Composing and Careeers

Alright, here's the news, times two:

1.) Today I completed The Two Coffins for tenor and grand piano. It's an art song written for my friend and colleague Timothy Ballard, who is slated to give its premiere in September. This is the first piece in my CC21 Project, which uses Creative Commons as a marketing tool to generate performances in 21 states over 21 weeks. Click through to read about the project and download the PDF score for free! (Contact me for performance info.)

2.) Today I received my official offer letter from the University of Texas at Tyler, where I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Composition in August! Five weeks left of summer teaching, one week to move, and one week to orient myself before the real thing begins! Here goes.

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...