breaking news

colin gilliland has sex with monkeys for money. he's a monkey hooker.

just thought yall should know...

love,
james

do your chains hang low?

although my education in pop culture is pretty much limited to what i hear playing at the gym, i gotta say, this chains hang low song is pretty friggen amazing. i don't know who does it, and frankly, i don't care, but i definitely almost dropped a large amount of weight on my face when that song came on because i was laughing so hard. anyways...

so, the end is nearing. my freshman year of my masters degree is almost complete. freshman year you ask? yeah... colin and i decided that since we're here for 4 semesters we'll be referring to each semester as a year. next semester we'll be sophomores.

freshman year was good to me overall, with a few exceptions here and there. i definitely didn't drink enough, so that's going on the to do list for next year for sure. i guess i'll also make an attempt at refining my studying skills as well next year. my grades are fine but i think they could be better and i could be less stressed if i didn't procrasitinate so much on my studying. i think that's gonna happen to a certain degree in your 7th year of school (5.5 at eau claire, .5 in eau claire but not technically in school, this being my 7th). there will be no thought of continuing straight into a doctorate degree when i'm done here. right now my thoughts are nyc or cruise ship, neither of which involve music history tests. those thoughts could change though. i've been giving some serious thought to going into the ultimate frisbee profession. i'm really good so i'm sure i could lead my team to a victory in the championship game and secure a nike sponsorship. after signing my deal with nike i'll naturally get my own daytime talk show and start my own line of clothing and wristwatches...yeah...wristwatches will be good, considering i don't wear one... that's it! i'll invent a wristwatch that will be surgically installed into your wrist. it'll have music, internet, cell phone capabilities, and ofcourse it will have the awesome power of lady attracting. the ladies will be all about my new watch. i'm gonna be a bazillamillionaire! that's right, a bazillamillionaire. you do the math.

ok, i think i'm gonna practice now...

peace,
j-bonethuginharmony

alliwannadoishavesomefun

sewiously. i don't wanna study for any more friggen quizzes or tests. i'd much rather drink. or play trombone. or drink, strip down to my boxers, and run around the sorority (sp?) houses playing bach cello suites. that oughta impress the ladies right? i think so. i'm pretty sure they'd all wanna make out with me after hearing a sexy sarabande played on bass trombone. then i'd be all like, "ladies, ladies, please. one at a time." no....wait, more like "ladies, three at a time." yeah. girls love bach.

speaking of bach and girls...do you guys know about this Voyager Golden Record that was launched into space in 1977? i learned about this in my music history class today and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing too loudly. so here's the story...

once upon a time some nerds were having a party. well, one of the nerds had a brother who was a pot smokin' hippie and he invited all of his hippie pot smokin' friends over. so they're smokin' pot and watching star trek and they get this idea that they're going to make a record, out of gold (that's so it lasts a bazillion years), and put different recordings on it and launch it into space in the hopes that an alien happens to stumble upon it.

i've just got one question...how is the alien going to play this record if he doesn't friggen have a friggen record player? stupid hippies.

man, i wonder what it would have been like to live in a time when our country was launching gold plated records containing the music of bach into outer space for ET to find 40,000+ years from now. we should probably launch britney spears into outer space for the aliens to play with.

well, i think i've wasted enough of your time. oh, and hayley, if you had a porn name it'd probably be "princess randomness." ps- david bowie is stupid.

i'm going to bed now.

love,
james

dig this

Your Pimp Name Is...

Master Fly Shagswell

What's Your Pimp Name?

fitting isn't it?

an open letter to my playing

we've been at this for a good 13 years now. it's time you shape up and start sounding a little more professional. i've had enough of this amateur bullhonkey.

breathing, i don't understand why you think it's okay to not move the air around in a manner that is appropriate to operate the trombone. we've done excersises for years to train you, but you still don't get it. it's easy. really. just friggen inhale in a full relaxed manner and blow it out in the same way. you don't need to get the shoulders or the throat involved in all of this. leave em alone!

what are you laughing at slide technique? you think this is funny? well, i think it's funny that you can't consistently move to and from 5th position accurately. i also think it's funny that when you move from 4th to 1st with 2nd in between, you split the difference and instead of playing a true 2nd position you end up somewhere between 2nd and 3rd. that kind of sound might be acceptable if i was a euphonium player (sorry...) but it's not gonna cut it here. moron.

and tone quality, you're the stupidest of em all. just because i feel like playing in the upper register doesn't mean you can just fly out the window like breathing does. you two are like bonnie and clyde...constantly robbing me of sounding half way decent. well, i've had enough. when i decide to play above a b-flat, i expect you to stick around and do some work. no more clenching and tightening up of the sound. nope, you gotta stay just as pretty and free as the low register.

you all friggen suck and i expect you to friggen get your act together asap.

love,
james

do you know who i am?

i don't know how to put this, but....i'm kind of a big deal. people know me.

hey, check it out, it's 1:11am. make a wish!

so my last post was kinda fun eh? who needs drugs when you can just deprive yourself of sleep and achieve the same effect? seriously though, those hershey bars are amazing.

today has been a strange day. i stayed up all night studying for my music history quiz because i can no longer afford to get anything less than an A+++++++ on any of the next quizzes or exams. i think it worked out for me on this quiz because i think i got one tiny little thing wrong that will be countered by my answering the extra credit question correctly.

so anyways, i went to bed at 5am, slept for an hour, got up at 6, studied for another hour, then got ready and went to take the quiz at 8. i remember finishing my quiz then the next thing i knew i woke up in my bed. i definitely don't remember walking home or anything...it freaked me out a little. i almost thought that maybe i had dreamt about taking the quiz and that i had slept in or something. luckily that was not the case. colin told me that i was definitely there.

i woke up around noon and got a call from andrew dzuik telling me that ProWinds, the music store here in town, would be calling me for an interview. they did and i interviewed for a job at 4, which they offered to me and i accepted. basically i'll be listing stuff for them on ebay and potentially doing some work with their website. it's a great position for me because i get to work my own hours and do a lot of it from home. money is good and having an employee discount at a great music store will be a nice benefit too. i need a new straight mute real bad.

so after all that nonsense i rehearsed for a buddy's recital at 7, then went and heard the top orchestra here play mahler 6. they sounded amazing. by far the best concert i've heard here so far. the horns were a little weak, but other than that, it was badass. on my way to finding the second tier balcony i wandered into the dance dept. area. i found myself in a hallway with about 20 dancers (they must have been having some kind of audition) lining the walls. they all looked at me like i was from another planet. i certainly felt like i had entered another world (anyone ever wander up to the third floor of the art wing at haas? you'll know what i'm talking about...). as i turned around i over heard two guys talking and one of them said to the other, with quite a lisp, "i know, right?" ahh stereotypes...

i dunno, maybe it doesn't sound like too weird of a day, but with the unusual sleeping, it seemed funky to me.

i have a job? that's weird.

also, i'm sad that i can't make the pilgrimage to eau claire for the bone dinner. i have an opera performance on friday night but it's one of those things that just hasn't sunken in yet....i'm in denial i guess. sad. i mean.....rage.

that's all i got.

love (kill pandas),
james

don't act like you're not impressed

i just sneezed...it felt pretty amazing too. colin told me once that most normal people, when they sneeze, they sneeze twice. for some reason, i don't. i just sneeze once and that's it. damn. i guess that means i'm not a normal sneezer.

so i got a text message from a friend yesterday asking me if i would like to arm wrestle life. i'm pretty sure i can kick life's ass, so i say "bring it." no really, i've been going to the gym a lot lately and i'm pretty sure life would end up in the hospital with nothing less than a broken leg and a black eye, courtesy of the kick-punch special deluxe, if it tried to start sh*t with me. yeah, i'm a badass...

so anyways, i'm not exactly sure why i'm writing here right now. i'm actually really tired and somewhat delirious, and my bed is literally a foot away. it's telling me that i have class in 6 hours and that i should lie down on it and go to sleep. i wish it'd stop talking to me because it's really startin' to friggen creep me out.

well, you're pwobably lookin' to hear about something relevant so here goes....

i miss eau claire.
i miss my dog.
classes are hard.
bass trombone playing needs a jumpstart currently.
colin is still alive and same as always.
there is a girl in oklahoma city that i have familiar relations with and i miss her too.
i'm still looking for a coffee shop around here even though i don't like coffee.
i recently discovered the hershey chocolate bar that has peanut butter inside.

not much else has relevance at the moment. you may think it's sad, but i'm a simpleton so i'm happy.

i hope you're all happy too.

love,
james

response from dad

When we went to the Boundary Waters 3 weeks ago, we considered mounting machine guns on our canoes to combat terrorism. What better way to sneak into the US than through the BWCA? We decided not to do that based on portaging the machine guns and ammo.

It has been a topic of news lately here in Duluth. To me, it seems a bit far fetched to reason that this training is necessary. We’d be much more vulnerable to a lake contamination. You can’t sink an ore boat or freighter with a machine gun. Just can’t make a big enough hole if you know what I mean.

I’d be looking for what is getting slid through the senate while this is getting all of the attention. A sportsman cannot use lead shot over a waterway in MN or WI now. It has to be steel shot. They’d be breaking the law by using lead.

I’m pretty sure nobody is going to get shot out of the water in Lake Superior any time soon.

