More CMS National News

And now even more reason to check out the CMS National Conference in San Diego this November: I will also be helping putting together a panel discussion on issues copyright for musicians and educators. Should be informative and a lot of fun!

Five weeks remain in the semester. Lots of fun projects upcoming in the meantime!

CMS National Conference - Nov. 2012 - San Diego

I was excited to learn last night that one of my compositions has been selected for performance at the College Music Society National Conference, Nov.13 in San Diego! CMS has gradually grown into my main source of non-local artistic exchange, professional development, and intellectual stimulation. I guess it's like the academic music nerd world's Comic-Con. I'm excited to be attending for my third year in a row - a tradition I plan to continue for a long time.

My selected work is Dirge for the New Sunrise (Mvt. VI: But I Saw the Little Ant-Men), for soprano, flute, viola, guitar, and percussion. It's a weird little ensemble, but one whose sound is a lot of fun to work with. This piece premiered as part of my dissertation lecture recital last May, and I'm looking forward to hearing what the new music specialists of soundSCAPE will do with it!

Busy Business

What a busy time!

My "real job" (doing scheduling for a local energy efficiency company) got really hectic the past couple of days. Speaking of "real jobs," I hope to get one soon! By soon, I mean in the next 3-15 months. I recently began sending out my first of many applications for music theory/aural skills/composition teaching jobs at colleges and universities across the country. Wow, that search deserves a blog in itself, but I don't have time to write it. Anyone else want to write it for me?? Wish me luck!

Also, I recently returned from the CMS National Conference in Minneapolis, MN. It was such a great experience, and I learned a whole lot in five days. Grant writing, Max/MSP, effective classroom strategies, composition pedagogy, and more!

I'm just about learned out. Speaking of, my final dissertation composition, tentatively called cold.flat.still, is now in-progress. It's a 10-minute work for standard full orchestra that traces an aural geography of Minnesota. At least, that's the idea so far. More thoughts to come...