Zephyr Brass

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, I am now the acting conductor for the local volunteer brass choir, Zephyr Brass. The particularly interesting thing about this group is that although they sometimes perform sacred or classical music, they mainly give concerts featuring arrangements of movie music, featuring highlight clips from the movies edited to match the score. Ultimately, it's a pretty neat concept, even though I'm not too much of a movie music fan myself.

Now, as it turns out, my high school AP Music Theory teacher Vince Mull, who had been conducting the group for many years, was developing the need for a break from it all and asked me to step in for the Summer, rehearsing the group in preparation for a "niche" concert in the early Fall. Although I'm not getting paid, the group only rehearses for two hours a week (on one night), and since I'll have to be arranging a large portion of the music for my personally-designed niche concert program, I'll be getting tons of hands-on experience orchestrating (and possibly writing) for brass ensemble (not to mention all the conducting experience).

So, now I've got about a week and a half to generate enough material for the group to rehearse at our first rehearsal on the 16th. I'm stressing out a tiny bit about it, but I'm excited by the possibilities. I know I'll be putting at least one of my older pieces on the concert, as well as a piece or two by one of the more compositionally-experienced members of the group. Also, it's most certain I'll be including some work by the minimalists, most likely Glass and Nyman.

All in all, this is a really unique opportunity, and I'm very flattered that Vince asked me to step in for a bit. Should be fun!