Thanks for staying abreast of the news. It’s what keeps people accountable.

ok, i'll just move on from this topic now. dad pretty much said what i was thinking.

love,
james

Hokay.......

in an effort to be connected to the world (since we don't have tv) i've been reading my news from the new york times and came across this article. i may not have cared so much if i didn't grow up in duluth. i simply cannot imagine being down on that lakewalk walking my dog while hearing machine gun fire across the water...

i've posted a link to the article below. since i believe you have to register on the site to view it, i'm going to cut and paste as well. my next post will probably be a good ol' fashioned rant about this article. well, it'll probably be more like a mockery, which should be a little more entertaining.

U.S. Firing Plans for Great Lakes Raise Concerns

GRAND HAVEN, Mich., Oct. 10 — Even in autumn, the cold, silent expanse of Lake Michigan defines this town, where pleasure boats glide into harbor, fishermen wait patiently for salmon and tourists peer up at the lighthouse.

But the United States Coast Guard has a new mission for the waters off of these quiet shores. For the first time, Coast Guard officials want to mount machine guns routinely on their cutters and small boats here and around all five of the Great Lakes as part of a program addressing the threats of terrorism after Sept. 11.

And, for the first time in memory, Coast Guard members plan to use a stretch of water at least five miles off this Michigan shore — and 33 other offshore spots near cities like Cleveland; Rochester; Milwaukee; Duluth, Minn.; and Gary, Ind. — as permanent, live fire shooting zones for training on their new 7.62 mm weapons, which can blast as many as 650 rounds a minute and send fire more than 4,000 yards.

The notion is so unusual that it prompted United States diplomats to negotiate with Canadian authorities in order to agree that it would not violate a 189-year-old treaty, signed after the War of 1812, limiting arms on the Great Lakes.

Many here in Grand Haven, a town whose history is so lovingly intertwined with the Coast Guard that it holds an annual festival celebrating the service branch, say they think of Coast Guard members mainly as the rugged sailors who race off to search for and save troubled boaters. But even here, in a town that calls itself “Coast Guard City U.S.A.,” some say the thought of members firing machine guns anywhere near these waters strikes them as dangerous to ordinary boaters, potentially damaging to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem and, frankly, a somewhat surprising place to be bracing for terrorists.

“You know exactly what’s going to happen with this,” said Bob Foster, 58, who said he spends every chance he gets on the waters here. “Some boater is going to inadvertently drive through the live fire zone and get blown out of the water.”

Carole Loftis, the owner of Snug Harbor, a popular restaurant with windows on the water, said that although she certainly carried concerns, like most Americans, about terrorism, drunken boating seemed a more frequent threat around here. “This seems a little like overkill,” Ms. Loftis said of the shooting plans.

Despite complaints from some charter boat captains, environmental groups and city leaders around the Great Lakes, the Coast Guard defended the need to mount M-240B machine guns on its boats and to test fire them two or three times a year in “safety zones,” about 70 square miles each.

“The Coast Guard has looked at an increased terrorist threat since 2001,” Rear Adm. John E. Crowley Jr., commander of the Coast Guard district that oversees the Great Lakes, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know when or if something might happen on the Great Lakes, but I don’t want to learn the hard way.”

Some members of the Coast Guard assigned to law enforcement duties always carried weapons, but most of those were personal semiautomatic pistols. Since the arrival of the boat-mounted machine guns, the Coast Guard has conducted 24 training sessions on the lakes this year, although it has halted the exercises temporarily after news of the program seeped out last month and, with it, a barrage of objection.

“When I heard, I thought it was something from The Onion newspaper or an Internet hoax,” said Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, which sits beside Lake Huron, where 6 of the 34 live fire zones are planned. “This whole thing was done way below the radar.”

The Coast Guard’s plans for permanent training zones were published in the Federal Register on Aug. 1, along with the promise of a month for public comment, but city leaders and ordinary boaters said that most of them never came across the document and that the authorities failed to provide them with any other notice of live fire plans — a fact that left some saying they felt as though the Coast Guard, now part of the Department of Homeland Security, was trying quietly to slip the whole weapons program past them.

Herb Bergson, the mayor of Duluth, got a telephone call in September from a resident who said she was listening to her marine scanner, heard talk of shooting on Lake Superior and wanted the mayor to explain what was going on.

“I didn’t know what to tell her,” Mr. Bergson said. “I was caught just flat-footed. No one told me, and they should have.”

Coast Guard leaders — who have since announced nine public meetings in Great Lakes cities, starting Monday, and have extended until Nov. 13 the period for people to weigh in on the idea — acknowledge that they initially failed to publicize the weapons training program. “I’ve got no good answer for that,” said Lt. j.g. Ryan Barone, a spokesman.

But the plans themselves, which ultimately would mean machine guns mounted on the vessels of more than 50 Coast Guard units throughout the Great Lakes, were carefully conceived, Lieutenant Barone said. Information about the proposal and scheduled public meetings is at uscgd9safetyzones.com.

All of the proposed firing zones sit at least five nautical miles from shores and from Canadian waters, as well as far from commercial shipping lanes and sensitive marine areas, Lieutenant Barone said. During the training days, when Coast Guard gunners will shoot at floating foam buoys, other boaters will be notified on marine radio frequencies, he said, and every test will include a designated safety observer.

Admiral Crowley said, “I don’t feel there’s a risk to anyone out there.”

Around the Great Lakes, some people said they were supportive of the presence of machine guns and the planned tests. The risks of terrorism, they said, cannot be underestimated — even in small towns, even in the Upper Midwest. And as with extra airport safety measures, they said, the live fire tests may be inconvenient but they are needed.

Several ferry operators in Michigan, who carry cars and passengers across Lake Michigan, said they were satisfied that their customers would be safe. Ken Alvey, president of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, which represents some 80 marine businesses, said he was comfortable knowing that the Coast Guard members would practice on their new weapons.

“To say we don’t have to worry about our open border with Canada would be foolish,” Mr. Alvey said. “You never know what avenue terrorists will take.”

But others, especially recreational boaters and professional fishing guides, said they were worried. Though most emphasized their support and gratitude to the Coast Guard, they said they did not even listen to their radios much anymore (unless a storm is rolling in) and could miss warnings altogether.

Ron Mihevc, who takes customers fishing out of the harbor at Waukegan, Ill., said he feared that the planned firing zone near Waukegan sits “right in the middle” of a prime fishing spot that draws scores of fishermen. Kelly J. Campise, another Waukegan boat captain, said fishermen already were carrying their clients many miles into Lake Michigan in search of salmon and trout at great fuel expense; going still further away to avoid the firing zones would cost still more, he said.

An 89-page environmental study, commissioned by federal authorities, concluded that rounds left in the lakes from the Coast Guard exercises would cause no harm, but Hugh McDiarmid Jr., a spokesman for the Michigan Environmental Council, said a “fuller environmental risk assessment,” given the lead content of the rounds in particular, was needed.

For years, Coast Guard boats have been armed, and training has been conducted off of the coasts of this country, said Brad J. Kieserman, chief of the operations law group at Coast Guard headquarters.

On the Great Lakes, weapons training by military branches like the Navy has also occurred in years gone by, dating back to World War I and World War II. But in keeping with a treaty known as Rush-Bagot from 1817, Coast Guard vessels on the Great Lakes have historically not included naval armaments.

But in 2003, federal authorities sought an understanding with their Canadian counterparts about Rush-Bagot in preparation for mounting machine guns on cutters so that the Coast Guard could “prevent terrorists or others engaged in criminal activities from crossing the United States-Canadian boundary by water,” according to documents from the exchange between the two countries.

In recent days, though, some Canadian mayors, who said they had not heard of the plans until this fall, have objected vehemently. David Miller, the mayor of Toronto, said he worried about practical, safety aspects of the weapons plan and about the environment, but also about the precedent set for the lakes’ more than 94,000 square miles of water.

“Our treaty had always said that the Great Lakes will not be militarized,” Mr. Miller said. “And in effect, this remilitarizes them in the name of a threat from 9/11.”

my next post should be fun :-)

love,
james

the yardley taylor project (might be a long one)

well, here it is. i've had a few days to digest (and drink...) my coaching with mr. taylor and now i'm ready to spew my thoughts on it.

first, for those who don't know who dave taylor is, he's one of the world's finest bass trombonists. if you understand the above title at all you can probably skip over this paragraph. others may want to continue reading... so, he lives in new york city and has quite an extensive resume. he's played with everyone from leopold stowkoski (sp?....conducted the american symphony orchestra) to blood, sweat, and tears. he played with duke ellington (not the ghost band...), quincy jones, mel lewis - thad jones band, etc, etc, etc... these days he's mostly known for his career as a solo and chamber musician. most consider his music of choice "contemporary" but he hates that label so i'll try not to use it too much. he's befriended many composers and has over 100 commisioned works. i think he has about 10 albums under his name. he's an eccentric artist in the most stereotypical use of the word and his weapon of choice happens to be the bass trombone. ok, enough background, on to my experience...

