MMC Artist Series: Al Perkins Paints the Music

This year, the Metropolitan Music Community commissioned several of its members to create art for the concert programs and marketing materials. For our November 1st concert, the Grand Street Community Band will be performing a variety of Halloween-themed selections for their concert, "Things That Go Bump in the Night"; followed by Brooklyn Wind Symphony's performance, "A Night with Michael Markowski."  

Our first artist is Al Perkins, the principal horn player for the Brooklyn Wind Symphony. Al has been with the MMC since 2009 and also serves as the organization's librarian. Al is not only a talented musician, but a gifted artist, often finding inspiration through music. For this first "Artist Series," Al shared his process of creating the program art for this cycle--creating his pieces based on "Dance of the Witches" and Michael Markowski's "City Trees." He even gave MMC an inside peak at his studio space! Read on below and take a look at more of Al's work in the slideshow. 

"City Trees"

"City Trees" by Michael Markowski. Listen here. 

"Dance of the Witches"

"Dance of the Witches" by John Williams. Listen here. 

"Fragile Oasis"

"Fragile Oasis" by Peter Meechan. Listen here. 

"As Midnight on a Moonless Night"

"As Midnight on a Moonless Night" by Michael Markowski. Listen here. 

Moon Over Anatevka

Based off of "Fiddler on the Roof" 

The studio

Al's studio, with "Dance of the Witches" in progress! 

Starting with the music...

"It's very important for me to know the piece intimately, and more so what the piece is trying to say. [For example] Michael's program notes are always a good place to start, even though on once occasion I had to turn to him to get a better insight. 

Once I absorb the music and the material, I try to capture the mood as I see it. Then it's almost like purging. Once it starts flowing, it's fast and furious."

Creating "City Trees"

"City Trees" was based on a photo I found so it had details of a real building. Then I started to layer it so it had an almost impressionistic feel. I wanted the tree to be a contrast to the roughness behind it, but I didn't want it to look like it was in a different painting. So I tried to always be aware of where the light was coming from and to keep it all consistent." 

On "Dance of the Witches" 

"I had to mull over the GSCB's program for a while to find the one that jumped out at me. The more obvious choice would have been to go with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," but I felt "Dance of the Witches" would have made a better overall image. 

The witches in "Dance of the Witches" started as sketches, which I later carved into a stencil on a piece of acetate that could tape down on the canvas and brush over.  For the shadows I used painter's tape to allow me to dry brush the color to get the effect I was looking for."

Creating the final pieces....

"A lot depends on what I'm trying to do -- if the image is literal or implied.  I'll sometimes find pictures and paste images together for the composition I'm looking for and use it as a guide.  Then I'll figure out what sort of technique I want to use, or what the piece calls for.  Often I'll turn to YouTube to learn a new technique or two (remember, I'm still fairly new to this painting thing, so I have a lot to learn).

And then there are times when I approach an effect in a similar way that I would if I'm painting a theater set, which is viewed from a distance, not too close. (But) if I dwell too long on one painting, the soul of it is usually lost. It's an image--a thought--so I try not to belabor it. That's why I try to keep it simple and I don't obsess once it's done."

Getting to Know....Dave Smith!

A new season with the Metropolitan Music Community is underway! With rehearsals in full swing and 175 members tuning up their instruments for an exciting fall concert performance, let's get to know the talented musicians seated all around us! 

First up--Dave Smith, President of the MMC and a trumpet player with the Grand Street Community Band! Read on to hear about Dave's Sunday routine, his favorite MMC memory, and what "A Barrel of Monkeys" has to do with his path in music! 

Name:  David L.B. Smith

Age:  55

Occupation:  Higher Education Administrator

Instrument:  Trumpet

How long have you been playing with the MMC? Since the second rehearsal.

How did you get started with the MMC?  A friend of mine who I met in the now defunct Williamsburg Community Orchestra call me and told me she found a great place to play.  I emailed Jeff Ball (director of Brooklyn Wind Symphony) and told him I was an adult beginner and he said, “Come on”.  So I did.

What is your favorite MMC memory? Alice Tully Hall for sure.  As a child my parents brought me into the city regularly but since we were of limited means it was mostly for free things to do.  But we often visited Lincoln Center, just to gawk.  She used to go to the free rehearsals when Zubin Mehta directed the Phil.  I know for sure that if she hadn’t already died and gone to heaven, she would have the day she saw her “little Davie” play at Tully!

What's the first song that comes up on your iPod when you press shuffle?  Something from the Roches most likely.

What was the last concert/musical/performance you saw?  I just saw Garrison Keillor’s farewell tour this summer in Maine.  I’m going to miss A Prairie Home Companion very much.

