Damn Chicago was cold! With highs in the 20s, I was lucky to be able to room at the hotel with a good friend from back in Arizona, Scott Lang. He reserved a parlor room and what a cool view! Despite the razor sharp wind, the weather was beautiful and ended up bringing some considerably heavy snow (and even some thunder and lightning) on Thursday night.

I think I have mentioned before that Scott and I recently collaborated on his latest video project, now published by GIA. To find out more about his DVD/CD collection entitled Leadership Survival, check out GIA’s website or even Scott’s own. If your band has ever attended a Dr. Tim workshop (and especially if they haven’t), you should get to know Scott Lang.

Along with Scott’s DVD, there was also a couple of other cool new GIA publications that I was a part of. One of them is Teaching Music Through Performance, Volume 7. Out of the thousand or so pages and hundreds of new pieces listed, Shadow Rituals was lucky enough to take up a small corner in that fat brick of a book! I actually got a TSA inspection notice acting as a bookmark when I got home and unpacked. I guess not even their fancy x-ray machines could penetrate this book. Sorry, no shank in there guys!

The other publication that I am lucky to be a part of is the new Composers on Composing for Band, Volume 4. While volumes one thru three were contributed by established composers writing for band, editor Mark Camphouse dedicated this one to “young and emerging composers.” It’s fascinating to read what other younger composers have to say. I read a few of my peer’s chapters on the flight home yesterday and was completely moved by composer Kathryn Salfelder’s chapter. Kathryn recently received the prestigious 2008 ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize. One read of her chapter and it’s obvious she is going to continue to do amazing things.

Me, Frank Ticheli, Gregory Rudgers, Steve Rouse

I didn’t have much planned for this trip so I spent a majority of my time down in the exhibit halls at the Manhattan Beach Booth with Kevin Jedele and Gregory Rudgers. Frank Ticheli, Steve Rouse, and John Carnahan also stopped by to help promote their music.

I was also promoting my new piece, Turkey in the Straw, which is one of MBM’s new publications along with John Carnahan’s very popular …and the Antelope Play, Steve Rouse’s Blaze, and Frank Ticheli’s The Tyger. If you weren’t at Midwest or you were and didn’t get a copy of the new “MBM Times” magalog, I recommend trying to hunt down a copy as there are a few great write-ups on these new pieces. Congratulations to Frank Ticheli for making the cover for four consecutive years! Here’s an exclusive look at next year’s cover:

Happy Holidays! I can’t wait to see what 2009 brings!

Hope to see some of you at Midwest~

Listen to Memento premiered by the Dobson High School Symphonic Band; Jon Gomez, director

If any of you in town want to come, Dobson High School will be premiering my new piece, Memento, tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 9, at 7:30PM. It should be a fairly short concert as only Percussion Ensemble and Symphonic Band will be performing.

According the “Dobson Band” Facebook group, here is the literature they will be performing:

Percussion Ensemble
- Short Circuits
- Centrifugal
- Nutcracker Sweets
- Bound for Marakesh

Symphonic Band
- Tanczi, by Jan Van der Roost
- Memento (World Premiere) by Michael J. Markowski
- Sleigh Ride, by Leroy Anderson

I will probably post video and an mp3 by the end of the week so check back soon~

Last night was the first big step in this Judy Garland musical I’ve arranged music for. With the help of a lot of people including a first rate cast, pianist, and an incredible business planner, we were able to put on an abbreviated version of the show for our first “backer’s audition.”

Although the work is far from over, we can now take a little while to breathe while we plan our next move. I still have a lot of changes I want to make in several songs, but at least now I have a little more time to focus some effort on other non-Judy projects like Heartwood, a 30-minute independent film I’m scoring and doing sound design for. I’ll also be attending Midwest for a little Chi-City fun in two short weeks. And after that, I’ll be writing what will be my first grade 2 (but will likely turn out to be grade 3) band piece for my former junior high band teacher and her band at Smith Junior High School way out in East Mesa.

The fun never stops.