so it's wednesday night and almost all of the trombone students (i think about 40...), the 3 professors, and some other, i assume, brass players are gathered in one of the 4th floor large ensemble rehearsal rooms for a masterclass with dave taylor. he starts in typical fashion by introducing himself and blah blah and suddenly begins to play (and sing) this piece of music. i think it was something based on a schubert song...i'll have to go back and listen to my recording. he gets done and talks a little more. then, he looks at me and says "i see you're holding a bass trombone, would you like to come up and play for us now." i was one of 3 students on the docket to play and i kind of expected to be first so i wasn't caught off guard too much. so, i stand up in front of everyone and announce the piece i'm about to play, "variations on palestrina's 'dona nobis pacem'" ok, so, i may have been a little nervous because he immediately called me out for mumbling and asked me to repeat the title of the piece. this time, i spoke up and tried to speak more clearly. to my surprise, i failed, because he asked me again to repeat. now i'm feeling a little awkward but i try again....not happening. after he asks me to repeat the title a 4th time (keep in mind the audience i'm standing in front of) i start to wonder what is happening...what am i pronouncing wrong? finally, he lets me off the hook and is happy with my pronunciation of the title. hokay....time to play trombone now.

now, the good thing is that i'm not as shaken as i would have been a week or so previous. about twice a week since i've gotten here i've had to stand up and play in front of people and the nerves are slowly going away. i tried to get it in my head, real quick before anything negative could enter, that this isn't a big deal, i'll most likely still be alive after it's all over, and everyone wants to hear me play well. the first half goes pretty well. 2nd half was a grind as i got tired and lost a little concentration. it was one of the few times i've played through the entire piece, so, keeping that in mind, i wasn't too disappointed with my performance. little did i know, that that performance was going to be the least stressful 4 minutes of the next hour i was to endure.

i was relieved to hear the first thing he said to me was "you have a beautiful sound." i smiled and said "thank you." after that, he proceeded to put me on the spot with his every question. it went something like this;

taylor - do you like this piece?
me - yes
taylor - why?
me - it's a beautiful melody
taylor - why is it beautiful and what are you doing to communicate that beauty?
me - (staring blankly at my stand) well, it's tonal which is pleasing to my ears, the phrases are easy to understand...i guess i'm just trying to sing through my horn...
taylor - why are playing this piece?
me - well, i heard it on doug yeo's cd and kind of fell in love with it. also, it's a required solo for the ita competition.
taylor - (nodding his head as if the competition is the only reason i'm playing this) i would never play this music
me - yeah, well, i would never play anything you like (ok, i wish i would have said this, but i didn't. it occured to me later that this would have been an uproaringly funny response and would have completely eased the extreme amount of tension that was building in the room)

ok, hopefully that little transcript gives you an idea of the kinds of questions he was asking me. they may not seem too "ball busting" but i certainly felt as if i was being "called out" in front of quite a lot of people...trombone players and professors. i didn't mind so much because i should have good answers to those questions. i certainly wasn't upset. it was just taking a toll on my nerves i suppose.

after that little exchange he asked me to play some things over again in different ways. once again i found myself trying really hard to figure out exactly what he wanted from me. one of the things he asked me to do was play the first statement of the melody in a stylistically acceptable way but completely different from what was on the page... i really didn't know what to do so i kinda just made up some different articulations. another thing he asked me to do was play all of the 8th notes as written, but to do something with the other notes. well, dona nobis is a pretty simple melody so really all i had left to work with were a couple quarter notes and a couple half notes. i think i ended up just holding them longer or something. i don't exactly remember (need to go back and listen...) while feeling awkward once again, he finally explained what he was trying to get me to do. he wanted me to play this piece in a way that was "natural" to me and not the way it has been written by someone else, for someone else. i really liked this concept, however, i felt pretty natural playing it the way i had been before. it was also interesting to me that he was able to tell me to play it different but in my own way....he wouldn't tell me how to play it because then i would just be playing it his way...which is what he was trying to get me away from doing. although i love this concept, i think it may have been better understood if i had been playing a different piece, like a concerto, instead of a hymn. maybe not....

he then went on to make the point that we should be playing music we love and if we don't, the truth of the music will never be revealed. it's kind of an artsy deep thing to say, and i'm not able to put it in his exact words, but it made sense to me. it's obvious the he is 100% into the music he plays. you can tell by watching him, listening to him, and by the sheer fact that you HAVE to love that kind of music to make your living off of it. he believes that the audience can hear when you're telling the truth and when you're lying (in this case, lying is playing something you're not totally "diggin' on"). he talked about his first recital (he was 40) in which he played technically quite poorly when the whole audience rose to their feet immediately after he was done for a standing ovation. he said he was quite embarassed about it for many years to come but made the point that the audience reacted to the "truth" in his playing. i guess it's something that you'll either believe or not believe...but i believed what he was saying.

so here's my question...how do you perform a piece of music "truthfully?" afterall, music is a form of communication and when we communicate we have the option of being truthful or lying.

here's my answer, and i hope to hear what others think about this. i think what i have to do is know a piece so well that i can justify playing it my own way. who wrote the piece? who did he write it for? why did he write if for that person? why did that person agree to play the composer's music? etc, etc, etc....the list of questions could be endless. but, i think when you truly know the answers to all those questions, you can begin to approach whatever it is you're working on from your own perspective. first, though you need to have A perspective. i also think that part two of the answer is you need to love what you're working on. it may be technically difficult, or maybe boring in a couple spots, but you need to find something about it you really love and care about it. those two things, i think, are what seperate an inspired performance from one that is just technically acceptable.

ok, so, once again, those are my thoughts. take em, leave em, respond to em, do what you will. either way, thanks for reading.

love,
james

my masterclass coaching with dave taylor

my next post will be about my masterclass coaching with dave taylor.

right now, however, i'm gonna have a few...

love,
james

Baca baca boof!

the title actually isn't in reference to the king of jazz, mr. baca. although i miss him quite a lot, it's in reference to how my orchestra conductor used to sing different rhythms to the orchestra. we just finished our second concert of the season last sunday and i think it went pretty well. the conductor was mark gibson, who teaches at the cincinatti conservatory....yeah, he travelled back and forth for our rehearsals... he was a pretty intense conductor, well, atleast from my limited experience with conductors. if the orchestra was not ready in time it was never a small thing, but instead a very serious offense, which oddly enough, i came to appreciate. the man heard every single detail and every single mistake, even if it was the 100th chair violin using a different bowing. i think what impressed me more, though, was the way he didn't take ownership over the orchestra. he constantly reminded us that he wasn't rehearsing for his sake, but for our own. if we didn't feel like something needed to be rehearsed (and he would ask constantly), he wouldn't rehearse us on it. likewise, if we thought we needed to do something over again, he'd let us do it. pretty cool i thought. so far my orchestra experience here has been awesome and i can't wait for the next concert.

so now a little follow up to my last post.

i'm coming to the realization that things are what they are and that the only thing i have control over are my opinions of them. sometimes i just shouldn't form opinions on things. i'll try to explain.... it's a fact that i've come into a routine of getting to the gym, doing well in classes, and improving on the trombone. it was my opinion that this meant i was getting stuck in a rut and becoming somewhat "bored." i think it had something to do with "reporting" to my friends and family how i'm doing here in indiana. if i talked to my mom, a friend from eau claire, and wrote an e-mail to a buddy from high school all in one day telling them what i'm up to, it seemed to me that things were becoming quite routine and boring here. i simply formed a false opinion.

on the other hand, i'm starting to go explore a little more to break up some of the monotony. last weekend i randomly decided to go checkout a local restaurant at 10 o'clock at night. i discovered some huge music festival that was happening downtown and just roamed around for a while. it was refreshing. i'm also looking for a couple good coffee shops around here where i can go to do homework. although i didn't frequent racy's and the acoustic until my last couple months in eau claire, i miss those places a lot. i also miss the bistro and obviously the joynt. i need to find some similar places around here to get away from the apartment and the music building.

ok, so those are some thoughts for ya...

now for something fun. i laughed myself into tears watching this clip the first time i saw it. 5 points if you can identify what the bunny is singing. 2 points for composer, 2 points for genre, and 1 point for the date it was written. it's music history time!



thanks for readin'

james

it really is about the journey

so here i am, in my 5th week of graduate school, and i'm feelin' pretty burned out. don't worry, this post won't get depressing, i promise.

when i first got here, i had a few goals that i was looking forward to tackling and some things i was pretty optimistic about. i was coming off of a summer where i had been very dedicated about working out and i knew that once i got to school and quit playing 7 shows a day outside in the heat, followed by staying up till 2+ am in the morning, i would most likely start to make some nice gains. (ok, i know some of you laugh at me trying to gain weight, but others of you know it's mildly important to me). sure enough, i've put on some weight and am about to reach my goal. (to spare myself the embarrassment, i won't tell you what that goal is. you can probably guess anyways.) now that i'm so close, however, i'm losing the motivation. instead of eating first thing when i get up in the morning, or right before i go to bed, i make some excuse like, "it won't kill me to miss this meal just once."

and of course, the same thing is beginning to happen with my playing. in my first few weeks, i was really struggling to play with a good orchestral bass trombone sound. my high range/endurance was basically non-existent despite the fact that i played tenor all summer long out at dorney. i was EXTREMELY motivated to get it back and worked patiently and diligently to do so. this last monday (2 days ago) my teacher gave me a huge compliment in my lesson. he said something like "james, i'm starting to hear glimpses of the bass trombone player you're going to be someday." ok, so, maybe it doesn't really sound like a compliment to you, but trust me on this, it's the closest i've come to one in my lessons thus far and it was right after i got done playing something that i thought came out pretty well. also, in studio class the week before, i was able to shake my nerves for the first time while playing in front of people at this school. it was a huge relief for me.

