NEXUS begins the week of rehearsals and concerts of the new Eric Ewazen concerto in Dallas at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. On Sunday night, November 2nd, things got under way with a wonderful meal hosted by Meadows Wind Ensemble conductor Jack Delaney. Here are some of us returning from that wonderful dinner!
NEXUS is on their way to the Percussive Arts Society International Convention this week in Austin, Texas. It’s an exciting time! NEXUS will be performing the world premiere of “The Eternal Dance of Life” by acclaimed composer Eric Ewazen. The new piece was written specifically for NEXUS with wind ensemble. For the premiere, the Meadows… Read more »
Welcome to the NEXUS site and my blog. All five Nexonians were in Toronto this week preparing the new piece by Eric Ewazen to be premiered in Dallas and Austin next week at PASIC. The 4-movement work is scored for five percussionists and wind ensemble. The final version of the solo parts arrived only a… Read more »
Welcome to the new NEXUS website! It’s a total revamp with information and resources for presenters, students, fans and fellow artists, and blogs for each of us so we can keep you up to the minute with NEXUS news, answer queries and provide you with some interesting peeks behind-the-scenes. Coming soon will be a new… Read more »
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog on the new Nexus website.
Sept. 2009 through June 2010 – Bill is an Associate Professor of Percussion at the Eastman School of Music, along with Professor Michael Burritt and Charles Ross, the Principal Timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. October 29, 2009 – Bill will present a one-hour “Creative Music Making” workshop for the percussion studio class at the… Read more »
Hi, this is Garry and welcome to my blog. I’d be happy to communicate to you about any of the Nexus activities. In our workshops I offer a session dedicated to the acoustics of percussion I call Sound Advice. I am interested in instrument building and tuning. In fact, you might want to check out… Read more »
WORKSHOPS presented by Bill Cahn CREATIVE MUSIC-MAKING (Four Simple Steps to Cultivating the Inner Musician) For a more detailed description, click here What is Creative Music Making? Creative Music Making is an interactive workshop in which musicians and music teachers of any age, student or professional, performing on any instrument will have the opportunity to… Read more »
an essay by Bill Cahn. This is a downloadable PDF document. Please ensure you have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat.
For those of you who are fans of George Hamilton Green’s music, here’s a picture of his (and his wife’s) gravestone in the Artist’s Cemetery in Woodstock, New York.
As one of the Eastman School of Music’s World Music Institutes in July 2008, Bill Cahn presented a week-long workshop on “Creative Music Making” for participants from Canada and the U.S. The daily 3-hour sessions, based on Bill’s book (“Creative Music Making” – Routledge, 2005) gave participants – many of whom had never improvised on… Read more »
Here is a video of Bill in Japan performing with Mika Yoshida. You can read more about Bill on his personal page.
The following excerpt is from an interview with Shannon Wood, originally published in the Artist Insight section of the July, 2005 issue of Mallet Shop Quarterly. MSQ: Two names come to mind when one thinks of virtuoso xylophone playing: the late George Hamilton Green and Bob Becker. Bob has raised the bar of xylophone soloing… Read more »
Hi Bob, Following are the questions I’d like you to answer. You may take your time – the paper isn’t due until December 11th, 2007. As a percussionist, you often play music and musical instruments from around the world. What are your thoughts on performing music that is not part of your culture? This is… Read more »
I really want to thank you for doing this with me. As you will see from my questioning I tried to take a perspective of the “Bob the Performer” and “Bob the Composer” and combine the two. If you find that you answer one question in a previous answer and want to omit a question… Read more »