What I did over my summer vacation….. Eat, sleep, golf, repeat.

What’s your typical Sunday?  I get up late and waddle down to Bagel Boy.  I pick up a poppy with butter for Marion, a chocolate chip cookie for Hannah and an everything bagel for me.  I stop in Brooklyn Market on my way back and pick up the best tomato they have.  I watch Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood while eating the world best smoked salmon bagel known to man.  Then I head across the street to church where I sing bass in the choir.  Then…who knows.

Give us a “local” New York recommendation.  Katz’s Deli serves the best pastrami in the history of humankind.

What was your favorite Halloween costume?  Now, now…my daughter might read this!

Finish this sentence: “I knew I was a musician when…..” On my third birthday one of my gifts was a large cylinder.  “It’s a drum”, I exclaimed.  No it’s not a drum said my mother.  Not understanding the difference between a birthday present and a Christmas present I had no way of knowing that my mother was probably right—how would she know what Santa got me for my birthday?  “I think it’s a drum” I persisted.  “No sweetie, it’s not a drum; open it and see.”  It was a barrel of monkeys (and I know none of you are old enough to remember but they came in a much bigger barrel back then).  But I was not out done; I emptied out the monkeys and exclaimed, “And it’s a drum too!”

Jeffrey Hodes Takes the Stage—Preparing Maslanka’s Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble

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By Alyssa Pry

Talking to Jeffrey Hodes, the principal clarinetist for the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, you’re immediately struck by his excitement and enthusiasm for just about, well, everything. Over the course of our interview, we discussed his job as a software engineer at Google: “I freaking love computer science”; discovering the Brooklyn Wind Symphony after a friend encouraged him to join: “That’s awesome, I found a good group!”; to his preparations for his performance of David Maslanka’s Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble:  “Playing a concerto is always super fun.” 

Hodes will be performing Maslanka’s concerto at the Brooklyn Wind Symphony’s “Postcards” concert on June 13th, before performing it with the group at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) in July. While most people may find the prospect of playing a twenty-minute clarinet concerto in front of hundreds of people daunting, for Hodes, it’s simply an opportunity to continue to follow his passion for music. 

“I’m super happy with how I’ve ended up being able to play a lot of clarinet non-professionally,” Hodes said. “Brooklyn Wind Symphony is one of those high-level groups for non-professionals and it’s super fun that I get to play with them.” 

Hodes may not be professional clarinetist, but he’s managed to create a life where it plays a major part. He attended Princeton University and played with the Princeton University Orchestra and other chamber groups, an experience he describes with trademark enthusiasm as “a blast.” After graduating, he was offered a position at Google Headquarters in California, but chose the tech company's New York office, in part for the city’s unbeatable music scene. 

“I decided I wanted to live in New York instead, in no small part because of the music community here,” he said. “Not only are the best orchestras here, but as a non-professional, you can take lessons and practice and play with other great people,” he said. 

Hodes also performs with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, as well as in various chamber groups. The opportunity to play with BKWS involved a bit of happenstance and good timing—both he and BKWS clarinetist Sarah Cohen were subbing for players with the New York Doctor’s Symphony, and Cohen asked if he would be interested in joining her group.  

“I was like sure, because I was new to New York and was like, ‘I want to play in everything,’” he said.  

But what stuck with Hodes initially was not his immediate success within the ensemble, but an early chastisement from conductor Jeff Ball. 

“I was playing and I got told off by Jeff Ball for playing too loud in the first rehearsal,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a really good sign when you get told off in a rehearsal; that means the group is playing at a high enough level that your mistakes are noticeable and worth mentioning.”

And now, Hodes has the opportunity to play with the enthusiasm he had in that first rehearsal as he tackles Maslanka’s Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble. Written in 2014, there have been no published recordings of the piece, which gives Hodes the opportunity to explore and interpret it in his own way. 

“This is the classic question—when you’re reading a poem, should you care what the author’s intent was or should you read it however you want? [Maslanka] wrote it, but we’re performing it,” Hodes said.  “And part of the fun of being a musician is interpreting the music and playing it in an interesting or compelling way.”

For Hodes, that’s meant looking at the piece as a whole, and how he fits into it within the context of the ensemble. 

“It’s an interesting piece. Unlike a lot of concertos, where it’s a solo line, and then goes back to the orchestra and they never really step over the soloist, [here] the instruments are playing with the soloist or playing in direct harmony,” he explained. “It’s really about the clarinet and one or two other sections at any given moment. It’s a very active collaboration with people in the band.” 

But working towards a high level of performance has meant daily practices for Hodes, often in some unexpected places. 

“I am definitely practicing this every day. [And] I’ll do weird stuff—because I don’t want to get noise complaints at my apartment, I’ll walk back to my office at midnight if I don’t have anything else to do and practice for 2-3 hours,” he said. 