one last thing before i move on. when i first accepted here and began to tell everyone, i was told how difficult of an academic school this would be. i was nervous about this not because i'm not smart (well, i am a trombone player...) but because i knew that i have problems sometimes getting homework done. so, i told myself i was going to stay on top of it from the very beginning. so far i have and i've gotten nothing less than a B+ on the many quizzes and tests i've had so far.

so now, here i am, somewhat "satisfied" with how i've been handling everything and i'm beginning to lose steam. i slept in and didn't go to my music history class this morning. it took me about an hour to eat something after i did finally get up. i have a theory assignment due tomorrow that i haven't started yet and i haven't played a note yet today. granted, i'm going to get all this stuff done and it's going to be fine. i'm not writing to complain about all the stuff i have to do. that would be pathetic.

what is interesting to me though is that i'm happy with how i've been handling this experience so far, but i'm now becoming bored with it. i used to be proud that i was able to get up and go to the gym before my 8am class and now it just sort of seems routine and ordinary. same with everything else. i know it's cliche to say that i'm stuck in a rut, but it's sort of what it feels like.

so now i ask myself what the heck i'm going to do about it...

i don't exactly know the answer, but the obvious thing to do seems to be to set some new goals that, in order to meet them, require i continue to do what i was doing those first few weeks. the playing thing is simple. i need to find some auditions and go to town with the goal of winning one. as for putting on weight and working out, my goal will be to weigh 10 lbs more than the goal i'm about to reach. as for the school thing, i'm not sure. i'm thinking about setting up some kind of thing where i reward myself with something silly for getting an A or getting my homework done in a timely fashion. i'll take suggestions on that one.

well, i guess i'm done writing about that for a while. i'm sure i'll be keeping you up to date on how it's going.

and in case you're not sick of reading yet here are some things that are coming up that i'm excited about.

sunday - schumann 3 concert
next week thursday - dave taylor is here
last weekend of october - one of my new favorite persons is coming to visit (she's a girl!)

ok, really, i'm done now. i could continue on and tell you about colin and mine's first big 10 sporting event experience at the indiana vs. wis game last weekend, but i just need to get away from the computer for a little bit. maybe i'll come back later in the day and write about it. no promises though.

love,
james

i love this stuff

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40984

this is sweet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvA2qTnoe1g

i like my burgers medium well please

ok, it's time for a good ol' fashioned rant. i just got back from my 8am music history class and i got a few words to say about the behavior of some of my peers at this "prestigous" university.

1. turn off your friggen cell phones! you're a graduate student right? you want to be here, studying what you love and so do the people around you right? so turn the damn thing off. and maybe, just maybe, if some other unfortunate person's cell phone happens to ring before yours does, maybe double check to make sure that yours is off so that you don't become douchebag numero dos. oh yeah, and if two cell phones go off before yours does, and then yours rings, well, guess what, you're an idiot and deserve to be pantsed in front of the entire class. one last thing before i move on, if your ring happens to be 'when the saints go marching in' please refrain from being a tool and saying 'it's jesus calling' jesus wouldn't call you at 8am while you're in your music history class. he's smarter than that. you're not, but jesus is. he would 'want' you to turn your %)(*@)#( cell phone off.

2. maybe the last class before an exam isn't the best time to be doing crossword puzzles. no, i can think of a better time to figure out what 3 across is. here's a hint; it probably has nothing to do with machaut or motets. don't worry though, i'm sure you'll do great on the test.

honestly, the tromone players here kick my ass, but the people in these classes are nothing short of priceless. it's worse than high school. i just hope they have their spatulas ready...

i gotta admit

i'm pretty impressed that anyone still reads this. after that long of a haitus (sp?), i was sure no one would be back. makes me realize how lucky i am to have friends that genuinely care...

k, sorry bout that, didn't mean to get all touchy feely on ya (leave it alone andrei...)

so here's a quick update;

all the trombone stuff is working itself out. i'm being patient with it and it's starting to pay off. one of the things i'm doing is playing a lot of air trombone where i just blow air through the horn instead of playing actual notes. so if something isn't working, i use all the right positions and articulation but instead of tone it's all air. i guess it just teaches my body how easy it should feel when i actually play. so then when i go to actually play the passage, my body seems to remember some of what i just taught it to do. yeah, it sounds silly but i'm writing about it because maybe someday i can come back and read this when things get funky again.

trombone stuff aside i'm doing well. i miss eau claire and all my friends and family but i'm slowing starting to meet new people and feel at home here. ultimate frisbee is helping with that side of things. i've been uber disciplined with my diet and working out, with the exception of going to qdoba too often with colin. we can't help it, it's just too good. i think we might have to sign up for their "frequent biter" card...

well, that's all i have time for right now. frisbee is starting...

take care,
james

a tough lesson

well, i'm half way hoping that no one reads this anymore, but if someone happens to stumble across this post, it won't be the end of the world. i had a difficult trombone lesson today and just need to put some thoughts down. i don't currently keep a journal (maybe i should :-)) and i just need a quick place to put some thoughts down, so here they are.

like i said, i had a tough time in my lesson today. the specifics of the techniques i was struggling with aren't necessarily important. to sum it up, though, my high range sucks and i'm having difficulty controlling tension. i think it's mostly in my throat and neck. but, like i said, that's not really the important stuff.

what's important is the way i was feeling during the lesson (and afterwards) and the awful thoughts that were running through my head. i typically don't allow such thoughts to ever enter my brain, but today it was more difficult than usual.

i had this thought that i don't deserve to be here and i don't deserve the scholarship i'm on. i also felt like i didn't earn the placement that i got for ensembles this semester. being a bass trombone player (or even a trombone player in general) i've been fortunate to be afforded playing opportunities that are above my head, for the sole reason that there is no one else around to cover the parts. i'm starting to realize that it's all been a double edged sword. i've gotten better because of those opportunities, but i'm now in a spot where i skipped some very crucial steps along the way (atleast i'm feeling like i have at the current moment). it's not a good feeling to think that i can't perform a basic technique while beginning my masters degree.

another awful thought that entered my brain today is that i've just been fooling myself and everyone else with this whole becoming a professional musician thing. this is the thought that hurt the most. it's the idea that everyone thinks i'm so good (not that people think that or should think that but you know what i mean) when i intamitely know that i'm not. when someone pays me a compliment about my playing, most of the time i feel like i've gotten away with something. like i just fooled them or even lied to them. i know sometimes i even lie to myself just to get over my frustration. i also do this because telling myself i suck doesn't do me any good.

what i'm starting to realize is that i can't lie to myself about my problems, but i need to find a way to be honest with myself about them without being negative. i wonder if i can admit that i have a problem and be happy to have that problem to work on...

my other method to deal with this comes from my teacher. he reminded me that i need to be a happy, peaceful, patient, and tenacious person. being unhappy and getting down on myself won't make this go away or make it any easier. basically what i need to do is not let my trombone playing control my overall mood for the day. that's a hard thing to do when i'm so attached to my playing. after my lesson today i walked home listening to some relaxing music and then when i got there i just laid down on my bed and fell asleep with no alarm. now it's 8pm (haha, my lesson was at 1:30) and i'm feeling ready to give it a go again.

ok, well, i really hope i didn't subject anyone to such a lame post, but to be fair, you were warned at the beginning. not sure if there will be any future posts, but we'll see. if i'm able to get over this rather quickly i may post a lil follow up with what i did...but i don't think this is gonna be one of those things i can fix quickly.

here's to not being discouraged,
james

somedaybrassplayerswilltakeovertheworld

just click below.

http://www.jayfriedman.net/files/strauss_fanfare.mp3

KBE editions has just released Jay Friedman's arrangement of "A Strauss Fanfare" which is an encore to Strauss' Alpine Symphony for brass which was premiered several years ago. This performance is by the brass and percussion of the Chicago Symphony and Royal Concertgebow Orchestra's, Jay Friedman conducting. It was recorded live in Symphony Center, Chicago, June 2005.

i almost cried. then i decided i would practice instead.

with l-o-v-e love,
james

marktwainconcerningthetrombone

below is an excerpt from the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
and Other Sketches by mark twain. it's kinda long but if you love trombone, or love someone who plays trombone, you might enjoy reading it. i discovered it on the web site of my new teacher, carl lenthe. here's a link to his website for those who are curious:
http://www.indiana.edu/~trombone/StudioLenthe.htm

If it please your neighbor to break the sacred calm of night with the snorting of an unholy trombone, it is your duty to put up with his wretched music and your privilege to pity him for the unhappy instinct that moves him to delight in such discordant sounds. I did not always think thus: this consideration for musical amateurs was born of certain disagreeable personal experiences that once followed the development of a like instinct in myself. Now this infidel over the way, who is learning to play on the trombone, and the slowness of whose progress is almost miraculous, goes on with his harrowing work every night, uncurled by me, but tenderly pitied. Ten years ago, for the same offense, I would have set fire to his house. At that time I was a prey to an amateur violinist for two or three weeks, and the sufferings I endured at his hands are inconceivable. He played "Old Dan Tucker," and he never played any thing else; but he performed that so badly that he could throw me into fits with it if I were awake, or into a nightmare if I were asleep. As long as he confined himself to "Dan Tucker," though, I bore with him and abstained from violence; but when he projected a fresh outrage, and tried to do "Sweet Home," I went over and burnt him out. My next assailant was a wretch who felt a call to play the clarionet. He only played the scale, however, with his distressing instrument, and I let him run the length of his tether, also; but finally, when he branched out into a ghastly tune, I felt my reason deserting me under the exquisite torture, and I sallied forth and burnt him out likewise. During the next two years I burned out an amateur cornet player, a bugler, a bassoon-sophomore, and a barbarian whose talents ran in the base-drum line.

