After yesterday’s post about NEXUS’s birthday, it seems only fair to me that we post a vintage shot of Garry Kvistad too. Why should he escape unscathed! Here is a 1977 photo from Garry’s Woodstock Chimes website of he and his wife Diane at the Cincinnati Craft Fair the day his first Chimes of Olympos… Read more »
Today is NEXUS’ 38th Birthday! On May 22, 1971, the first NEXUS concert took place in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. The concert was organized by Warren Benson, and it was entirely improvised. The founding members were John Wyre, Michael Craden, Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, and Russell Hartenberger. Today’s members… Read more »
Here is another peek into the NEXUS archives, this time an article by Allan Kozinn in the New York Times of May 3, 1998. The article was headlined “Touring Percussionists Who Aren’t Really Offbeat”, and here are some highlights from Mr Kozinn’s piece: “ONE might have thought that five percussionists who wanted to band together… Read more »
Except for the timpani part in “White Night” by Toshi Ichiyanagi, which I played with NEXUS in one concert in Toronto a few years ago, and my own “Night Ride”, which was in the NEXUS repertoire for a few concerts in 2006/2007, I had not really spent much time ‘timpanizing’ since I left the Rochester… Read more »
Dan Hinger and Bill Cahn (1981) I first met Mr. Hinger at a rehearsal of the Philadelphia All-City Junior High Band in 1960. His son, Bill Hinger and I were budding 8th-grade percussionists in the Band, and Dan was there at one of our Saturday morning rehearsals at Girls High School on North Broad… Read more »
The following poem is dedicated to Warren Benson. It was composed after hearing a performance of Warren’s “Danzon” for wind ensemble. Another Story for Virgins (Warren’s DANZON) marimba [?] . . . blossoms into . . . ubiquitous NOW awash in a swirl of amorphous sound virgin ears spread to beckon a penetration… Read more »
I had a number of interesting and enjoyable tours during the first months of 2009. On January 9 and 10, I was in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Day of Percussion held at Anoka High School. This was a splendidly run and densely packed day of concerts and workshops. I presented both snare drum and cymbal… Read more »
My new book: Rudimental Arithmetic – A Drummer’s Study of Pattern and Rhythm is available now from Keyboard Percussion Publications. Click HERE to read Mark Ford’s recent review in Percussive Notes (April, 2009). The book was in progress for several years and has been a real adventure for me to write. Somebody once said: “There are… Read more »
Each year, the Acoustical Society of America presents its prestigious Gold Medal to one of its members, and I am pleased to announce that this year’s recipient is my good friend and former Physics Professor, Dr. Thomas Rossing.
Bill Cahn’s clinic, “Introduction to the Business of Music” will be of interest to anyone who wants to pursue a career in music. It is conducted as an interactive discussion, so the clinic can go in various directions, depending on the interests of the participants and the time constraints of the clinic (one to two… Read more »
It has been said that professional careers consist of three distinct phases: 1) the acquisition of skills from the preceding generation; 2) the application of the acquired skills in the chosen profession, and; 3) the passing along of those skills to the next generation. Each phase has its rewards, and one of the most satisfying… Read more »
It’s always fun to have a look online to see who is blogging about NEXUS. Melissa Hughes, a vocalist with the group SIGNAL, worked with NEXUS at Ojai Festival’s Steve Reich concerts in California last summer. “Melly’s Blog” talks about meeting NEXUS. Here are a couple of short excerpts:
Over the past decade I have attended dozens of clinics and masterclasses aimed at explaining methods for preparing orchestral percussion audition repertoire, and describing techniques for succeeding in an audition environment. I have also read numerous articles in percussion magazines, and viewed several educational DVDs addressing the same issues. Furthermore, professional performers (including myself) and… Read more »
Our friend, the distinguished American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, is celebrating her 70th birthday in April and we wish her the happiest of birthdays.
Bob Becker presents a great lecture-demo called The Magic and Mystery of Cymbals. In it he explores history, terminology, special effects and techniques, choices of instrument, and even performance issues such as “misleading notation.” Bob has written a useful article (read it here)