Aside from working out the technical elements of the piece, Hodes’ goal is to feel confident in his playing.  

“With a concerto, you obviously have to practice a lot so you’re confident. From my experience, if I’m like, ‘I got this,’ then I won’t get too nervous,” he said.  

And if mistakes happen?  

 “You have to keep in mind—the audience isn’t waiting for you to mess up so they can go, ‘Oh! He messed up! What a loser!’” Hodes said. “They’re here to listen to it, but if you miss a note, everyone understands.” 

Hodes’ laid-back attitude towards playing has kept him grounded and calm during his practice and preparation, but if David Maslanka decides to make an appearance to hear his performance of the challenging concerto, Hodes may have to deal with those nerves after all.  

 “I think knowing that David Maslanka is in the audience might make me a little more nervous,” he said, laughing. “[But] I want him to think, ‘What a nice interpretation this group gave.’” 

The Ghosts of Carnegie Hall

by Dean Olsher

Here’s what it’s like to play Carnegie Hall. There are ghosts all around you. You look at the podium and think: Let’s see, on opening day in 1891, that’s where Tchaikovsky was standing when he conducted his Marche Solennelle. And in the years that followed, it’s where Dvořák stood, and Mahler, and a phenomenally long list of boldfaced names.

New York City is afraid of ghosts. We know this because the city has worked extra hard to chase them away. To live here is to sit atop layers of history that vanish daily. But everywhere you look, there are quiet allusions to that history and to the usually benevolent ghosts who made it. 

The name of the park where you stand in long lines for a burger is a reminder that the original Madison Square Garden—a monument to the Gilded Age—used to stand there. And for older New Yorkers, walking into Penn Station is the insult added to the mortal injury suffered by the glorious transportation palace it replaced. 

Carnegie Hall itself came within a hair’s breadth of being demolished. Its Stern Auditorium is named for the friendliest ghost of all. The legendary violinist Isaac Stern led the fight to protect this architectural gem from “urban renewal.” 

For the past 125 years, Carnegie Hall has been home to the top rung of musicians from around the world. But—and this is a remarkable thing—its green room is accessible to others as well. Musicians who work fiercely at their art, but who happen to not get paid for it, are given the chance to take the stage. 

And this year that opportunity is being given to both ensembles that make up the Metropolitan Music Community. The Brooklyn Wind Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut on April 13, and the Grand Street Community Band will do so on June 6.

It is near impossible to take an experience such as this for granted. For many of us, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be connected to the larger universe—of music, the city, and its history—and to step, for a brief moment, into a parade of legendary ghosts.

Carnegie Hall: An Illustrated Guide to the Famous Stage

We're hitting the hallowed stage of Carnegie Hall in just 4 days! Check out the infographic below from illustrator Rebecca Pry for some fun facts about Carnegie Hall. You can find more of Rebecca's illustrations at her blog here.

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A First-Time Carnegie Conductor on the Piece That Started it all – Talking to Laurel Stinson about Procession of the Nobles

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By Alyssa Pry

For most people, it’s difficult to recall the exact moment you decided what career to follow. Perhaps it was a gradual discovery of something you liked doing. Or maybe you fell into something for the practicality of simply having a job and paying the bills. But for a lucky few, there is an “A-ha!” moment when you discover exactly what it is you were meant for. And for an even fewer number, they actually go on and do it. Laurel Stinson is one of those people.  

Now a conductor and music educator at Grand Street High School and with the Grand Street Community Band, it was an early experience with a band piece that inspired a career in music and has led her to the Carnegie Hall stage, where she will be making her conducting debut with the GSCB on June 6. 

Stinson will be conducting Procession of the Nobles by Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, a piece that has captivated her since she first played it her 8th grade wind ensemble. 

“I remembered the melody,” she said, singing the first few bars. “And just being fascinated by the different sections of the piece—the fanfares, the very articulate fast moving notes, and then these beautiful lines in between,” she said. 

For Stinson, it opened up the possibility of making music into a career. 

“I was like, ‘Ok, music is kind of cool,’” she said. “All of a sudden this world of music just started unfolding. And Procession of the Nobles was kind of the gateway.” 

But just months before, Stinson had been close to giving up on band, after her family moved from Texas to Pennsylvania. 

“I was going to quit playing the clarinet because band was not as challenging as it was when I started playing in Texas,” Stinson said. “My parents made me stick it out with the new middle school band director.”

Her director encouraged her to continue with band, and after a successful high school music career performing in various honors ensembles, Stinson attended Ithaca College, where she once again encountered the piece that started it all. 

