A Day in the life of my St. Olaf Band residency-April 16

Yesterday (April 16) was the last rehearsal before the St. Olaf Band concert on Sunday. The rehearsal on Tuesday was in the chapel, which does not provide the greatest in acoustics so it was difficult keeping everyone together on my rhythmically tricky music. Also I was a bit distracted mentally, so I didn't feel the rehearsal (at least for me) went well. Wednesday, April 15, I didn't have anything until a Jazz Band rehearsal later that night, so I used the day for some much needed rest. I walked around downtown Northfield and ended up at Carleton College, which is 12 blocks east of St. Olaf College. It was a much needed break and the Jazz Band rehearsal (which will be performing my composition, Race-an arrangement of a piece I did for Pulse later in May) went really well. While the some details are still missing, the shape of the piece has come together wonderfully.

So yesterday the day started off great as the four officers of the Band picked me up and we had breakfast at a local place called The Tavern. It was fun talking with them and hearing about their lives and what will be next for them after leaving St. Olaf. It was such a beautiful and warm gesture and I enjoyed the time with them. Later in the day I gave a composition seminar to Justin Merritt's class and then had the band rehearsal, which basically was a run-through. This rehearsal was back in the band room and felt much more together and I'm really looking forward to conducting them on Sunday.

That night, just after conducting my piece at the band rehearsal, I went with two friends to downtown Minneapolis to hear the Out to Lunch Quintet (Dave Milne, Kelly Rossum, Dave Hagedorn, Tom Lewis, and Phil Hey) at the MacPhail Center for Music. They performed Eric Dolphy's entire Out to Lunch album along with two other compositions and it was great. The hall was wonderful and the music even better (I really need to check out Dolphy's music more!).

Today, April 17 there are no rehearsals scheduled, but I plan on heading up to Minneapolis and St. Paul to see a friend and visit the innova offices.

ORIGINALLY POSTED BY NUMINOUS AT 9:14 AM