In Which Ryan Is On A Bus Somewhere
July 2024 | 5:7
Koopa and Goomba say they will do their part for climate change by absorbing as much sun as possible.
What's Been Happening
This month is another update written in advance while doing laundry before repacking, which pretty much tells you how my schedule has been. London and Scotland were a blast, and shout out to longtime Medium Ensemble pianist Rachel Taylor for once again being an incredible host and tour guide for the low low price of "as much giardiniera as I could legally put in a suitcase". Drum corps season is in full swing and the weather appears very upset about this, so I'll see if playing cleaner will appease the elements (it can't hurt). Aside from that, while the travel has been lovely I'm definitely looking forward to some quality time with cats and cooking so it's a good thing I have that in my calendar for roughly sometime this decade.
May your masks smell pleasant and your packages arrive without incident,
Ryan
Chart O' The Month
"All 'Dem Leaves" was the first chart I had published by Kendor, and still one of my favorites that's focused on younger ensembles. Since the musical intent of the chart is pretty obvious (spoiler alert; it's a contrafact on "Autumn Leaves"), in lieu of a discussion of the chart here are some random fun facts:
This was the first chart published by Kendor, but there were discussions going back several years about what kind of charts they might want and several existing charts I had that were rejected before this one was written specifically to existing guidelines. Moral of the story; if you're trying to get charts published, write more charts and keep submitting and asking questions.
The original title was "13th and Clarendon" with a dedication to the "Souers Middle School Jazz Brass Ensemble (Doug Thrower and Dave Mackinnon, directors)". Autumn Leaves is the corps song for the Bluecoats, 13th and Clarendon is the intersection where the Canton Police Boys' Club is, and Souers Middle School is the school across the parking lot where we'd rehearse, but Kendor is probably right that the reference is a touch obscure.
"All 'Dem Leaves" is a shout out to my undergrad jazz trumpet teacher Jack Schantz who among a multitude of things is a wealth of intentionally not-quite-correct titles for jazz standards.
Look, Nature!
This is a view from a hike we did in Craigrostan Woods near Loch Lomond in Scotland. Confession; everytime I read "Craigrostan" I make it "Craig-o-stan" and imagine the homeland of all Craigs, which I'm not 100% certain is correct in this case.
Education Notes
As I've become more involved in the designing and judging side of the various marching arts, I'm finding myself thinking more and more about the unintended educational consequences of competition (read as "becoming more and more of a curmudgeon").
Take this all with the grain of salt that I'm not a huge fan of competitive music philosophically, and that despite this I recognize it does provide helpful motivation and higher achievement. That said, there's an undeniable effect that unless something is actively rewarded and recognized by the judging community, the educational and creative communities simply avoid doing it. Two specific examples:
When discussing design with groups, the conversation is almost never about how to accomplish something or teach something. It's almost always what element to get rid of so you don't expose a lack of execution and/or don't have to teach something.
When writing, it's genuinely unusual for me to write a full ballad that completes a musical thought, and even more unusual to include any kind of denouement to fully settle the mood before moving on rather than doing an instant mood change. There's not time within the overall show and musicality/phrasing is generally called out while it's developing but not rewarded until/unless it's overwhelmingly achieved.
To be clear, I don't have suggestions and I don't blame the judging community; the job is to react to what's happening and that's hard enough as it is. I do, however, think it's worth asking ourselves as a community what we are truly trying to create and how to get there.