“I came back to Procession of the Nobles when I was in wind ensemble at Ithaca College, [and to see] it from a beginner light, like, ‘what is this?’ to [then] really delve into it as a piece of music, it was cool” she said. 

Now, making the transition from playing within the ensemble to leading one on the Carnegie Hall stage has given Stinson the opportunity to experience the piece in an entirely new way. 

“Making that transition, from a successful ensemble member, of being like, ‘O god, that’s a lot of notes’; to college, ‘O, that’s what’s going on the other side of the ensemble!’; to now, on the podium, I have an idea of what it should sound like, all parts together,” she said. “My job is to make sure I wave my arms or use the expression on my face to make sure all that sound comes out,” she said. 

Bringing that energy and passion to the podium is something Stinson relishes about her job as a conductor. 

“I’m a conductor through and through,” Stinson said. “I like being the prism. That’s what I consider the conductor’s job. You are taking all this energy that’s in front of you [and] synthesizing it so you can get it out to the audience.”

With the Grand Street Community Band performance approaching quickly, Stinson said she’s ready and excited for the opportunity to conduct at Carnegie Hall. 

 “[I’m] honored to be able to tell people that I’ve been able to lead an ensemble on that stage and [have] put in the work,” she said. “That’s the beauty of live performance. We will do everything we need to do to make sure it’s prepared so once we get on stage we can just press play.” 

But could Stinson have imagined she would be raising her baton at Carnegie Hall to the same piece of music that inspired her so many years ago? 

 “Life hands you these doors and my mother taught me just to walk through them,” Stinson said. “Just to see where it goes.”

Collaborating On City Trees – A Conversation With Michael Markowski & Brian Worsdale

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by Alyssa Pry

Take a walk down a city block in New York City and you see them. Along residential blocks, lining up like soldiers. Clustered in parks. Posing as shady resting spots. Surrounded by traffic and horns and the constant pulse of New York. Tall, short, stubby, lush—they’re city trees—somehow surviving and growing in one of the toughest places to survive. They’re also the inspiration behind Michael Markowski’s piece of the same name, which the Grand Street Community Band will perform at their Carnegie Hall debut on June 6, 2015. 

GSCB director Brian Worsdale was directing the Gay and Lesbian Band Association in 2012 and wanted to commission a piece for the organization's 30th Anniversary. He immediately thought of Michael Markowski. The two had met several years before, and his point of view appealed to Worsdale for this project. 

“Every time I’ve listened to a piece of Michael’s, it’s been unique,” Worsedale said. “I wanted that for the piece. None of the pieces that have preceded [City Trees] have sounded anything like it, and nothing sounds like it since. Each piece has its own unique stamp.” 

The collaboration between the two started with the idea of a celebratory theme—but both Worsdale and Markowski wanted to avoid the standard marches and fanfares. It was a task that proved especially challenging for Markowski. 

“I had two months to write the piece, and for six weeks I tried to write some sort of celebratory something. And when it’s not working, it’s just not working,” Markowski said. “So with two weeks before the piece was due, I freaked out.” 

“If I remember correctly, it was a Friday afternoon, and I had a blog at the time, and I wrote a blog that was called, ‘I suck,’” Markowski shared. “I wrote about how much of a failure I felt like I was being for this particular piece, and making that public helped me get over that hurdle and just admit to myself that the piece needed to be organic, and stop forcing it to be something it wasn’t going to be.” 

Markowski wrote the initial chord progression and the piece clicked. “I was like, that’s the basis, that’s the seed of the piece,” he said. 

Worsdale recalled hearing the first mockup of the piece. “I listened to it, and I called and I said, ‘You nailed it.’”

Worsdale and Markowski continued to collaborate on refining the piece throughout rehearsal time, an experience that was enriched by the trust they had in each other, Worsdale said. 

“You know, a collaborative work between a composer and a conductor, when they have a good relationship, the composer trusts the conductor to enhance some of the sounds they want,” Worsdale said.

Markowski agreed. “Brian knows this piece better than I do,” he said. 

The piece premiered at the Lesbian and Gay Band association National Conference in Dallas, Texas; an emotional experience for both. 

“That’s why we write music,” Markowski said.  “Because living, breathing musicians can bring so much soul and so much heart to something you create in a way that’s different with every performance.” 

With the Grand Street Community Band preparing for their debut at Carnegie Hall, each performance allows Markowski an opportunity to hear City Trees in a new light. 

“It never gets old. Being at rehearsal has been different from every other time I’ve heard the piece,” Markowski said. “There’s always something new, so it gives you new things to think about.” 

Grand Street Band Plays Carnegie Hall!

