I don't talk about it much on my blog, but I've started a band and it's called Lemon Bar. I've been writing for the band since last August (right before I graduated). Check out our recordings on SoundCloud!!
People have been really responsive to our music which is SUPER EXCITING. So far the band has 3 gigs lined up; June 7 in Smithville for Olde World Bakery Guns and Giggles, a comedy venue on June 14 and Red Eyed Fly, July 25th
I'm really exited. :)
The recordings aren't even that great and are completely live, recorded in a classroom with my handy cam zoom. No mixing etc. We'll get better ones at some point, this is all we could do with the resources and rehearsal time available. This is good because it means that when we have the time to tighten up our performance, we'll sound even better.
Both pieces have their own history.
Integration got its name because it is dedicated to my late grandfather Robert Clark, who passed away in January 2014. He was an accidental hero because he unwittingly integrated the Topeka YMCA back when segregation was on its last limbs on a national level, but still a seemingly insurmountable issue in Topeka. The piece pays homage to the idea of integration by taking a classical motif and a jazz motif and... (dun dun dunnnn) INTEGRATES THEM. lol
Superhero got its name simply because our drummer at the time thought that the raw idea behind the piece sounded like a superhero theme. He was trying to tease me, but fortunately our keyboard player was able to smooth over some of the hard lines... needless to say I was not trying to write movie music.. haha
Like all good ideas, this one started out as a seed and had just the right kind of nourishment from the sun, wind and rain to blossom into something people can enjoy.
I was running in the park on a beautiful late winter day and I thought to myself, "gosh I wish I could just come out here and make music in all of this beauty!" Then I saw other musicians in the park, who apparently had the same inclinations. :)
I realized that a bassoon isn't something you see everyday just playing in the park, and that if I did this, it would attract attention. Then I thought, "hey wouldn't it be cool to film people's reactions and post it online?"
I made mention of this to my amazingly multi-talented roommate, Kamryn Armstrong, who had already made "music videos" of her own. However, her videos were not just recorded from an iphone.. she had a tripod and fancy camera, not to mention expertise. Click here to check out her work. She VERY kindly said she would help me make this video and was true to her word. With her input the idea just took off. She suggested multiple Austin iconic locations, outfits, even times of day. She was absolutely pivotal to this video, helping me do everything, even down to the types of cosmetics I chose to use. I got really lucky that she was there!! Learning the Prelude from the 1st Bach Cello Suitewas a challenge unlike any other piece I had memorized, because it was not intended for the bassoon. This posed a challenge because there are only two real places to breathe during this piece.. one is at the very end (lol) and the other is smack dab in the middle of the piece. Because bassoonists don't play this piece it did two things for me; it presented a challenge of creativity (finding places to breathe), a challenge of endurance (try not to pass out), and made me feel more at liberty to play without fear. After all, I have never heard another bassoonist play this, so that radically decreased pressure. During MQVC, I had been working on the Prelude from Bach's first Cello
Suite as something I let myself do in order to keep sane during
competition preparation... almost as an antidote towards playing music that 9 other people were going to play and be judged/compared on based on an unknown set of standards. Playing this piece meant freedom from comparison. After practicing for this competition, (which felt like forever) it had gotten to a point where I had played the Prelude soooo much, that I started quizzing myself, seeing if I could do
the whole thing from memory. It took about a week at that point, but I memorized it and solidified it. When it came to shooting the film we did it in 4 locations and and 3 separate trips. One by a building that shall remain nameless so that I don't get sued... The other 3 were out on Congress near 7th, the Lamar Bridge, and The Wall of Hope. The latter two took place on the last day of SXSW. We made several full takes but there were other takes where I was just supposed to play a section of the piece and Kamryn would do a special close up of my fingers.. or shoot from a slightly different angle. I probably only had to play the piece from beginning to end 12 times while filming. Once we had our clips, it was time to edit. I spent the entirety of ONE day editing and creating a patchwork of clips that followed the general meter of the piece. It was a little rugged sounding to the ear, switching locations where background noise always changed depending on the clip used, but you could tell it was the Prelude and it had overall flow. Because we shot film from 12 different live performances, there were multiple tempos. This meant that the background noise wasn't the only variable in sound when playing back these clips and posed a challenge sometime while trying to find suitable pieces to put together. I have to say again, I got very lucky that I was able to get all these live performances to line up well enough for the video-patchwork-skeleton. Recording the track that we laid over the video-patchwork-skeleton was much easier and faster than filming. We got our take on the 3rd run through. Parker Johnson was a beast and used some very expensive equipment that he set up in his UT dorm room to get the sound we were looking for. That's right, no studio required, just the dorm room of a college kid. We used only two microphones.. which was interesting. I have never used less than 3 to get a good recording. Here is Parker's email if you need to contact him about his awesome bassoon recording set up: aparkerjohnson@gmail.com Lining up the track with the video was just plain fun. The idea was to watch myself (on patchwork skeleton video) played on a small device (in this case, Parker's phone), and listen to that recording through headphones (attached to phone) while playing the Prelude in such a way that it fit with what I was watching and hearing. Parker would hit record and cue me and I would hit play on the video and play along with what I saw and heard in the headphones as best as possible. This was tricky because there are a lot of close ups on my fingers. Close ups mean I had to try extra hard to replicate (be) my exact self from a previous clip.. but since there were so many clips and different me(s), it meant guestimating as best as possible how and when I should play it. Then there was the actual music to take into account. I needed to make the musical performance that would be entertaining and clean... and make sense with the footage. I am proud to say that we did not edit the music at all. It is a full complete take from a live "studio" performance... annnnd it lines up pretty well. Did I mention we got it on the 3rd take? :)
Shot taken by Jacob James Garcia
YESSSSSS!!!
