reporting from life

disclaimer: the sound clip below may contain trombone and trombone related music. those that are allergic to loud tromboney music are advised not to click the play button.



so that was a recording i played on last monday for a fellow trombone grad student here at IU. it's a piece called "what color is the wind" written by the famous (he is within the trombone world at least...) tommy pederson. it's written for two tenor soloists backed by a trombone choir of 7 (or 8 maybe?). the two soloists are 2nd year masters students. the choir consisted of one doctoral student, one performance diploma student, two under grads, and 3 year 2nd year masters. we played without a conductor - as you may hear in a couple spots ;-) i had a lot of fun performing this piece and thought the recording turned out pretty well, especially considering we used a small digital recorder up in one of the classrooms and only did like 4 takes.

so it's been snowing down here a decent amount this last week and i must say, i'm enjoying it very much. it's a nice change from the brown winter i'm used to down here. i also get a kick out of watching all the little soristitutes bundled up in they're matching north face fleeces and ugg boots braving the elements to get to class. they're so adorable.

i managed to avoid all the sickness that was going around the last two weeks thanks to the makers of airborne and coldeeze cough drops. pretty much the entire school had something and i was lucky to stay healthy. i'm also back into the swing with going to the gym. i'm getting really sick of the normal diet of protein shakes, chicken breasts, eggs, etc so i think i'm gonna try to find some new recipes. if anyone knows of a good high protein meal, please share :-) my tastebuds will thank you. well, not literally...awkward...

this saturday i'll be watching the entire ring cycle from start to finish at pete ellefson's house. he's hitting the play button at 9am and expects it to finish sometime around midnight. there's going to be lots of german food and drink (fancy word for beer) so it should be a good time. i watched a dvd a couple days ago that was a documentary on the solti/vienna recording (i think it was done between 1955-65). it's incredible how huge this work is and what it takes to perform it.

i guess that's about it for this post. colin just farted.

cheese and crackers,
james

i'm going to hardees

quick update:

things got busy, james didn't update. big surprise. thinking back, i'm not exactly sure what i got so busy with. a bunch of people were leaving for auditions so i did a lot of subbing in different ensembles. also i've been rehearsing a lot with my quartet so, i dunno, i was just busy.

today is valentines day, and as per usual, the only love in my life at the moment is my bass trombone. lucky for me, she's a hottie. colin and i will be dining at the ever so delicious hardees tonight in celebration of our manhood, freedom, singleness, etc. oh, and also in celebration of our hearts, because our hearts are gonna feel some love tonight from the 3000+ calories of thickburger glory we ingest. it's gonna be sweet. the tradition started in eau claire 3 years ago, and is hopefully still going. i remember becker breaking up with rachel over the phone so that he could go with us (we had two rules: no girls, and must be single). don't worry, they got back together 2 hours later.

i had my first lesson with another one of the teachers here yesterday. his name is fabio and yes, he's a good looking man. unlike that douche on tv. he also happens to play trombone on a very high level. he grew up in italy with a musical family and just has this singing quality in his playing that i can't quite explain. the lesson was really good. i've got a lot of great stuff to work on and if i can get a hold of some of what he told me, i think my playing is gonna improve quite a lot in the next month. basically, it involves a lot of mouthpiece buzzing. and a pinwheel. i really want to get to the point where i can just buzz anything on my mouthpiece with ease, good breathing, and sound. cause right now, when i buzz, there's a lot of squeezing that goes on, and i know it transfers over into my playing.

/trombone nerdery

all the busyness has gotten in the way of going to the gym, unfortunately. after today things should be calm for a few weeks, so i'll be back at it either tonight or tomorrow. i've only been off for a week, but i'm sure i've lost a pound or two, just because i haven't been eating as much (i don't have a huge appetite when i'm not lifting).

i guess that's about it for this installment... i'm sure it was just as exciting to read as it was for me to write.

happy hardees day!

love,
james

the big question...

is james' knee well enough and is he going to play at his ultimate game tonight? i know you've been waiting in suspense all week and are dying to know if i'm gonna play. well, i'm not sure... i went to the gym yesterday and was able to do weighted lunges with no pain in my knee, which makes me think i'm good to go, but i'm still feeling pain when i press on it. walking doesn't hurt, biking doesn't hurt, weighted leg workouts don't hurt, but actually touching it does. does this mean it's just bruised? i really wish i knew what was wrong with my stupid knee... i realllllllllllly want to go play tonight but it's not worth it to mess myself up anymore than i have. and i don't think i have the restraint in me to not play 100% if i do play. i think i'm gonna go, run around the track a bit, and see how it feels. maybe i'll play fewer points too... feel free to leave your professional/medical/motherly advise in the comments.

so tonight i get to play on a recital with the faculty quartet. i'm pretty damn excited. i even get a short little solo cadenza thing to play. it's gonna be fun :-)

also tonight, becker, alaska, and paul are gonna be here. what a sweet day.

love,
james