short video and UPLOADINg it.

Continue to become a better teacher for my students.

Did It happen.

YES!!!!! In fact, the plan worked a little too well. I ended up with 33 Students at the end of summer!

Musicianship Goals

Play an EtudE Every Practice session

Improve my sightreading on both Piano and Trombone

Establish a functional practice routine and schedule a time to practice every weekday.

Did I succeed?

Mostly. There were some periods where I was not practicing regularily, and in retrospect, I may have been suffering from some form of depression and burnout due to the firestorm. It was due a mix of taking care of others during their chrisises, doing the job of 3 people and feeling underappreciated and a whole mix of other things that just left me feeling numb at the end of summer. After all, if you stand in the cold long enough, you eventually don’t feel it any more.

Luckily, things are looking up finally.

I do have a properly challenging routine now thanks to my friend, and very talented Trombonist Gavin Carney, have been consistant since September, and can’t wait to keep getting better at the Trombone in 2023!

Life and Relationship Building

Continue to improve my health and stregnth.

Did I Succeed?

Overal, Yes!

I took a break from focusing on this and, surprise, surprise, it coinsided with that period where I was not practicing reguarily and feeling comfortably numb. Exercise helps Mental health and I will continue to go to the Gym at least 2 days a week, and find some form of movement every day. If not, I may face another unproductive stretch of time that I can’t get back.

Continue to Volunteer at leAst 4 times a year

Did it happen?

Yes, though in small ways.

Most of this was helping at MMTA theory events, from proctoring exams to giving directions. I also volunteered my time with the Twin Cities Brass Band, helping with web admin tasks and organizing the social media team. I have to say that they were the ones who put in the most effort and got things done though. All I did was delegate 🙂

Plan monthly phone calls and emails, Aim for 1 New person per month to start with in this list.

Did It Happen?

Yes, but not in a steady stream. It was more like a few waterfalls, of 3-4 people every few months. After counting it averaged to 1.3 people/ month.

Support fellow artists through Album/ music PURCHASES and RECOMMENDATIONS, and email them with compliments.

Did I do It?

I did not buy anything this year as the first half was rather lean financially. However, I did do a LOT of listening and sent some reccomendations of my fellow composers to artists that I thought would be a good fit when talking with them over this year. For Example,one of my students is now a FLOOR BABA Fan after exposing them to their music in a lesson. Many encouragements came in the form of Facebook and Twitter comments. I aim to offer more of these in the future.

Attend at least 3 newtorking events or festivals.

Did I do it?

YES!

Brass Chix in January

MMTA Meetings with my local Chapter bi -monthly

Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December

All in all, 2022 was a spiritually and emotionally challenging year. Life threw a few unexpected tests my way and some important lessons were learned. I learned who in my immediate sphere is worth my time and who needs to grow a little more before I think about interacting beyond a surface level again. I also learned that I am capable of doing the work of 3 people if necessary and, even though I do not always like to be that person, I’m a pretty good leader when it comes down to it. The ability to make and share music is a privilege and I got to experience some goosebump-worthy moments with duet partners, The Twin Cities Brass Band, Swing Sisterhood Big Band, and The Triforce Trombone Trio. I even had the pleasure of hearing my piece, A Ship’s Calling performed and recorded by Calypsus Brass, which was AMAZING! Here’s looking forward to 2023, in which I will write down my intentions and post about them in the next day or two.

2022 Music, and Life, Goals.

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The last few years I have been psting my goals for the coming year in order to look back at periodically and hold myself accountable. Here is this years list of goals in their respective catagories.

Composing

FINISH the projects from last year that were started.

  1. ) Enter Spirit- Flex band score. I am currently working with a band director to have it read and finish the graphic score element. This should be ready for the public by May if all goes according to plan.

2) Painless Parker- Band Score. I need a few volunteers to read the piece and give feedback for the final score. I aim to have it available for purchase asap.

3) Continue my editing of past works. – I got a litle more than halfway through, and then I lost my productivity streak. By the end of the year I aim to be finished with all prior pieces. It will help that I’ve gotten better at engraving for anythihg that I write this year, so lots of time will be saved!

4) Documentary Score- Almost finished. It was postponed due to covid and a big life transition for the director. I just need to touch base with the director a few more times to get this done.

5) Vocal and Instrumental piece with a Librettist- I started this one with them as a new type of collaboration for me. Most of the Ideas are in the germ phase, but this will get done by the end of this year at the latest.

Sell at least 1 score a month

I will be ramping up advertising on Facebook as well as taking the initiative to contact more musicians and directors directly. I’ll also be adding lots more pieces and arrangements to My website store and on Sheet Music Plus.

