I started the Whidbey Island Horn Club. Yes, and I'm very happy that I did. When I was at Central Washington University, I played in the Horn Ensemble there every term, and I just loved it. We weren't always the greatest ensemble skill-wise, but we always generated a great sound and played a lot of really fantasic music. I developed an appreciation for the concept of a horn ensemble and wanted one of my own someday. Well, now I have it. And it's full of a very diverse group of people who all really enjoy playing horn and being a part of the ensemble. I just hope we can continue to do great things and improve our skill level and really make a name for ourselves. FYI--more about the WIHC at www.whidbeyislandhornclub.weebly.com.
I started the Harbor Brass Choir. I would've never got this going if I hadn't gotten to know Avi Rostov, the owner of Click Music store in Oak Harbor. She has a clarinet choir (actually two of them now) that she leads, and she charges the kids to be in a group. When I told her I wanted a brass ensemble, she encouraged it, and she's loved what we've done. And I'm proud of what we've done. For such a young group (6th-8th graders) we sound pretty darn good...oh, I guess I should show you sometime. Don't worry, I'll post our Christmas program up soon...whenever I get around to it.
The Gothard Sisters and I got to work together. Well, I guess we didn't work directly together, but they played 4 of my arrangements of their songs with the Saratoga Orchestra's string section back in May. Those arrangements were really well-liked by everyone, including the Gothards. Incidentally, they asked me to arrange one of their tunes for a Christmas concert in December, which I happily did, and they performed it with CWU. More to come in the future, methinks.
I had a great year with the Saratoga Orchestra. And, I seem to be the main principal horn player of the group, too. I just sort of fell into it. I'm very honored to get to sit in that chair again, because I just love playing principal horn. I got to play that amazing space-themed concert in October, which was just amazing.
My "Christmas Carols for the Lonely Hornist, Vol. 1" was reveiwed well in the Horn Call. And partly because of that (and other reasons), I sold a lot of my Christmas stock this year. And I have you to thank for that. It's a great feeling to sell works as a composer, because it's so hard to do.
I got to attend the NW Horn Society's Workshop at CWU. Man, what a great feeling it was to be back in that building. And it was so great to see a lot of familiar faces. Horn symposiums are just the best, reminding us all how great it is to be a horn player. I wish I could go every year.
I learned how to use Garage Band, and started recording stuff. Don't laugh! This a big deal to me. I've never been adept at using recording technology of any kind. And one of the big reasons I bought an iMac in 2013 was to use Garage Band. I just didn't have the time or a good microphone to really test it out. And for 5 years I have so badly wanted to record my horn ensemble works. When I got a Zoom H4N recorder at the start of the year, that changed everything. I had a superb piece of recording equipment--I just had to learn the program. It took a while for me to learn all the little tricks to make a recording sound its best, but I know feel like I have a really good grasp on everything, and you can listen to some of them on my "Recordings" page So, starting in 2017, I'm going to amp up the output of recordings, not just of my current stuff, but hopefully some new stuff.
Those are the big events that happened in my musical life. There are tons of other great moments, which I can't all remember now, but it all boils down to this: 2016 was the first year where I really loved my job. I was happy with my life in general. A lot of the crap and inconveniences I've had to put up with in years past aren't around anymore. I'm happy we live back on Whidbey Island now, where my wife has a good job, my career can flourish, we're close to my side of the family (and only and hour-and-a-half drive from my wife's), and we're surrounded by beautiful nature.
So now that 2016 is over, I'm optomistically looking ahead to 2017. I know a lot of folks are concerned about the whole political thing, which may or may not affect our lives, but until that happens (and probably even when it does), I'm looking past it and really appreciating life and what makes mine so great: music.
New Year's Resolution: Live. And think about music always.
Take care, Happy New Year, and value music.