I would certainly have scorched this trombone man if he had moved into my neighborhood in those days. But as I said before, I leave him to his own destruction now, because I have had experience as an amateur myself, and I feel nothing but compassion for that kind of people. Besides, I have learned that there lies dormant in the souls of all men a penchant for some particular musical instrument, and an unsuspected yearning to learn to play on it, that are bound to wake up and demand attention some day. Therefore, you who rail at such as disturb your slumbers with unsuccessful and demoralizing attempts to subjugate a fiddle, beware! for sooner or later your own time will come. It is customary and popular to curse these amateurs when they wrench you out of a pleasant dream at night with a peculiarly diabolical note; but seeing that we are all made alike, and must all develop a distorted talent for music in the fullness of time, it is not right. I am charitable to my trombone maniac; in a moment of inspiration he fetches a snort, sometimes, that brings me to a sitting posture in bed, broad awake and weltering in a cold perspiration. Perhaps my first thought is, that there has been an earthquake; perhaps I hear the trombone, and my next thought is, that suicide and the silence of the grave would be a happy release from this nightly agony; perhaps the old instinct comes strong upon me to go after my matches; but my first cool, collected thought is, that the trombone man's destiny is upon him, and he is working it out in suffering and tribulation; and I banish from me the unworthy instinct that would prompt me to burn him out.

After a long immunity from the dreadful insanity that moves a man to become a musician in defiance of the will of God that he should confine himself to sawing wood, I finally fell a victim to the instrument they call the accordeon. At this day I hate that contrivance as fervently as any man can, but at the time I speak of I suddenly acquired a disgusting and idolatrous affection for it. I got one of powerful capacity, and learned to play "Auld Lang Syne" on it. It seems to me, now, that I must have been gifted with a sort of inspiration to be enabled, in the state of ignorance in which I then was, to select out of the whole range of musical composition the one solitary tune that sounds vilest and most distressing on the accordeon. I do not suppose there is another tune in the world with which I could have inflicted so much anguish upon my race as I did with that one during my short musical career.

After I had been playing "Lang Syne" about a week, I had the vanity to think I could improve the original melody, and I set about adding some little flourishes and variations to it, but with rather indifferent success, I suppose, as it brought my landlady into my presence with an expression about her of being opposed to such desperate enterprises. Said she, "Do you know any other tune but that, Mr. Twain?" I told her, meekly, that I did not. "Well, then," said she, "stick to it just as it is; don't put any variations to it, because it's rough enough on the boarders the way it is now."

The fact is, it was something more than simply "rough enough" on them; it was altogether too rough; half of them left, and the other half would have followed, but Mrs. Jones saved them by discharging me from the premises.

I only staid one night at my next lodging-house. Mrs. Smith was after me early in the morning. She said, "You can go, sir; I don't want you here; I have had one of your kind before -- a poor lunatic, that played the banjo and danced breakdowns, and jarred the glass all out of the windows. You kept me awake all night, and if you was to do it again, I'd take and mash that thing over your head!" I could see that this woman took no delight in music, and I moved to Mrs. Brown's.

For three nights in succession I gave my new neighbors "Auld Lang Syne," plain and unadulterated, save by a few discords that rather improved the general effect than otherwise. But the very first time I tried the variations the boarders mutinied. I never did find any body that would stand those variations. I was very well satisfied with my efforts in that house, however, and I left it without any regrets; I drove one boarder as mad as a March hare, and another one tried to scalp his mother. I reflected, though, that if I could only have been allowed to give this latter just one more touch of the variations, he would have finished the old woman.

I went to board at Mrs. Murphy's, an Italian lady of many excellent qualities. The very first time I struck up the variations, a haggard, care-worn, cadaverous old man walked into my room and stood beaming upon me a smile of ineffable happiness. Then he placed his hand upon my head, and looking devoutly aloft, he said with feeling unction, and in a voice trembling with emotion, "God bless you, young man! God bless you! for you have done that for me which is beyond all praise. For years I have suffered from an incurable disease, and knowing my doom was sealed and that I must die, I have striven with all my power to resign myself to my fate, but in vain -- the love of life was too strong within me. But Heaven bless you, my benefactor! for since I heard you play that tune and those variations, I do not want to live any longer -- I am entirely resigned -- I am willing to die -- in fact, I am anxious to die." And then the old man fell upon my neck and wept a flood of happy tears. I was surprised at these things; but I could not help feeling a little proud at what I had done, nor could I help giving the old gentleman a parting blast in the way of some peculiarly lacerating variations as he went out at the door. They doubled him up like a jack-knife, and the next time he left his bed of pain and suffering he was all right, in a metallic coffin.

My passion for the accordeon finally spent itself and died out, and I was glad when I found myself free from its unwholesome influence. While the fever was upon me, I was a living, breathing calamity wherever I went, and desolation and disaster followed in my wake. I bred discord in families, I crushed the spirits of the light-hearted, I drove the melancholy to despair, I hurried invalids to premature dissolution, and I fear me I disturbed the very dead in their graves. I did incalculable harm, and inflicted untold suffering upon my race with my execrable music; and yet to atone for it all, I did but one single blessed act, in making that weary old man willing to go to his long home.

Still, I derived some little benefit from that accordeon; for while I continued to practice on it, I never had to pay any board -- landlords were always willing to compromise, on my leaving before the month was up.

Now, I had two objects in view in writing the foregoing, one of which was to try and reconcile people to those poor unfortunates who feel that they have a genius for music, and who drive their neighbors crazy every night in trying to develop and cultivate it; and the other was to introduce an admirable story about Little George Washington, who could Not Lie, and the Cherry-Tree -- or the Apple-Tree -- I have forgotten now which, although it was told me only yesterday. And writing such a long and elaborate introductory has caused me to forget the story itself; but it was very touching.

hope you enjoyed it.

love,
james

breakingnewsfromthebbc

i'm not making this up. i copied and pasted directly from the bbc website. the link is below. you should click it just to see the picture of the poor trombone that was taken. it's just funnier seeing it on their website.

Noisy neighbour's trombone taken

A trombone was seized by police in Dumfries after complaints about noise coming from a flat in the town.

Other items taken included a drum kit, electric guitars, a television, radio, stereosystems and amplifiers.

A 55-year-old man, of Barnraws, in Shakespeare Street, was fined £200 under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 at Dumfries Sheriff Court.

The court ordered the forfeit of the sound-making items which police said could "inflict misery" on neighbours.

The conviction related to a number of complaints of continuous noise and antisocial behaviour coming from the town centre flat.

The complaints were jointly investigated by local police and noise reduction officers.

'Antisocial behaviour'

Police said the action showed they would crack down on people causing a noise nuisance.

"Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is committed to addressing community concerns through working closely with partnership agencies," said Ch Insp Michael Collins.

"In this case the man concerned has been creating a nuisance to his neighbours for some time.

"We are delighted that the court has seen fit to forfeit the equipment this man used to indulge in antisocial behaviour and inflict misery on his neighbours."

here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/4973208.stm

looking forward to your comments.

love,
james

somereallysweettromboneplaying

Carl Fontana

52postsisenoughithink

well, i had a chance to sleep on it and i came to this conclusion; it's time for me to just bow out as gracefully as i can. i want to finish out my obligations here in eau claire, spend as much time as humanly possible with all the people i love, take a bow, and exit stage right.

the end.

love,
james

lastone?maybe......

well, i think the goal of feeling awesome for the day has been achieved. i've been down the last few days and the combination of really nice weather, playing chamber music on my trombone with other good musicians, throwing a frisbee around with ryan and phil, and riding my bike has managed bring my moral back up where it needs to be. i think now i'll put on some good music and pick up around the apartment. living in a clean place will help me feel better about myself too.

in other news, i'm toying with the idea of giving up this blog. ::gasp:: i think it's just too easy to say sh*t publicly that shouldn't be said. i know we all have that problem a little bit with our blogs. that's why they're so interesting right? yeah, maybe interesting, but worth the trouble? i don't know. probably not for this guy. personally, i feel like we should have the right to write anything we friggen feel like writing. i'm not here to stop anyone from doing that. that would be completely lame. you can write about how you love osama or killing bunnies and i'm not going to get mad at you for writing it. as long as i'm not being forced to read it, why should i get upset? i'm a big kid and i can choose not to read it, so write on brothas and sistas, write on. write about me for all i care. tell the world i smell like bunny poop. that might be funny. but i figure, if you tell the world that i smell bad, you just make yourself look like a tool. you'd better shower a lot to say such a thing.

