Poster for my first professional recital

Hi Everybody!

So things are great momentarily! I've just had a simply gorgeous poster designed by my friend Courtney, with photography courtesy of Mr. Bidleman. I couldn't have asked for a better design, it just so wonderful.

The background is a small portion of one of the BIG windows at the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg, where the recital will be. I would have never thought to use that part of that window in such a manner, total genius on the part of Courtney is you ask me. The way she worked the info into the grooves of the window, the way she used the four circles to fit in pictures of the console and me playing... all totally brilliant.

Even with such a burst of various colors and intensity, it still manages total simplicity in the presentation of the info an is incredibly easy to read. Fabulous!

I'm going to have fourteen of these posters up in my High School and twenty-five around town and in area churches. Quite exciting I'd say!

Destiny's Blog

This is the blog address of my friend Destiny. She and I have acted in BTE productions before and she's a fabulous actress and brighter than you could believe!
http://destinydeater.blogspot.com/

Life is great

Hello All! Recently everything has been going wonderfully for me and I just thought I'd share!

It's interesting, I always make an effort to be observant of all the seasonal changes, I think we can learn allot about life from them. As, recently, it has been changing from Winter into Spring, I am, as every year, full of joy for that reason in itself. We see from the dead, cold, and blankness of winter, emerging great life, color, vibrancy, and general vivaciousness when Spring arrives. Not only in nature do we experience these changes, but in people too. The seasonal changes affect our attitudes whether we realise it or not.
That being said, I'm delighted to find a wonderfully interesting anomaly in this particular change. I've always thought it a no-brainer that the change into Spring is by far the the most lively and flavorful, but above all, the most optimistic. At the same time, as it changes from a frigid Winter into a cheerful Spring, I find that there are many things unrelated to the seasons that are going so very right for me.

I am full of excitement and optimism! I am glad beyond glad to have been born when I was and to be who I am. I am blessed beyond blessed to find myself in the circumstances I do. I am grateful beyond grateful for the people I know and who surround me.

So what's up? What wonderous happenings have been a-happening?

1. I have scheduled my premier organ concert for Sunday the 25th of April, 2010 at 3:00 in the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg! I will be playing a program of Bach, Franck, Boellmann, Messiaen, and MORE BACH! Addmission is free and it will be fantastic I know!

Below is a picture of th First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg, where my premier organ concert will be held.

2. In addition to my premier concert, I will be playing a 30 minute recital at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Indianapolis as part of their weekly Friday afternoon organ series. It should be great fun as the church has an incredible music program and two incredible pipe organs: a 70 rank French-Romantic tracker by Hellmuth Wolf in the chancel, and a gorgeous 53 rank Baroque tracker by Taylor and Boody in the gallery. It should be great fun!

Below is a picture of Christ Church Cathedral, home to two large organs, and where I will be playing a recital in late June.

3. I will be attending a six day 'Pipe Organ Encounter' at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University at Bloomington. This is six days of residential organ camp on the Jacobs School of Music campus. There will be organ lessons galore from world class, and world renowned, organists and professors. Also, we will be playing various different instruments in Bloomington and Indianapolis, including the brand new 68 rank C.B. Fisk organ at the Jacobs School.

Below is a picture of the new Fisk recently installed.

In short, there are innumerable happenings a-happening and these just *happen* (hahaha) to be three I'm going to brag about. Life is great! Spring is great! Go outside and have fun!

I've been in plays before...

... but this one was different.
I've acted in four or five professional plays with the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and in my 8th grade year, I played the main antagonist in my Middle School's play. I enjoyed all these experiences and cherished many memories from them. That being said, I also participated in my High School's 2010 production of 'The Sound of Music' which we closed just a few days ago, and this play far, far outshines the others in my mind. The interesting thing is, I didn't even act, I was on the tech crew, changing sets!
Something about the play, the story, the music, our cast, our crew, our directors, our dedication... all this made it so much more worth while and so much more touching.
I made new friends, Danielle and Ashley, and learned what the high school musical was all about. I had plenty of fun and there was goofing around at times, but I also accomplished a ton and felt fantastic about the work I'd completed. We started a new play tradition, backstage rubber band wars during intermission and before performances (one which had us in trouble when we were too loud!) which I'm sure we will continue for years to come. I saw wonderful actors and singers struggle with their roles a few months before performance time. I saw confusion and everything else that comes with learning, but what I didn't see was people giving up or giving anything less than their best. Because of this, we were able to put on an incredible show and I saw wonderful actors and singers play their parts perfectly when the big day came around and we performed in front of an audience of over 700. I could not possibly be more proud of every last member of our wonderful cast and crew. Great job to all!
After the last performance, we spent roughly two hours taking the set apart, which was very emotional for me, though I didn't show it. I took a picture of some of the screws which had held our set together. Many people cried for different reasons before, after, and even during the last performance, but it wasn't until the next day when I looked at this picture that I cried. There are great memories in these screws and they've had a huge impact on me.

Every second I spent in that auditorium with you lovely people was one I will never forget!
Endless thanks to Latsha, Kate, Mamma Yates, Danielle, Ashley, Zach, Trevs, and Darbs. I love you all so much!
AND MEGHAN ASHFORD, THANK YOU SO, SO, SOOO MUCH FOR CONVINCING ME TO JOIN PLAY!