Start Making some Money from Composing

Eventually, I’d like this to make up the bulk of my livelihood along with performing and teaching. Luckily it’s looking like at least one paid commission is shaping up with a fantastic Trombonist.

I can’t wait to share more of these details with you in the coming months.

My one Resolution- normally I don’t do these but I’ll make an exception in this case- is to Share more of what I am working on. Please follow me on Instagram or TikTok @shogan_composer to see more of my process this year.

Lesson Studio Goals

Build studio up to 30 students.

Have at least 2 big recitals this year ( With at least one being in person, Covid Pending), and generally find more performance opportunities for my students.

Host A Quarterly Studio GET-TOGETHER via Zoom with Games and playing opportunities for peers only.

Have more students participate in MMTA contests and festivals.

Increase educational content on the studio YOUTUBE channel. (sorry, as of now this is for MY STUDENTs only, although I may make some of the videos public eventually). Every other Friday, I plan on recording a short video and UPLOADINg it.

Continue to become a better teacher for my students.

Musicianship Goals

Play an EtudE Every Practice session

I’m starting with the good Ol’ Rochut book 1 and will work my way through the book one etude at a time. When I’m done, I’ll look for a new book to progress to. It is my hope that I will become a better player by making this commitment to my practice routine. It should also help me……

Improve my sightreading on both Piano and Trombone

Establish a functional practice routine and schedule a time to practice every weekday.

Life and Relationship Building

Continue to improve my health and stregnth.

I started this last year in 2021 and began strength training with Barbells as of June.If I can keep with the schedule of 3-4 days of stregnth training and eat well, I’ll be well on my personal goal to be able to squat my body weight by June as well as do 1 unassisted pullup by then. Maybe I’ll even surpass it! Although My goals here are not asthetic, I am looking forward to see how things change here as the year progresses. The reason for this is that it helps my mental health quite a bit and I’d like to remain as healthy as I can to do thie things that I love- Mainly Make Music! Also, as I am now in the dirty 30’s, I’d like to not be complaining about back problems like so many of my peers are already.

Continue to Volunteer at leAst 4 times a year

I am excited to see what opportunities 2022 brings, especially with MMTA. Assuming things keep opening back up, I’d also love to have a recital or perform at a nursing home.

Plan monthly phone calls and emails, Aim for 1 New person per month to start with in this list.

This may be a lofty goal, since being extraverted in this capacity takes quite a bit of uncomfortable effort on my end, but I’m going to try by listing a set day on my planner calendar to do this. It wil be at the end of the month too so I have that long to come up with someone.

Support fellow artists through Album/ music PURCHASES and RECOMMENDATIONS, and email them with compliments.

Attend at least 3 newtorking events or festivals.

Next Month, I’ll be attending Brass Chix as I have every year, and in March, the MMTA convention is in Minneapolis, so I’ll be attending at least 1 day of this as well.

2021 Goals- How did I do?

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It’s that time of year- The end of the year where I give you my report card and evaluate the goals that I set at the end of the previous year.

Here is what happened:

BIG GOAL: Make More Money/ Be able to solely do MUSIC to survive.

Update: Success! I am surviving. As of June, I was able to just teach and complete an engraving project to make the minimum that I neded to bring in to justify being my own boss. Next year I will set my goals toward Thriving… and then some.

Mini Goal: Sell 10 scores of my own music. My goal is a minimum of 25 total including arrangements.

Update: I sold 12 total. Yeehaw. It looks like I’ll have to evaluate and revise my strategy.

Mini Goal: 15 students by June

Update: I have since surpassed that goal and am up to 20 students!

BIG GOAL: Get to know more people

Update: I didn’t meet as many new people in person as I was hoping to ( thanks Covid) but did meet some. I talked to Alex Gardner and Matthew Driscol via the magic of zoom and meet a few local musicians and composers through a Monthly Composer Meet up and throught the Z festival, both of which met online. I’d really like to actually get to know more people this next year beyond briefly meeting them.

If you count it though, I did get to meet some awesome new students and their wonderful families 🙂

Mini Goal: Contact 2 new people in music/ month minimum

Update: This fell by the wayside but I did manage to average 1-2 every other month. Next year I will schedule monthly phone calls and emails in my planner.

Big Goal: Write 3 hours minimum of music

Update: If you count all of the unrecorded improvising I did, I ….probably?… reached this goal. However, my composing focus was nonexistant most of this year and getting things written down just did not happen.

Mini Goal:Create more creative opportunities

Update: I did it- but via a different avenue that I set out to follow. I am now part of a trombone trio called The Trifore Trombone Trio and got to exercise my creativity by making marketing content for the Twin Cities Brass Band. I also participated in Z-Fest this summer which provided some interesting ppportunities as well.