i guess i'm just unsure whether or not i can control myself when i REALLY want to say stuff but know this isn't the place. self-control and discipline are usually really easy for me. but when stress is mixed in, dammit it's hard. why do i have to be human. life as a robot would be so much easier. i think i can do it though. you're all gonna have to hold me accountable if i continue to put my thoughts here. don't let me say personal sh*t that i shouldn't say here okay? deal?

sweet.

love,
james"iknowiknow,istilloweyouaduckstory"yardley

leafsoupparttwo

just got back from playing routine with corey. i was amazed at how great i felt once i put that horn to my face. playing my instrument is the best therapy i can think of, mentally and physically. i didn't feel awful when i woke up this morning, but there were some definite lingering effects from last night. i'm a firm believer that pain, whether mental or physical, is all a matter the mind and since my mind thinks of nothing but sound when i play my trombone, it's not occupied with pain or anything else. that's awesome to me.

so last night was freaking sweet. after playing at v-ball i hung with coliflower and his fam for a little while then went over to the house. jake, nate, lydo, phil salwas, phil salwas' friend, and i hung out and drank too much alcohol for our own good. we talked about gas, taxes, practicing, attitude, and probably some other stuff that i'm not remembering right now. the conversation was excellent. i haven't hung with salwas ever i don't think and he's a really cool guy. he makes a mean rum and coke too. i think i left around 2 and came back and slept like a baby. that felt really good.

not exactly sure what i'll do with the rest of my day. if you have any ideas, let me know :-). practicing will be in there somewhere, but other than that, i don't have too much planned for the day. maybe i'll sit around and watch tv or a movie. that could nice.

oh yeah, and i thought of something else that's green and cool while driving over to the music building. green traffic lights. i mean honestly, who doesn't love to see a green light? it's better than a red light and yellow, pff, c'mon. yellow's got nothin' on green. nothin.

love,
james"humptydumptysatonawall"yardley

leafsoup

ever feel like you totally f*cked something up but it was okay because you learned from it? i have.

so, i started a new tube of toothpaste this morning. it's green, which is the sweetest color ever, in case you haven't heard.

okay, i gotta go play routine with vern. more later.

love,
james"lookingattheworldthroughgreencoloredglasses"yardley

greenisthenewblue

so here's a couple things that i think are sweet:

1. thunderstorms
2. waking up and noticing that the grass is greener than the day before
3. ducks

yeah, last night there was an awesome thunderstorm. i slept on my couch, as i usually do, and watched the kitchen light up from the lightening and then listened to my windows rattle as the thunder boomed. the sound of the rain eventually put me to sleep.

waking up this morning, i noticed how much greener it was outside. it made me realize how much i love the color green and i'm now officially declaring it my new favorite color. i used to be a blue guy, but now it's all about the green. green is the color of a famous frog, my eyes, and my favorite shirt. so there ya have it. green is my new blue.

anyways, i had my first lesson with a new trombone student last night and i'm totally pumped about teaching again. i had taken a sabbatical (one of many i'm now realizing) from teaching in preparation for grad school auditions and it was really awesome to work with this young guy. he's a middle school euphonium player who wants to play trombone so that someday he can play in memorial's jazz band. wait a minute...that sounds familiar....oh yeah....that's the exact same thing i did when i was his age. cool. he really wants to learn and my first impression of him is that he's pretty intelligent, especially for his age. teaching a student with goals is about the sweetest thing a teacher can hope for.

not much else going on in the world of me. bone choir concert is tonight so you should probably go to that. 7:30, gantner. it'll be my last one here.....i promise this time! v-ball is this weekend, but i'm not sure how excited i am to go. bone choir is playing, so i'll fulfill my commitment to that, but i may jet afterwards, we'll see. the bistro might be a good place to hang this weekend.

that is all.

love,
james"you'llgetyourduckstoryinthenextpost"yardley

ps-congrats to angie heyer for the correct answer to the "trivia" question in my last post. i owe you a drink. now can someone please tell me what rsvp means?

piddlywinklesticks

so i bet you think you're gonna read another duck story here don't ya. well, you're right. here comes one.

i was at the stones throw tonight and this duck walks in. he's all dressed up like one of those ducks that goes to important meetings and spends every spare second on his cell phone talking to other ducks about important duck business. you know the kind i'm talking about....so anyways, he waddles in and hops up on the stool next to me, orders a drink, and starts quackin' away about this and that. he's talking to me about eggs, and feathers, what it's like to have webbed feet, and i'm listening contently. then, out of no where, he pulls out his saxophone, hops up on stage, and takes 24 choruses of the blues and flies out the door. weird huh?

yep.

easter was cool. i went home to duluth for the first easter since high school (and we all know that's been a loooooooooong time....[insert old joke here]). it was nice to be home to spend time with the family and the dog. i rolled in at about 3 in the morning on thursday night/friday morning after driving from the recording session. i was really proud of my dog because she came charging at the door ready to attack when i walked in until she realized it was me. i was proud because she's the most happy go lucky dog in the world and i never gave her credit for actually being capable of protecting the house. she was really happy once she realized who i was. the rest of my family was sound asleep, even after the few seconds of her vicious barking, so i just crawled into bed quietly without waking anyone up.

the weekend was uneventful for the most part. i saw a LOT of deer and other wildlife, hung out with my brother a little bit, played trombone at church, and just relaxed. my mom's birthday was today so i had lunch with her before driving back to eau claire.

that's it. nothing profound. a duck story and a brief update is all you get.

love,
james"wantsacookie"yardley

ps-1 beer goes to the person who can tell me what ps stands for without looking it up. the person i've already explained it to is excluded from this offer (sorry). actually, no they're not. if they would actually let me buy them a drink (wink wink), then they can be included as well. but anyways, for one drink, what does ps stand for. and no looking it up! this is trivia folks, not research. on your honor! that was a good book....

breakingnews

list of things to do today:

1. dishes
1a. practice
2. laundry
2a. practice
3. haircut
3a. practice
3b. practice
4. quit practicing and record in st. paul
5. drive home to duluth for easter

pretty simple day all in all. most of it will be spent preparing mentally and physically to record a solo for the jazz 1 christmas cd. i believe it will be more of a mental challenge than anything, so, the goal for today is to find that place where any thought that isn't related to music doesn't enter my brain. a good place to start, i think, is to get some thoughts out right now.

c'funk's recital was great. i thought he played splendidly and i was happy to be a part of it. i'm glad joe made it up too. it's always refreshing to play for the people in the audience who are really cheering for you. and...incase you haven't heard, joe got into grad school at the u of mn! that's right, three eau claire trombone players got into grad school in one year. maybe someday the three of us will form the trombone section of a major orchestra. wouldn't that be a ride (no pun intended). anywho....it's nice to know that the trombone studio can find a little bit of success outside of this tiny world of eau claire. if only i could find 5th position, life would be grand.

hmm....what else to write about? i guess that's it... sorry for the boring post. i'll make it up to you later with something really juicy. like...um...a watermelon, or maybe a steak. or maybe just a stick of juicyfruit gum.

so there was this duck....and he was walking (or waddling i guess) down the sidewalk, chewing juicyfruit gum and out of nowhere comes this bunny. and this bunny is like, "hey, gimme some of that gum," and the duck says, "quack quack, i'm not givin' your silly ball shaped tail nothin' quack." so then the bunny says "fine, then i'm not sharing my carrots anymore," and he hops away. yeah....that actually happened. weird huh?

the end.

love,
james"needstoquitsmokingsomuchcrack"yardley

ducksonthesidewalk

so there's these two ducks right? and they're walking down the sidewalk infront of my house having a ducky ol' time. i have to admit that i'm kinda jealous. being a duck would be pretty sweet i think. you could fly to your favorite river or lake and just float around all day with the lady ducks. nice people would feed you stuff like popcorn or bread and could just amuse them with your quacking. yeah, a duck's life for me please.

anyways, i think i should stop reading other people's blogs for a while. maybe till i'm out of eau claire at least. sometimes i run into things that make my head spin, and it's not the good kind of headspinning where you get that dizzy feeling and laugh a lot. it's more of a, "wow, i really didn't want to read that" type of feeling. usually, i'm interested in other people's thoughts because a lot of times, they can be stimulating to my own brain. but, sometimes, i read stuff that makes me sad. i suppose i could just read the blogs i know won't bother me and ignore the ones i think might. any thoughts on the subject? feel free to comment.

joe hartson is visiting tomorrow and staying with me so i'm looking forward to seeing him.

joel left for germany today. we drank on sunday and he helped my break into my house after i realized i had locked myself out. i helped him move some stuff up to dickerson's house yesterday. the dog he was living with really is a little sh*t. i usually love dogs, but not this one. anyways, i'm going to miss joel a lot. i have nothing but good memories with that guy.

not too much else to say right now. warm weather is awesome. ducks are sweet. trombone is good.

see ya later,
james"ducky"yardley

underwaterblogging

sometimes i feel like writing even when i have nothing to say. like right now... i could update you on all the stuff i've done, bought, eaten, stepped in, rollerbladed through, pole vaulted over, etc, etc, but that kind of blogging is starting to get old for me. but for those that are just dyin' to know, i'll humor you....

i bought a new trombone on saturday. becker and i traveled to groth music in bloomington, mn and we picked out a conn 88h with lindberg valve. it's a very nice horn and the more i play it, the more i like it. it made it's debut at the bistro last night on a blues. it was fun.

after hanging at the bistro, i went to the hastings house and hung with old man and company. we listened to some mahler rehearsal and i drank a celebratory beer. thanks pat. next we visited the house where there were two seperate (???) parties going on. it was kinda weird, so i didn't stay long.

i woke up this morning, played some trombone, went to lunch with my friend rebecca, then played more trombone at school, then went to the orchestra concert, then played more trombone. that brings us to the present moment. happy?

ok, so, the orchestra concert was good. there were definitely some very nice moments that sent chills down my spine. so a big, hearty "congratulations" to all who were involved. it wasn't technically perfect, but you made music and that's all that matters so be proud of yourselves. i certainly was.

sooo...not too exciting right? well, brace yourselves. this video is sure to entertain. enjoy!

