Join our friend and master percussionist Ken Crawford on October 16th @ 2pm for an insightful and educational session delving into rhythmic notation. The session will be held at Gelb Music in Redwood City, CA.
Ken is the Director of Pacific Sticks percussion group. He teaches percussion and Timpani at Dominican University in San Rafael and at Gelb Music. Pacific Sticks members hold degrees from a variety of learning institutions. They perform regularly in Northern California and serve as individual coaches in numerous orchestras and other music organizations.
We recently received this very nice email from legendary drummer/composer Peter Erskine;
"Playing with the LA Phil tonight … Bernstein's 'Prelude, Fugue and Riffs,' among other things.
The BlocKnock makes it possible to play the first burning tempo part (piano and clarinet duet, etc) with brushes as Bernstein intended and then make the instant transition to woodblock … sounds great and it actually makes the part FUN.
I will mention this at the PASIC presentation I’m doing with Bill Platt (drumset w/ orchestra) … I consider it an essential part of my musical instrument library.
Thanks for such a great instrument and design!"
Thank YOU Peter!
We welcome Shanghai Symphony Percussionist, Wei-Chen Lin, to our roster of top percussion artists! In addition to his duties in the orchestra, he is forging an active solo percussion career. An active arranger, his pieces for marimba are published by Edition Svitzer in Denmark.
According to our good friend, Boston Symphony Timpanist Tim Genis, Wei-Chen's solo career is really taking off...he should know, Wei-Chen was a student of Tim's at Boston University!
You can learn more about Wei-Chen Lin and his music activities at www.WeichenLin.com.
The innovative and entertaining Kraken Quartet will be presenting a number of free shows this fall. Be sure to catch them if you are in the Austin, TX area - you DON'T want to miss these guys!
September 19th - 8pm
The Butterfly Bar, Austin TX
Part of the monthly series 'The Kraken Quartet Presents'
Featuring Francois Minaux and Laura Brackney
September 25th
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin TX
Outdoor Performance and Installation
September 27th - 8pm
Strange Bird Showcase
Volstead Lounge, Austin TX
With Kenzie Slottow
October 17 th - 8pm
The Butterfly Bar, Austin TX
Part of the monthly series 'The Kraken Quartet Presents'
Featuring the UT Percussion Ensemble
I found something interesting while recently going through some of my old correspondence. Here is a postcard that I received in 1992 after meeting famed Indiana University Professor George Gaber. George and I studied with the same teacher in N.Y., Joe Castka. Joe played percussion in the NBC Symphony and at Radio City Music Hall and worked closely with Billy Gladstone, Sam Herman and Harry Breuer (who I later befriended). George was one of Joe's first pupils, and I one of his last. He was a terrific teacher from the "old school" method of instructing. I consider myself very fortunate to have met and studied with him...
