Hello from New York City, where I am performing with the Paul Winter Consort at the 29th annual Winter Solstice Concerts in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The first performance occurred last night before a sold-out audience of over 3000. It was great to perform with fellow percussionists Jamey Haddad and Cafe. I… Read more »
Blog
Happy Holidays from NEXUS!
Wishing you a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Great 2017! Click here for info on this amazing photo. You won’t believe when it was taken!
Choirs Can Join With NEXUS
It’s December and every shop surrounds us with heavenly voices. Concerts abound featuring beautiful choral music. It surprises people to hear that NEXUS has some very interesting choral material in their repertoire. Past concerts have seen NEXUS sharing the stage with the Amadeus Choir, the Elora Festival Singers, the MacMillan Singers, and the Toronto Children’s… Read more »
“Creative Music Making” – Book
Q. How did you come up with your book, Creative Music Making? A. As decribed in the book, Creative Music Making is a practical process to develop musicianship through freeform improvisation. The process is simply based on my experience in creating improvised music with NEXUS. The group’s first few years of concerts consisted entirely of… Read more »
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Musician
I want to tell you about Bill Cahn‘s workshop entitled “Creative Music-Making.” Bill has given it a subtitle – “Four Simple Steps to Cultivating the Inner Musician” – and it is designed for any age, professional and amateur alike, experienced or “never tried it”. Completely interactive, the workshop provides an opportunity to TRY THINGS –… Read more »
Answers to questions about “minimalist music” and Steve Reich
Nancy Uscher is currently Provost of the California Institute of the Arts. The following correspondence involved questions from her daughter, Alessandra Barrett, now a student at CalArts, regarding the term “minimalist music” and my association with the composer Steve Reich. December 1, 2008 Dear Bob: I think I mentioned that Alessandra (my daughter) had decided… Read more »
The First NEXUS Label CD
Q: What was involved in creating the NEXUS label and doing your first CD? A: The idea for creating our own ‘NEXUS’ CD label emerged when Ray Dillard and I were on a long drive in a rental truck transporting NEXUS instruments between concerts in Queensland, Australia in 1988. In that year personal computers were… Read more »
“POPS” Goes the Family Programming
The holidays are upon us! In every corner of the globe there are celebrations – I’ll give you a list of a “baker’s dozen” at the end of this post. It has set me to thinking about the FAMILY and POPS repertoire in the NEXUS programme collection. “An African Celebration” is a joyous programme with… Read more »
Recent Events, 2008
December 7, 2008 The past three weeks have been almost non-stop travel, beginning with a concert at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMOCA) in Williamstown, MA and ending at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, AK. In between, was a solid week of workshops, clinics and concerts in southern Michigan, including stops at University… Read more »
Woodstock’s Percussion Connections
Bob Becker’s blog mentions George Hamilton Greene‘s grave in Woodstock’s Artists’ Cemetery. (For a nice winter view of this peaceful place, click John Cage, Peter Schickele and many others have premiered new works. Drumtalker. Woodstock has several other famous percussion inhabitants too: Brazilian-born Cyro Baptista who began his work in North America with a scholarship… Read more »
JOHN CAGE: Honky Tonk, Laughter and Fungi
I admit I’m a “newbie” when it comes to John Cage. I know of the man, of course, but had never really heard his work. I knew about the 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence; – I certainly hadn’t heard that! And I’d seen any number of send-ups of “prepared pianos” (a Cage innovation)…. Read more »
You’re In The Army Now
NEXUS member Robin Engelman has just returned from Sweden and Finland where he was the guest of each country’s army! A bit unusual, you might think, but it’s due to Robin’s long-held fascination with military drumming, the historic rope tensioned field drums, and fife and drum music. He’s become an expert in the field (pun… Read more »
What Makes NEXUS Run
If you have booked NEXUS, then you know Ray Dillard, the NEXUS Business Manager. He’s the man we turn to when we need to know if a gig can work logistically. He can tell us how many cases each instrument set-up takes, what we need in terms of light and sound, how many hours we… Read more »
PEARL and ADAMS Can Help You Out!
Adams Musical Instruments and Pearl Drums are two of our Sponsors. They help us out in a whole lot of ways and they can help you out too. Did you know that Pearl/Adams will help you financially if you wish to present a NEXUS educational event such as a clinic, workshop, or master-class?
Bill Cahn (July, 2010)
Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion quintet since 1971, and was the principal percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995. Born in Philadelphia in 1946, Bill has performed with conductors, composers, ensembles, and artists representing diverse musical styles – Chet Atkins, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Chuck Mangione, Mitch… Read more »
