Merry Christmas -- and Backordered Posts!!!

Season's greetings and happy holidays to everyone!!

Though I didn't write much while sloughing through the thick of the end of the semester, I kept the Journal in mind and have notes on my desk for the things I plan to write about. Here are the writings that are in transit and scheduled for delivery in the coming weeks before school starts again:

• A look at Childrens' Concerts
  
• Brief discussion of a Bruckner symphony
  
• My first experiences in a Praise Band
  
• A preview of next semester's Opera
  
• Discussion of Christmas Concerts
  Including a brief essay: The "Melodic Fi" and Its Uses in Generally Awesome Music
• A bit about good ol' John Cage

...quite a smorgasbord of subjects! I probably won't go in exactly this order, but I'll be sure to hit all the topics.

I hope that you all had a blessed Christmas and that you have several more days to spend with your family and friends before work and school start up again.

That's all for now -- I'll be writing again soon!

A stage, beautifully set for a Christmas Concert!

A Journal's First Entry

Greetings to friends, family, fans, and fellow students of music!!

I'm Anson, a collegiate double bassist studying music education (and aiming for a math minor on the side), and this is the official outlet of all things musical that I have to share.

In the days ahead, as I record my journeys through the world of music, this will become a collection not only of writings, but of recordings and compositions as well... and I'll probably throw in a few pictures here and there.

It is my hope and goal that all of my readers -- both trained musicians and casual listeners -- will enjoy these brief excursions into music as much as I enjoy sharing them, and maybe find a fun fact or souvenir to take with them along the way.

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There are quite a few things going on in the near future that I will be able to write about, which is handy. The Baylor Symphony Orchestra is playing Bruckner's 4th Symphony (the "Romantic") on Tuesday evening, and I will soon be working on a passacaglia for a Theory V composition project. I also have plans for a few other compositions... we'll see if those ideas ever make it into Finale.

For this first entry, I would like to present a recording I made recently of Giovanni Bottesini's Elegy for double bass. This is from the Fall 2008 Baylor Bass Studio Recital, which was last week. It's an awesome piece, perfectly written for the bass -- enjoy!! (Be sure to listen to it on a speaker system with subs for maximum bassage.)

Elegy (Giovanni Bottesini), 11/12/08

[ download ]

Though the piece is an elegy, it is not fraught with despair. The song, in my mind, suggests images of an elderly man walking through a beautiful park. A close friend of this man has died, one who surely lived a long and joyful life. As he moves through the trees and small gardens, he recalls memories of the countless joys they have shared, and is saddened by the barrenness of nostalgia... but he cannot grieve for long, because as he continues to walk, children run across his path, their laughter trailing behind them to where their parents sit on a blanket between the trees -- even through the death of a friend, the beauty of life is clearly evident.

Whatever you visualized, however, is the best interpretation for you.

Okay, okay, that's all. A picture to close things up, and then I'm out.

My bass, backstage during the Childrens' Concert series.