Big Goal: Be even more giving and spread more JOY

Mini Goal: Send more notes in the form of cards and emails

Update: Success. I’ll keep this goal active for next year too.

Mini goal: volunteer my time in a musical capacity at least 4 times

Update: This happened exactly 4 times. I volunteered at an MMTA event this Fall, helped out with a large music sorting project, and helped a few friends with their musical projects a few times this year. Next year, I hope to help out at more events because helping is fun. 🙂

Throwback Thursday September 2021 Recap

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September 2nd 2021

This Week’s #throwbackthursday piece is related to the event I’ve been excited about that is happening this weekend: MNKINO Film Score Fest!(BTW- It’s this Saturday at 8 In Mears Park, St Paul MN if you can come).A few years ago, in 2017, I wandered to an event that I had heard about on a podcast called Composer Quest called the MnKino Film Score Fest Meetup. It was at an underground bar in the middle of Minneapolis- or was it St Paul? As is tradition for me with trying new things, I had no idea what I was getting into. Also, meeting new people in groups still terrified the bejeebus out of me, but there I went. At the time, I was starving for creative opportunities outside of my mundane day job and, although it scared me, I reasoned that the best way to make this happen was to step out of that comfort zone and talk to strangers. Somewhere in the large crowd a, talented yet also introverted and kind animator named Beth Peloff talked to me and decided that I was going to be her composer (YAY!).Together, we created a little film called Blob’s Adventure. You can watch it here:https://vimeo.com/218081763

September 9th 2021

Do You remember looking up at the sky on a carefree summer day, imagining the pictures and scenes in the clouds? Today’s #ThrowbackThursday piece was written on such a summer afternoon. When I used to work at a printer factory, I’d come home and need to decompress. Being that the job left little time for much else between driving home, eating dinner, and sleeping to wake up early and do it all over again, there was a 30-minute window that I’d have to myself. I chose to walk from my Dad’s trailer home to the end of the road and back most evenings after scarfing down my meal. That day in 2010, I admired those picturesque clouds in the sky and imagined what it could sound like. At the time I was listening to a lot of Debussy piano music as well. Cumulus Humilis- The scientific name for the type of clouds that I saw that day- is the name of this piece. It was premiered by Jimmy Knezetik- a pianist I knew in undergrad who has the most sensitive touch of any pianist I’ve known. Listeners enjoyed it because it is easy on the ears and my theory teachers loved it because it uses something called Locrian Mode. (Note- I did not do this on purpose. It was a happy coincidence). A few years after composing the piece, Avguste Antonov recorded the piece and did a wonderful job. It is included on his debut album, An American Journey.https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/…/cumulus…/21854853…#pianomusic#newmusic#solomusic

September 16th 2021

In 2009, around this time, I started my undergrad degree at Youngstown State in Ohio. At the time, I had just met my – unbeknownst to me- future husband. He took me to one of Youngstown’s greatest hidden treasures, Mill Creek Park, as part of a tour of the area. We walked around on this adventure for a while when a rather large tree branch suddenly snapped, and almost beamed us in the head on the way down from the fall. Me being me, blamed it on the trickster Faeries that obviously got a laugh at almost killing this intruder, .and yelled something unintelligible back at them. Darko laughed, I laughed, and this whole near-death experience is now immortalized in a Trombone and Euphonium duet. Today’s #ThrowbackThursday piece is dedicated to these Wood Nymphs who happened to give me the inspiration to finish the duet I was writing for fellow composer Dan Brandt and I, just in time to not get scolded by our studio professor. #Brass#BrassDuet#Trombone#Euphonium#WomanComposer#NewMusichttps://www.sheetmusicplus.com/…/meliae…/21816732…

September 23rd 2021

Who Likes Thunderstorms???…….. Actually, not me. In fact, I sometimes find them terrifying! This week, we had a fairly loud one that kept me up quite late. The loud sound of the thunder hurts my ears and seeing a Lightning strike victim in the ER when I was little because my mom used to work nights and sometimes had to take us with to her job, may have contributed to this uncomfortableness. Thank goodness though. MN needed the rain. That brings me to this week’s #ThrowbackThursday piece.https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/…/reign-of…/21833455…Reign of Thunder is a flute solo and one of my first pieces that premiered at YSU. However, it was written it in the summer before starting my studies Shanyse Strickland , a Fantastic Musician known for her Horn playing and Composing these days, was the Flute Player! Cory Davis did a wonderful job accompanying on piano and I took his suggestion to double the octave in the left hand, thus improving the piece. #Flute#Flutesolo#piano#womancomposer#newmusic