Public reaction to the bassoon was very exciting. Some people lined up to listen, others stopped to take photo and video. According to Kamryn (who is a saint/trooper and wearing the cream sweater to the right) people were taking video or photos from the side walk, or even their cars, with phones, cameras or ipads as they passed by on Congress. I got asked to do a podcast by one of the more stationary audience members who took an interest in project Extra Orchestral Uploads and we ended up meeting a LOT of really cool people. More on the podcast later.
As a cool side note, we released the video on Bach's birthday in homage. Happy birthday you philandering scoundrel. Soli Deo Gloria. ;)
The Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium was fun and I got to meet a lot of very talented and dedicated bassoonists as well as see some dear and familiar faces. Congratulations to the first place winner Ivy Ringel, who is a great person! We got to carpool on the way to the airport with equally awesome person and second place winner Sandra Bailey, who played beautifully. Congratulations Sandra!! It was a fun ride and I had the honor of exposing these out-of-staters to the Texas phenomenon otherwise known as Whataburger. It was as glorious as to be expected... hahahaha
David and Julie Threatte of Barton Cane. Hook'em
Also, if you don't get your cane from Barton Cane, you're missing out. I've gone exclusive with their product because it is so consistent and high quality. Plus, they take the time to get to know you, where else do you get that? You can thank me later.
Thanks to my amazing pianist Wenci Fan who put up with me!
I was really inspired by Sergio Azzolini's interpretation of the Vivaldi and Klaus Thunemann as well. Click here to hear Sergio's inspired performance! I feel that Azzolini's performance sounds very improvised which led me to make the daring decision to improvise the second movement of the Vivaldi live in concert. Playing in a style that sounds improvised is currently stylistic for baroque music.. however actually improvising on the spot, especially in a competition setting isn't done that often, but my gut said it would be a good move. I have my own theories of how baroque music was once performed... muahahaha. But in all seriousness, I don't think humans have actually changed that much in the past few hundred years and that what we once found amusing would still be amusing today... including a live improvised performance. A lot of the music that I write for my pop band calls for improvisation, so it was a very natural thing to improvise Vivaldi. It was exciting, nay thrilling to improvise for an audience, as well as a freer experience for me as an artist to be able to make decisions that fit my current mood while playing.
Speaking of, my band is gearing up to make some recordings soon. We have six pieces so far and the idea is that once we have the recordings, we'll be able to interest venues with our music and get some gigs. FINGERS CROSSED Y'ALL!!!
In other news, I, with the amazing help of Kamryn Armstrong and Parker Johnson have recently released a music video on YouTube featuring the bassoon. Don't forget to 'like,' and subscribe to my channel!
There will be a blog on the making of this video coming soon! Peace out y'all!
I am very proud to announce the first studio recital I have ever thrown, Studio Recital 2014!
It was a great opportunity for my students to play some music in an intimate setting for a live audience. Performing is a crucial part of learning and has an indispensable way of solidifying progress and building confidence! I must say I am VERY proud of their performances. With the exception of one student, all the pieces were tailored specifically to address challenges each student was facing in order to give them incentive to overcome those challenges. The crowd that showed up to support the students was also pretty impressive. We probably had around 20 people to see five students perform. It was a good day for all. It also provided an opportunity for my amazing collaborator Wenci Fan and I to air out some of our Meg Quigley repertoire, an opportunity I would not have otherwise had since I am no longer in school.
That leads to another interesting thought, competition preparation. I feel no one ever talks about this but it's quite the mind game. I have discovered from making the tape for the semi-final round it requires a lot of careful preparation. However preparing for the next round is even harder. You have to out-do your last performance.. which of course means practicing the same repertoire for an even longerrrrr span of time. No sweat right? Except when you play the same thing for MONTHS it starts to become very wearing. I must say that there are days when I have woken up, set up the bassoon and then stared at it... almost all day.
Now I know my situation is a little different from the other girls preparing for this competition, simply because I am the only one who is not currently in school. That means I am not getting any sort of regular check up from my teacher.. because I don't have one. I have to be my own teacher, and though I think I'm doing ok, another set of ears is indispensable. Especially a set that is older and wiser. I know I could probably be doing a lot better with more regular help, but I kinda dig my independence too. I really hope I get to go to graduate school for bassoon someday. I really love doing the bassoon thing and don't think I couldn't live without it.
Composing has also been an interesting challenge. To have inspiration you really have to do more than sit in front of a piano. So I'm trying to stay active with things I love, like spending time with people, dancing, and learning other repertoire. It's great.
_2_2.JPG)