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Tommy%20Pederson/video/99323

love,
james"girlsjustwannahavefun"yardley

i'm me again!

ahhh...i finally feel like i'm james yardley again. it feels good, let me tell you. i don't feel like i'm someone else, trying to be all serious about auditions and not enjoying life to it's fullest and blah blah blah. ok, granted, maybe this feeling is a quasi drunkenness because i just got back from the joynt, but nonetheless, i feel comfortable in my own skin again, which is a relief. auditions took their toll, but it's all over now and i can do the things i enjoy in life once again.

i had an exciting conversation with a friend tonight. they know who they are. and hopefully they know that i'm actually following through with these plans. nuff said.

i hope my other friends feel better soon. i miss them and want them to be healthy again. hayley....lydo....and anyone else feeling under the weather...you get better soon.

that's about it. ben and i owned colin and evan at darts, so i will sleep well knowing my awesome skill contributed to that. evan started up the trash talking, to his own dismay. poor widdle guy. it's okay buddy. you just keep trying like that little engine that could. chugga chugga chugga chugga choo chooooooo!

love,
j

breathe james, breathe

well, i just got off the phone with andy neesley and i must say, i'm feeling 100% better about my rejection from manhattan. i need a little time to absorb what he told me, so i won't write about it right now. maybe later. it's a shame all the "neesley critics" don't know him like i do because he is a brilliant person, and he's been a wonderfully good friend to me. i'm sure he doesn't read this, but that won't stop me from thanking him here anyways.

so, off to indiana i go. i should find an apartment asap. looks like i'm going to spend my summer at dorney again too. we don't start till june 27th, though, so i'm definitely looking for something cool to do with the beginning of my summer. i think much backpacking and camping will be in order. any takers? maybe a trip out west?

insurance company called me today about my trombone. i've got everything set and will be ordering a few horns to try out soon.

need to get my taxes done. need to start working out again. need to breathe more.

that's about it.

love,
james

bacon pie

well, it's certainly been an up and down week for me. monday i find out my trombone was stolen. tuesday i find out i got a full ride to indiana. then things are cool for a few days. had a great time listening to brian grivna and lewis nash clinic and play on thursday and friday. saturday i received two rejection letters from manhattan and became pretty depressed. still not over it 100% but i'm feeling better. i forced myself to go to the party on saturday night after ignoring about a million and a half phone calls (sorry, i almost never screen my calls), but didn't really manage to have a good time. mostly it was because i was bummed about manhattan, but when you're already bummin' other things that normally wouldn't bother you get magnified and occupy your thoughts. so, i left relatively early and went to sleep.

just got back from lunch with a bunch of cool people and it cheered me up some. i have a bone choir rehearsal in an hour and a half, so i think i'm gonna go warm up soon. i'm calling off my break from playing and am going to dig in again. i needed the break, but it's time to get serious about music and trombone and forget about EVERYTHING else.

congrats to all the people involved with jazzfest. it was nice to play a minimal role this year and step back and enjoy it for once. good job to you all.

i'm gonna go practice now.

love,
james

gracias

so a couple days have passed since i received word of my full tuition scholarship to indiana and it still hasn't sunk in yet. the two days that have passed, however, have made me realize how fortunate i am to have such a supportive family of friends here in eau claire. the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" could not be truer in this case. when i came to eau claire, i was truly a musical child. i think i've grown to become a toddler now, thanks to my teachers and, just as importantly, my friends. the musicians i've grown up with here have had just as much impact on me as any lesson or any class i ever took. to think that you can go to school, take your classes and your lessons and shut yourself off to everyone and everything around you and conquer the world alone is foolish, to say the least. so, with that realization, i owe my family and friends a huge thank you for every little thing you've done for me.

the search for my trombone continues. i've exhausted every possibility to find that damn serial number. i'm such a fool for never having written it down. i assure you, however, that the sn for my bass is now written down in many different places, including my brain. that's right. i have it memorized. i'm actually looking into installing a tracking device on my bass. hmm.....a tracking device in the counterweight of a trombone...quick, i need the inventor's hotline number. ok, i'm a dork. you got me.

not much else to write about i guess. jazzfest is this weekend and i'm looking forward to the concerts very much. i visited the rehearsal last night and was really impressed with what i heard from the band and especially the guest artists. should be a fun weekend all around. good luck to all who are involved!

take care,
james

that's what i'm talkin' bout!!!

this is the kind of news i need to wake up to more often. read below.

Dear James:

Congratulations on your admission to the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music!

I am very pleased to inform you that in recognition of your successful audition and/or interview, the Jacobs School of Music has awarded you a music merit-based scholarship. We have sent this information to you via mail as well and you will receive it soon.

You are eligible for the following scholarship funding beginning in the 2006-2007 academic year:



Award renewal is dependent upon your meeting the requirements outlined in the financial aid policy which is in the mail with your letter.

For information about federal need-based financial aid, you may contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance at (812) 855-0321 or visit their website at www.indiana.edu/~sfa. The Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) will notify you of your federal financial aid eligibility in June, 2006.

In order to remain eligible for scholarship from the School of Music, please sign and return your letter to the Office of Music Admissions by April 15, 2006. Congratulations and please accept our best wishes for a successful academic career.

Sincerely,

Anne Vaught, Director
Office of Music Admissions


it's gonna be a good day.

love,
james

things that cheer james up

1. sympathetic friends sending their condolences regarding my trombone
2. beer
3. delicous bread that colin's mom made for me (it's reallly good)
4. insurance
5. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10340.htm
6. listening to good music
7. quasi-acceptance from indiana
8. wearing my sandals for the first time this year
9. playing my bass trombone
10. making lists about things that cheer me up

ok, so thank you all for your sympathies regarding my instrument. i understand there's not much anyone can say to cheer me up, but just knowing you care and feel for me is much appreciated. so thank you.

today was basically spent making phone calls, sending e-mails, and rummaging through pawn shops in search of my trombone. not fun, but i had to do it. i didn't find it, but i can atleast eliminate a few places that it is not, which gives me some sense of coming closer to finding it, oddly enough. i received an e-mail from the person i bought it from and he gave me the phone number of the music store where it was originally purchased. i will go to bed tonight praying that this leads me closer to getting the serial number.

not much else to report. mr. baca asked me, today, to adjudicate for jazzfest. talk about short notice. i'm glad he asked, however, because it will be fun and i can use the little money that it pays. i'm now reminded of what mark lundin told me at the joynt the other night. he said that he was working on the program and it was the first time in 3 (or 4, i can't remember) years that he had to delete my name from the program. sad :-( i'm happy to know that it is being replaced by a worthy name, however.

so that's about it for now. i'm gonna find some food, turn on the tv, and fall asleep.

love,
james

note to a thief

dear asshole,

you stole my trombone and i want it back. it was a bach 42bo, standard yellow brass with a rotor valve. put it back where you found it and never step foot into the music building again.

if you choose not to put it back, you will be sorry. maybe not now, but later, you will be sorry. the money you make from pawning it will not cover the hospital bill. it may cover the ambulance ride, depending on how far you will be from the hospital when you are beat down, but it probably won't cover the rest. i'm not a violent person. never thrown a punch in my life, actually. but, i've never had to either.

i will be looking in pawn shops, classified ads, music stores, grocery stores, treetops, mountain tops, underneath large rocks, and any place else you can possibly imagine. i'll be on ebay, and will be sending e-mails to every trombone player in the country. i have no job, and i'm not currently in school. so i have a lot of time on my hands. probably more than you.

trombone players don't steal trombones. you don't play trombone, but i suggest you start, because if you try to sell it, you will be found. you don't want to be caught holding an angry trombone player's horn. so start taking lessons, and enjoy my trombone. you will be caught.

sincerely,
james yardley

the things james wants

ok, just got back from the joynt. maybe a little drunk. but i deserve it. here's the list of things i'd like before i die.