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We’re thrilled to have been invited by the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony to perform at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00 PM. We’re playing music from our Great American Songbook program, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers, and Jule Styne. Guest conductor Curt Ebersole, conductor and music director of the Westchester Symphonic winds will be leading us for one piece. We couldn’t be more excited to be performing at Carnegie Hall and hope you will join us! Tickets are available for purchase now at Carnegie Hall’s site. Please click here for tickets.

This Summer: BKWS at WASBE 2015 in San Jose, CA

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Brooklyn Wind Symphony is packing its bags and flying cross-country to perform at the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles on Monday, July 13th at 8pm. We are honored to have been accepted into this international wind band gathering, and are proud to be featuring two BKWS member soloists, Jeffrey Hodes on clarinet, and Samantha K. Enriquez on flute. We will be performing works by Michael Markowski, Scott McAllister, David Maslanka and more! For a full performance schedule, please visit the WASBE 2015 Concert Schedule page.

Local San Jose friends and family of Brooklyn Wind Symphony and the Metropolitan Music Community, we hope to see you there! 

Brooklyn Wind Symphony is making a radio appearance!

Tune in to 820AM today April 27th at 8 PM! Here's the link for more info: http://www.wnyc.org/story/trbq-why-does-music-move-us/

BKWS Midwest Recordings Now Available!

Much to our delight, Brooklyn Wind Symphony's performance at the Midwest Clinic is now available for listening. Pop over to Mark Custom Recording Service to purchase a CD, or search for us on Spotify and listen to our complete concert for free.

We'd love to hear what you think of our performance, so leave a comment below. Happy listening!

BKWS on the Radio

An excerpt from the Brooklyn Wind Symphony's performance at the Midwest Band Clinic will air on public radio this weekend! The program Wind & Rhythm will broadcast our performance of David Maslanka's Requiem. Click here for a list of stations and for links to the live stream.

Update: The archived podcast is now available here. 

Art Suffers the Moment Other People Start Paying for It

With the Brooklyn Wind Symphony's performance at the Midwest Band Clinic receding further into the past, the words that might describe the experience are beginning to come. This Brain Pickings post—“How to Find Your Purpose and Do What You Love”—from two years ago is helping to give shape to my understanding. There's this particularly striking remark by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod: “Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it.”

I speak out of personal experience, from a time when I tried to make at least part of my living as a musician. The business end sapped the fun out of it. There’s something about reversing the financial equation that contributes to a feeling of deep satisfaction. Even though the members of the Metropolitan Music Community’s ensembles aspire to play at a professional level, we are amateurs in the literal sense of the word: We do it for love.

We pay dues, we make a great sacrifice of our time, and, during this concert cycle, we pushed ourselves extra hard to achieve a big goal. The audience’s response was immensely gratifying, but it was not more important than sharing in the communal task of working hard to do something well for its own sake.

This is what it was like for me. What about you? BKWS members are invited to share any thoughts on the Chicago experience below in the comments.

Brooklyn in the House

We did it. 

After many months of planning and rehearsing—and lots more planning and rehearsing—the Brooklyn Wind Symphony performed at the 2013 Midwest Band Clinic in Chicago.

Two days later and still I don’t know how to process the experience. The word thrilling may come close to capturing the feeling, but it's still not good enough.

I will confess that when the audience jumped to its feet while the last note of Viet Cuong’s “Moth” was still decaying, I had to choke back tears.

This is an invitation to the members of the Brooklyn Wind Symphony: Help me put the experience into words. Tell us in the comments what Midwest was like for you.

Minutes before showtime.

BKWS at the Midwest Clinic this Saturday, Dec. 21 @ 8:30A

Brooklyn WInd Symphony will perform in Chicago in just a few days! We are honored to perform at the Midwest Clinic this year and cannot wait to be on stage in front of fellow musicians and music educators alike. Stay tuned for updates from the clinic, or follow ourfacebook and twitter feeds for the most up-to-date information.   

Lastly, a special Thank You goes to our President, Jasmine Britt, our Director, Jeff Ball, and our entire Board and Staff for logistically making this performance possible. Chicago here we come!

An Interview With Composer Michael Markowski

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Michael Markowski

by Allison Heim

The final haunting notes of Remember the Molecules emanate from a vibraphone, ringing out across the auditorium before giving way to silence and stillness. The conductor slowly drops his arms and the musicians relax in their seats. Applause sweeps over the auditorium. The conductor bows, gestures towards the ensemble, then turns to the crowd and points. A tall, bespectacled, young man rises from his seat. Casually dressed in jeans and a hoodie, composer Michael Markowski nods politely to the conductor. 

