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A Proposed Note for a Canadian Brass CD Booklet by Robin

A Proposed Note for a Canadian Brass CD Booklet

In 1775 the drum purchased by the citizens of Lexington, Massachusetts for 16-year-old William Diamond, achieved a special place in the history of the United States of America when William used it to call the Minutemen onto Lexington’s green in the overture to the shot heard round the world. Almost 100 years later, 12-year-old Johnny Clem was immortalized as “The drummer Boy of Shiloh” after his exploits during one of the seminal battles of the Civil War.

There is truth and fiction in these stories, but …

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Wisconsin, Cymbals, and Prepared Drums - February, 2010 by Bob

Wisconsin, Cymbals, and Prepared Drums - February, 2010

During the week of February 14, 2010 I made visits to two schools in the University of Wisconsin network - UW Stevens Point and UW Madison. I was lucky with the weather as I had to connect through Detroit going and coming back, and at this time of year in the northeast, the more airports involved, the greater the chance of a delay or cancellation. I was able to arrive on time at Wausau Airport, and depart on schedule from Madison - along with all …

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ROPE DRUMS and BRASS by Robin

ROPE DRUMS and BRASS

About a week before Christmas 2009 Chuck Daellenbach  of the Canadian brass called to ask if I would be interested in helping the ‘Brass’ make a recording of American patriotic music for The American Heritage Society. Chuck wanted to use rope tension field drums. He knew the sound of these instruments quite well because we had played a concert together in the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto about eight years earlier. I had made an arrangement of four prominent military songs  for the Canadian brass …

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Tenth Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute, August 2 - 7, 2010 by Bob

Tenth Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute, August 2 - 7, 2010

This summer (2010) we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute at the University of Delaware, Newark, DL. Inclusive dates are August 2 through 7. Our host, Professor Harvey Price, had the idea to run a jazz vibes workshop concurrently with the xylophone session this year, so there promises to be some interesting and enjoyable cross-fertilization during the week (our concerts will be on different evenings). Jazz greats …

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Meet NEXUS’ Guest Artists for our March Concerts by Peggy

Meet NEXUS' Guest Artists for our March Concerts

NEXUS has invited three guest artists to perform at the upcoming NEXUS concerts in March: Midori Koga, Paul Ormandy and Ryan Scott.

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1933 Premiere and First Recording of Varese’s Ionisation by Peggy

1933 Premiere and First Recording of Varese's Ionisation

I have been reading Nicolas Slonimsky’s entertaining and irreverent autobiography Perfect Pitch.  His tale of conducting the world premiere performance of Edgard Varèse’s Ionisation in 1933, caught me up. This was one of the pieces that garnered NEXUS such wonderful notices at the Ojai Festival in California not long ago.

Slonimsky was a gifted musician who was born into a remarkable Russian family in 1894, fled his homeland during the …

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From the Archives #4: NEXUS an Inspiration by Peggy

From the Archives #4: NEXUS an Inspiration

In 2008 NEXUS performed at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. Incredibly, this was NEXUS’ first time at the OCMF. They gave three different performances: one in a late-night “after-hours” venue, the second a formal evening solo concert, and the third an afternoon educational concert at the Museum …

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