1. an acceptance letter from a grad school
2. a little bit of money to pay my bills
3. a really sweet dog
4. a pretty girl to hold my hand

yeah...that's about it. call me a simpleton. i don't care.

grad school auditions are over, so when i sober up, i'll maybe write about it all tomorrow. till then, g'nite.

love,
james

holy cow

so i just finished up a big project and need to unwind the ol' brain a little.

andy neesley called me a few days ago and asked me to code a web site for new york artist jerry kearns. andy had done a basic job and needed me to do my thing with it. i agreed, but when i looked at the files, i wished i hadn't. all the pages were basically done with ms word html and it was all f*ed up. so, i poured a many hours cutting, pastings, deleting, etc. just to get it to function properly in any browser other than internet explorer (ie sucks by the way, download mozilla firefox). i couldn't fix EVERYTHING, but the average person to view her site won't know the difference. i just hate doing work that is below what i'm capable of.

if you're curious about the site, you can visit www.jerrykearns.com. remember, i didn't do the design, just the code (for example, getting larger images to pop up in new windows, etc.). her art is pretty neat i think.

other than that, not much else is new. i'm making some barbecue chicken in the crock pot and when it's done i'm going to cook some of my dad's canned corn and make some baby red new potatoes and feast like a king. yakob just sent me a message and i think i'm gonna go to the house and hang with him and erin k. for a while around 10ish.

thanks for readin'

love,
j

i found my tire wrench!

so i was changing my tire last night (because i still had that tiny little donut spare on from our mishap on monday) and i discovered where my change wrench was hiding. i had it the whole time. it was underneath the cover for the holding well that holds the spare and the jack and everything. ok...so...imagine you have a jar of peanut butter and there's label that says "free spoon inside." where would they put the spoon? they wouldn't put it inside the peanut butter because that'd just be a big mess. they'd attach it underneath the lid. so yeah, that's where my tire wrench was. i'm smart. laugh it up because i still blame randy for the whole thing.

last night had to be one of the funnest nights of the whole year. at about 7:30, colin, randall, justin, becker, rachel, dunphy, and i journied (sp?) out to the ostrander residence for some winter time fun. we showed up with trays from the caf, a large shovel, and some hot chocolate. when we got there, becker and i began work on an igloo, while colin and the rest started sledding down the front yard (their house is built right into the side of a hill) on the trays. the ostranders were completely oblivious to what was happening outside their home until we started taking pictures. when dr. ostrander saw the flash, he opened up his back patio door and threatened to send a dog out after us. which was immediately funny to me because i knew they didn't have a dog. but then i later realized that doc pao had told me that he was dog sitting for a friend and he actually did have a dog inside. eventually they came out and, while mrs. ostrander took the dog for a walk, an all out snowball fight broke out. pao was wearing a hockey helmet and using his hockey stick to defend against our snowballs. then it turned into a bass trombone versus tenor trombone battle, which then turned into colin and james versus the world. after the snowball fight becker and i finished out igloo and started sledding in the front yard. colin and i figured out how to go tandem using the shovel and a tray. eventually they invited inside and we made the hot chocolate that we brought with us. we left around 10. i went to the joynt about 40 minutes later and there was pao and mrs. pao sitting at the bar. we actually convinced them to come down after attacking their home.

we may not be the smartest, the best looking, or even the most talented studio, but we definitely have the most fun with our teacher.

so today is st. patty's day. not sure what kind of trouble is going on tonight but i have some web work to do for andy that he needs to be done by tonight or tomorrow. hopefully it won't interfere with hanging out because i think josh hertel is in town.

well, that's all i've got.

love,
james

need a pick me up?

came across a video today that should be shared. it's not funny. it's not sad. it's not political. just a good story that makes ya feel good.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/motion/echo/index?id=2346970&category=Page%202

enjoy.

love,
james

i love music

as music majors, i think we all go through a period of time (or most likely more than one period of time) when we question if we should really pursue music as a career. or maybe i'm the only one...

anyways, i'm listening to some music right now and feeling pretty damn good. i can't tell you what i'm listening to because some of you may disown me and pretend like you never met me before in your life. i love you all too much to allow that to happen. so i'll just say that i was searching through the depths of my hard drive and found some stuff i downloaded from napster, back in the day, you know, when napster was the shit. it brings back so many memories that i didn't even know i had. i can't think of many other things that can conjure up so many vivid memories for me. imagery like pictures and video doesn't do it for me like music does. neither does the written word. something about music and sound does it though.

i've been counting my blessings lately, and music is definitely up there on the list. some of the happiest and saddest moments of my life have been influenced by music and right now i'm feeling pretty thankful for it all.

guess i just felt like writing that down.

today was a good day. i played tenor trombone in a quartet with becker, randall, and dr. ostrander for south middle school kids at 9am this morning. i spent some much needed quality time with a friend. i got my tire fixed (still have to put it on though. that'll be tomorrow's project). i shoveled lots of snow. and finally, i got some good trombone playing in.

that's about it.

love,
james

a quick story

okay okay...i know i posted once already today...but...this story can't go undocumented.

after studio class today colin, becker, randall, and i decide to go get some food. arby's is chosen..to my disappointment. so colin is going to drive but realizes he left something in the building and goes back to get it. i decide that i'll drive instead so we don't have to wait for colin.

we get to arby's and wait too long for our over priced food while listening to the gangster rap playing in their kitchen. the guy working the register has an extreme lisp and colin and company are giggling behind me as i'm the first to order.

we get our food and the lisp guy comes to our table to ask us if the music is bothering us, while colin is talking about him... smooth one.

after eating we get in my car and drive away. i drive about half a block and notice that something is wrong with my car. i think i have a flat. i say something aloud shortly after that i think something is wrong and randall says "oh yeah, i totally forgot to tell you, when we got out of your car at arby's i heard a hissing sound and thought it might be your tire." thanks randall.

so i pull into the quality inn parking lot right next to shopko and begin taking all of the spare tire stuff out of my trunk. when everything is out i notice that i don't have a tire wrench. crap. then becker flashes his aaa card and we call them. it's freezing out so we get back in my car with the heat on and hang out. randall decides he's going to walk back to campus. thanks for ditching us jerk. then becker notices he has a missed call but doesn't know who it's from. it's the towing company calling to tell us that there's a guy at our car but we're not there. hmmm....i definitely didn't see a tow truck anywhere. becker calls them back and reminds them we're at the quality inn on clairemont ave. they sent their driver to the wrong place.....but we told them we were in a blue buick regal...so why would he have thought it was us??? weird. he shows up and informs us that he went to the excel inn, found a blue buick regal, took the back right tire off of it, and was looking for us. whoops. so he changed my tire, and we were on our way.

the end.

lessons of the story:
1. don't go to arby's because their parking is full of pointy things and they play ghetto music.
2. if traveling with randall, be sure to ask him if he has heard any weird sounds coming from your car before driving away
3. be nice to tow truck drivers because they go out in the cold and change tires for the unfortunate traveler who doesn't have a tire wrench.

okay, i'm going to the stones throw now. see ya later.

james

a good weekend

so the weekend was pretty good all in all.

friday was cool. played routine with becker and hung out. colin and i setup the stage for the chip valley concert around 5:30, then we went to acoustic for food. dress rehearsal for chip valley after that, then to the house to make chicken with becker and colin.

the chicken was amazing. i think those chickens must have been sent from heaven or something because they're little legs tasted like amazingness. after we got done eating our chicken, colin and i, and a couple of other people from the house went down the block to the hastings house for a special viewing of conan. conan had spent a week in finland because he looks like their female president and the friday night showing was an hour long chronicle of his time there.

after conan we went back to the house and the party had pretty much died. by 12:30? lame! i walked home and went to sleepy sleep.

saturday was mostly spent cleaning my apartment. i was really happy to get that done and my place has returned to sweetness. i went to the state a little early and got a good warm up in on my tenor, in the hopes that it would be a little nicer to me than it was on friday. it worked, i think, because i made it through that damn wedding march without completely embarrassing myself. cavis pointed out that my part is higher than his part for the entire piece. note to mendehlsohn: don't friggen write trombone parts that are consistently higher than the trumpet parts moron! just kidding mendy. it was good for me. i won't go into detail about what i thought about the rest of the performance because ya just never know who reads these things.

after the concert we went down to the acoustic to hear john raymond's group. they sounded good and they had a huge audience, which was cool to see. i hung till the end just so i could hear them play kenny garret's "happy people." i love that tune.

so i went home, changed out of my tux, put some normal clothes on, and went to the joynt. we played darts pretty much all night and it was cool. the uncool part is that i broke down and started drinking again. dammit. colin was drunk and made some comment, while we were kicking his ass in darts, about how i was sober so ofcourse we would be beating him. little did he know that my dart game actually improves if i have a few in me. his taunting wasn't the real reason i went and got that glass from the bar though. the real reason is that my stress level was higher than i wanted it to be and i just needed to relax for a night and let go of my inhibitions. and let go i did. i had a lot of beer in two hours time and it felt great. now would probably be a good time to publicly thank mcginnis, lydon, and ben for taking care of my sorry ass that night. nuff said about that.

sunday:
practice, wind symphony concert, practice, dinner with mark, chill, then dooley's with evan and mark. in typical fashion evan came over 45 minutes later than he had told me. i wuv that little guy. we played darts and i didn't drink. we basically had the whole place to ourselves which was cool because it wasn't so loud that we couldn't talk. one of the bartender's was playing really crappy music, but i laughed about it more than i got upset. however, the hanson brothters "mmmbop" was pushing that tolerance level.

so here it is, monday morning and i'm pretty excited about all the snow that is falling. we basically had no winter here so this is cool. i don't care what you think, snow is a beautiful thing.

today will be spent mostly practicing with a trip to the gym thrown in there somewhere. thanks for reading.

oh yeah, and i finally figured out how to put links to my friends' blogs on the right hand side. if you'd like to be added or removed, please let me know. i just put the ones i could think of off the top of my head over there and may have forgotten a few. i love you all so don't let me leave you out.

love,
james