The twenty-seven year old Arizona native relocated to New York in June of 2012 and has quickly become a fixture in the wind band community. I sat down with Markowski in advance of Brooklyn Wind Symphony’s performance of his piece Remember the Molecules at the 2013 Midwest Clinic to learn about how he got started composing, the Midwest Clinic experience, and new projects he’s working on.

When did you begin making music?

I joined band in fifth grade playing the saxophone. I joined out of peer pressure because two of my best friends were joining. One was playing the trumpet, and one was playing trombone. I originally wanted to play trombone but my mom said “Don’t you want something with more keys on it?” and I said “I guess you’re right!” I didn’t know anything about music, so I picked saxophone and joined band that way.

When did you begin composing?

I started writing music in seventh grade. My dad’s sort of a keyboard player. He plays Elton John, Billy Joel kind of things. He plays it, can’t really sing it, tries to sing it. There’s always been a piano in the house. He used to be a computer programmer, so he’s into all the tech, midi, synthesizer stuff. We’ve always had that in our house. 

For Christmas in seventh grade, I really wanted a TV for my room. My brother got a TV and I got a synthesizer, and I was so pissed. I was so mad because I really wanted to just watch TV in my room. So I got a synthesizer and I said “I guess this is OK.” My dad eventually hooked it up to my computer and installed some sequencing software on it for me and some bootleg version of Finale. Just as soon as I got into it and it was set up, I was addicted to it. I didn’t do sports. Every day after school I would just go home and write. And eventually I got a TV in my room, it was win-win.

I would just mess around on Finale and have the synthesizer play it back, play the sounds and the music back. I was inadvertently teaching myself theory and orchestration, all at the same time. I would just write, write songs.

Have you asked your dad why he gave you a synthesizer, rather than say, the coveted TV?

I think he was just trying to pass on a hobby of his to me. He knew I was interested in music and I think he was just trying to encourage that a bit more in a way that he knew how. I had been playing saxophone for two years at that point. I had just started junior high.

When did you start considering music as a career?

As a seventh grader, my band director moved me up to the ninth grade band. That was the first time anyone said “Hey, you’re pretty good at this. We’re going to challenge you a little bit more.”

I think I’d make a terrible teacher but I admire teachers so much. I mean obviously I wouldn’t be here talking with you if it wasn’t for my own teachers. Not that they kept giving me things, but they created opportunities for me. I could either take that opportunity and really take advantage of that or not. And if they gave me an opportunity, I would take them up on that. 

For instance, when I just got to high school, my band director [Jon Gomez]. I took summer composition lessons from him. I had written this choir tune and was workshopping that with him over the summer. He said “Hey, you should transcribe this for band. This would be a real nice large ensemble thing.” So I said “OK,” so I did [transcribe the piece for band]. And it, of course, like everything, just turns into something completely different. He was awesome enough that, once school started again, we spent thirty minutes reading through the piece. That was the first time I’d ever had a large ensemble piece read through before. 

It’s this really slow piece because my brain couldn’t function any faster at that time. Halfway through there’s a random Charlie Parker solo. Because, as a sax player, I was just like “Here’s something cool for my friend playing lead alto.” And it’s so bad. I have the entire rehearsal recording still. It’s very humbling to go back and listen to it because halfway through, it’s a train wreck. It’s so slow. I’m not sure where we are. The band just falls apart and we stop. And then all you hear is giggles and laughter. And I was just like, ehhh, OK. This was in eleventh grade.

It’s incredible you were able to get your piece read by any ensemble.

What ended up happening is I sat with him in his office and he went through the score and he made notes in my score, including, in red pencil, I think around that Charlie Parker solo, he just writes “What the hell” in the score. At that point I was like “Ok, I’m gonna rework this.” And so I ended up reworking it three more times. There were four revisions to this tune. I always rewrite, even now. And after the fourth revision, it was kind of cohesive and the band was kind of understanding it. And so he decided to program it at our December concert. That was the first [piece of mine performed]. That was a piece called Blue Ambiance.

How did you feel the first time you heard an ensemble play your music?

Nervous as all get out. As an eleventh grader, there’s a lot of seniors in the band who are looking at me going “Who is this guy and why are we spending this time on him?” which was humbling. I was prepared for that. I wasn’t prepared for the laughter. 

I always tell young composers get your music read because you’ll learn a hundred things. You don’t have to have anybody tell you. It’s like when you’re developing a new show like a musical or a play or something like that. Just putting it in front of an audience, in front of real people. You don’t even need their feedback, necessarily. You know what works. You get a real sense of what’s working and what’s not just by the tension in the room. 

You’re the first winner of Manhattan Beach Music’s Frank Ticheli Composition Contest. How did you find out about the contest and end up victorious?

