First of all: yes, I have a blanket with snowmen on it. That aside, I recently received yet another Shadow Rituals recording performed this time by the Capital University 2007 Wind Band Invitational Honor Band conducted by none-other-than Mr. Ray E. Cramer. As far as I know, Mr. Cramer has conducted the piece with at least 4 different groups now. I met him for the first time at Midwest in 2006 and didn’t even know who he was when he shouted my name from across the hall and came over to introduce himself. He’s only the president of Midwest. He is only one of the most important people in the “band world.”

I’m an idiot sometimes.

Two fantastic recordings of Shadow Rituals just came in the mail. The first one was performed by the University of Toledo Symphonic Band under the direction of Carl Collins. Carl also sent me a copy of their program from the concert. I guess now I have to start some kind of scrapbook or something! The other CD that came in is the official “The Winners & the Finalists” of “The First Frank Ticheli Composition Contest.” This is the last element of the Ticheli contest: a professional recording by the University of North Texas Symphonic Band under the direction of Dennis Fisher. It’s a fantastic recording by none-other-than Mark Custom’s Mark Morette. If you’re interested in hearing the pieces that made the final 10 in the contest (in each category… yeah, it’s a 2-CD set), the CD should be available for purchase soon… though I’m not sure where… probably MBM for sure. But the Mark Custom code is 7290-MCD if that helps. So pick up a copy if you can find one!

Louisiana State Music List:
http://www.lmeamusic.org/Prescribed%20Music%20List.htm#Grade%204

Also on…
Texas State Music List:
http://www.uil.utexas.edu/music/pml.html

About a week ago, my brothers and I went hiking behind the Superstition Mountains. It was a great opportunity to test run my new camera! If you’re interested, here are some curiously random pix from our short trip.