My "Summer Summary"

When I was in Junior High, an assignment we always had during the first week of school was to write an essay entitled "What I did on my Summer vacation", so a good place to get to know each of you is to hear about what you did this Summer. By design, the first piece of music we will listen to and discuss is called "Summer" from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.

For me, this summer came in three sections: first, in June I spent a week at the University of Knoxville for the International Tuba Euphonium Conference. My students and I performed as well as attended many recitals, lectures and classes featuring the tuba and euphonium. The facilities were very nice, but unfortunately the stairs in the lobby of that school were made of glass, and on the first day someone dropped a tuba case and cracked the stairs! It was a great conference, and my students really learned a lot and got to hear some amazing musicians.

The second section of my summer was very quiet. There were several weeks were I just relaxed, read, watched Netflix and enjoyed the warm weather. I attended the Iowa City Jazz Fest, which is one of my favorite events. (By the way, the Iowa City Soul Fest is this weekend - don't miss it!)

The third portion of my summer was very busy, as it involved driving to Boston and teaching a two-week seminar at Northeastern University. My colleagues and I in the Atlantic Brass Quintet worked with fifty brass students from around the country through chamber music - which can be defined as music made up of smaller ensembles (trios, quartets, quintets, etc.), intended for more intimate concert venues, and each musician plays their own unique part (unlike in an orchestra when there might be ten people playing the same first violin part).

But the highlight of the summer was returning to Iowa City to finally get into our brand new music building (see post below). I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you and I hope you enjoy this first year seminar and all of your classes here at Iowa.

A New Building; A New Era

Welcome to the 2016 edition of "Music Gone Wild!"; a University of Iowa First Year Seminar. No doubt you are all overwhelmed and excited about your first year at college, and I hope that this seminar helps you get accustomed to life here at the University of Iowa. You'll meet new friends, you'll live in a new place, and you will be exposed to many new ideas. We here in the School of Music are very excited about the opening of our brand new Voxman Music Building (VOX) You will be among the first students to enjoy this state-of-the-art facility and I think you will find this beautiful building welcoming and inspiring.