Bob Margolis is the main guy at Manhattan Beach Music. I emailed him first when I was fifteen because I really liked this piece he wrote called Terpsichore, awesome piece. I sent him Blue Ambiance and said “Hey, what do you think about this?” He sent me some comments back. “It’s great. It’s not quite there yet, but wow, what potential.” And then, the second piece I wrote in high school that we did. Our band, choir, and orchestra went to Carnegie Hall. Again, my director offered me the opportunity to write an opener for us. I wrote this piece called Joy Ride. I had a website then. I posted it. Bob found a recording of Joy Ride literally a month before this contest deadline. And he said “Hey, I  just listened to Joy Ride. I think you should enter this contest. Frank Ticheli just wrote Joy Revisted. Joy is in the air.” When the guy who’s calling the shots tells you to enter his contest, you do that. So in about three weeks, I wrote Shadow Rituals. It’s my most performed piece, by a long shot. That started to open up doors, as soon as I won the competition.

Who were you working with at that time? 

There’s two people. My high school director, Jon Gomez. In tenth grade, I started studying with a doctoral student at Arizona State University in composition, Karl Schindler. So I started studying with him every couple of weeks. Bringing in my work, he’d make some comments and he’d play some stuff “Did you think about this?” Just a super cool guy. Just before I moved from Arizona, I’d still show him pieces. I was singing in a community choir with him and his wife, just awesome. 

What’s it like working with a community band like Brooklyn Wind Symphony?

One of the things that really fascinates me about community ensembles like this is the fact that everyone has such a different background. There are some people that are trained at conservatories but then there are people whose day jobs are in marketing, doing this and that, but that still come play and everyone brings a diverse background. When you have such a cool project like this, you utilize your background. Everyone comes together with their niche to really do something awesome for the ensemble. I think that’s one of the main reasons I like hanging with the Brooklyn Wind Symphony.

Most of the ensembles I work with are high schools, a couple universities occasionally. Brooklyn Wind Symphony is a remarkable group. I’m so lucky that I can call up Jeff [Ball] and say “Hey, I’ve got this new piece. Do you have time to read it for me?” Let’s see what happens with it, let’s see where I made mistakes. He’s so enthusiastic about it. 

Brooklyn Wind Symphony is opening their performance at the Midwest Clinic with your piece Remember the Molecules. What is the significance of having one of your pieces performed at the Midwest Clinic?

It’s an amazing experience because it’s one of the most knowledgeable and therefore, appreciative audiences that you’ll ever play for. It’s probably one of the biggest in terms of numbers too. Even the Saturday morning performance, there’s like fifteen thousand people that go to this convention. The Saturday morning performance is still going to have like a thousand people at it, we hope. That’s a whole lot of people. There’s no crying babies, there’s no cell phones going off. There is such an intense focus. It’s like when [composer David] Maslanka came to work with Brooklyn Wind Symphony, he said “Ok, yeah, you’ve got fifty measures of rest but you still need to be in that moment. There’s a thousand people in that room, in that moment, with you guys.” That’s pretty remarkable. The audience is remarkable. And of course, all of your friends and family sit in the front row, first on their feet. 

Having a piece performed is a great honor because it’s for that particular audience. It’s very rare. 

How does New York City compare to your previous experience out west?

Back in Arizona, Arizona’s so spread out. I was really lucky, even not being a music major at Arizona State. The director of bands there, Gary Hill, still was able to organize half an hour at the end of the semester. He’d get me in contact with a graduate student in conducting to read my new pieces. Instinctive Travels and Turkey in the Straw were both read and workshopped there. And they, of course, premiered Shadow Rituals, which is remarkable because I was not a music major.

When I moved to New York, suddenly Brian [Worsdale, director of Grand Street Community Band] and when I met Jeff [Ball], and Andy Pease when he was at Columbia. Suddenly, it was just “Oh my god, there’s a band composer in New York! First of all, what are you doing here? Second of all, can we play your music?” It was remarkable just the amount of love I received as soon as I moved here. And that’s just primarily due to Brian and Jeff. In that respect, it’s been phenomenal. I don’t think I’d have that in LA. 

What is the latest project you’re working on?

I just finished Voyage Trekkers, Season 2. I had a lot of fun doing that. Voyage Trekkers is a web series. It’s a sci fi comedy. Think Star Trek meets Arrested Development. This is the worst crew in the galactic union. They’re just terrible people. They want to be heroes so bad, but it just never happens. My friends in Arizona act in it. write it. create it. It’s very much an Arizona-based production. I do the music for them. This season I hired a fifty-nine piece live orchestra from Europe. I had ninety minutes with them to record Episode 1 of Season 2, totally live. 

What does that process look like?