My brother Riley's video

Dr. Hancock in concert

I met Dr. Hancock about eight hours before the concert. He was practicing the Fantasy on B-A-C-H by Maxx Reger. When I talked to him he had so much to say about how much he liked the two and a-half-year-old 90 rank Casavant he was playing, he said something along the lines of "What a fabulous organ this is. Such a magnificent addition to the organ community, this is truly one of the great organs of the country and among the best recent contributions to organ building on the entire planet."
At 7:30 I found myself in the Sanctuary again, free of the $10 charge thanks to the generosity of the Music Director of Saint Paul's, Frank Boles. The program began with the Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H by Maxx Reger, a dynamic, impressive, and dazzling piece. Upon the first big chord in the first measure of the Fantasy, a lady in front of me shook so violently, I swear I have never seen anybody so startled by the power of a pipe organ. He played through the Fantasy and Fugue without a single flaw or mistake using incredibly effective registrations made possible by the immense variety of the 90 ranks of pipes
Next on the program was the Piece d'Orgue (BWV 572) by Johann Sebastian Bach, Gerre played the piece with consistency and joyous registrations, the Lentement section of the piece was enjoyed by everyone for sure!
The third piece Gerre performed was the famous Chorale in A minor by Cesar Franck. Gerre played through piece again with perfect registration choices and perfect consistency.
The Prelude and Fugue in E minor by Nikolaus Bruhns was to follow, Gerre played this piece very well and it was enjoyed by all. There was a point in the Prelude where it sounded to me that he used the Tuba Mirabilis, I don't know about that but it was interesting to note.
Last on the program before the 'fun part' was the Canon, Chacony and Fugue by Leo Sowerby, dedicated to E. Power Biggs. Hancock played this charming piece with magnificent joy and understanding of the piece.
After a ten minute intermission, the Improvisation themes were submitted to Dr. Hancock, the four movement improvised symphony began!
The first movement was a Sonata-form piece in which he used many of the organs resources from beautiful english reeds to the to-die-for flutes. This was followed by a Song-form movement in which he used various solo reeds contrasting against various strings and soft flute stops.
Next was an incredibly fun Scherzo on the theme of "Zippidy do da!" exploring many of the organ's bright, light, and joyful stop opportunities. Last was a Fugue and Finale, Gerre developed a fugue that move seamlessly into a flourishing finale, slowly beginning to utilize other themes from the symphony, the crescendo was smooth and gradual. He closed the the Finale with a flourishing finish, utilizing every stop on the organ including the 19 rank Nave organ and the 8' Hooded Festival trompette. Returning to the theme of "Zippidy do da", he weaved the familiar tune into genius clashing chords forming it perfectly into a magnificent conclusion. Just as soon as the decay had ceased, I was the first person in the audience to stand and clap. Everyone I came across could not say enough how much they enjoyed the concert. Dr. Hancock's performance was enjoyed by all in attendance and I speak for myself when I say it is all I could think about until I fell to sleep that night.

Photo by Bernadette Wagner of Dr. Hancock during the concert, standing in front of the gorgeous four manual terraced console of the Casavant organ at Saint Paul's.

Interesting Bus ride

I find myself in Indianapolis now, I'm here to meet Gerre Hancock, attend a concert of his, and visit family. That is all to come but my trip has already proved quite interesting... it was quite a bus ride.
First thing that happens on the bus, the driver's intercom stops working and he has to scream for us to hear his announcements.
Ten minutes later, an elderly man of maybe late 60's or early 70's is talking on the phone to several people, he uses every profanity in the book, crude, sexual, offensive... every combination of such words too... you could possibly imagine. I didn't get everything he was talking about but it involved very large sums of money, putting some 'f****rs out of business', and prostitution, from what I could gather.
We arrive in Pittsburgh and I have to wait for an hour at midnight to get back on the bus. There is a new bus driver, he screams at me when I ask him "Is this the right bus? They said door 10, but this is door 11?" He stares at me for a good ten seconds then screams at me. After this we get onto the road and I make my best attempts at sleeping.
It is 3:00 A.M. and we arrive at Columbus, this bus station is old, gritty, depressing, and full of... very strange people. There is a man who was on the same bus as me, waiting to get back on. He stands in the middle of the station eating Nachos, chips, soda, a cheeseburger... all at 3:00 A.M.! He wasn't even a big fella either! Atop of this he made some very loud grunting noises when he ate. There were many other assortments of people making strange noises, saying strange things, staring at me because I'd found myself staring at them, and acting, well, strange in every possible manner.
We get another new bus driver, he is very, very old and has a week voice. He spends seven minutes trying to announce our route on the broken intercom, out heads are drilled near explosion by the static and bleeps and feedback. Finally he gives up. I wake up not too much later, we have stopped at a rest stop. The driver goes to the back of the bus to use the bathroom, the door is jammed, again, he spends an excessive amount of time trying to open it before giving up and going to the rest stop. He ends up stopping at about three or four more rest stops in the next three hours and we end up arriving an hour late.
Quite a ride, let's see what else happens this weekend!