The session is ninety minutes. Fifty-nine musicians, a pro-tools guy, a conductor, and a translator. The schedule for Season 2 is pretty flexible because they film some of these episodes way ahead in time just because it’s an independent thing, they all have day jobs. It’s going to take awhile for this to actually ship and be out there. I had at least a locked cut, like a fine cut, well in advance. I had already scored a couple of other episodes before Episode 1. They cut the episode early because they were waiting on special effects that were going to take forever. They look amazing. I had a cut, and I actually didn’t tell the director, but I produced a live score by myself. I didn’t tell him I was going to. I was just like “Surprise! Live score!” It was sort of a surprise for him because Episode 10 is done with a wind band from Northern Arizona University. He knew about that. After seeing Episode 1, I was like “This is the episode that everyone’s going to start to watch. They may not make it all the way to Episode 10. We need to make sure Episode 1 is smokin’. Let’s pull out all the stops for Episode 1,” so I did. 

I wrote the music. I think I sent him mock ups. I purchased ninety minutes with this orchestra. It was all done live via Skype. We had seven minutes of music to record in ninety minutes. That’s a lot. On average, you can get maybe three or four minutes of really good, well-rehearsed music, in an hour. Because, you have to understand, these people are sight reading. This is a sight reading gig, they’re not getting this in advance. They’re reading through a cue two or three times before taking it two or three times. So that’s six runs through for one cue. If the cue’s one minute, you’re at least spending ten minutes on that cue. We had seven minutes in ninety minutes. We made it happen. 

Do you want to do more film scoring?

My background is in film. I have an appreciation for that. I speak director terms and musician terms. Those are two different languages. A lot of the directors I’ve worked with, they don’t know how to speak musician language so they don’t know how to communicate what they want, which makes things very difficult and makes it a lot harder to get on the same page. Of course, I have an appreciation for editing and cinematography. Any time I write to visuals, I keep those things in mind. I look at the pacing of the tracking of the dolly, and I look at how quickly things are cut and edited, how quickly that wipe...is that a two second wipe or is it a two frame wipe? Because those things clue me in on what the music should say. I love collaborating in that respect. 

Brooklyn Wind Symphony is performing your piece Famishius Fantasticus at their June concert. Tell us a little bit about it.

Famishius Fantasticus hasn’t been performed many times, because It falls in the category of something that is a bad word, and the bad word is the N word. It’s novelty. I think it’s amazing music. It’s some of the best music I’ve written. When people hear it,  they immediately think “circus” music, and that’s a bad word in band repertoire. Suddenly, it’s that’s just like “Oh, that’s just for entertainment and there’s not really a lot of heart behind that.” I hate that, It’s such a quick dismission of music. I love that piece. It kinda fits my character and my background. This is a fun piece. Audiences are going to like it. 

I just got an email yesterday. Chuck Jones is the director of a bunch of Looney Tunes. He’s not around anymore, but there’s an organization called the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity that puts out, they’re in LA, they do a lot of classes for children - how to draw and do all this. Every year they do a big birthday celebration for the late Chuck Jones. There’s an LA band that just performed it. I sent the [Chuck Jones Center for Creativity] the recording, and they’re like “Hey this is awesome, maybe we can get them [California State University, Northridge Wind Ensemble] to come perform at the celebration next year.” For me, that is the greatest honor for that piece because it’s an homage to Chuck Jones and Carl Stalling. And now, Chuck Jones’ kids are going to hear this piece, possibly. That is cool. That gets me excited.

Come Spend This Sunday With Us

GSCB Photo Shoot by Christopher Rushing

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Tom Veltre, trombone by Christopher Rushing

Grand Street Community Band performed a stellar afternoon of music on October 26, 2013 with Brian Worsdale on the podium. Their season debut under Mr. Worsdale's direction was inspired, to say the least, and I, for one, cannot wait to hear more from this group as they blossom throughout the year. Here to help us keep up behind-the-scenes is Christopher Rushing. Lucky enough to have him shoot candids during Grand Street's dress rehearsal, Chris captured the group honestly and dramatically. Thanks Chris, for being awesome with a camera in your hands. View the entire album here. 

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Brian Worsdale conducting Grand Street Community Band by Christopher Rushing

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Backstage at Grand Street Community Band's A Fall Concert on October 26, 2013 by Christopher Rushing

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Backstage at Grand Street Community Band's A Fall Concert on October 26, 2013 by Christopher Rushing

Before They Were Rock Stars ...

... they were band geeks. BuzzFeed has compiled a list of 28 famous people who played in the school band or sang in the choir. Don't you think their instruments match their personalities? (It comes as no surprise to learn that Emeril played the trumpet.) There have been plenty of studies about the mental and physical health benefits of music. Wouldn't you also like to know how much playing the saxophone increases your chances of becoming President of the United States?