Archive for the ‘ Uncategorized ’ Category
Students have recently won positions in All-State Band, All-State Jazz Band, Winner of “Best in Center” at Iowa Solo and Ensemble Competition, as well as positions in several district and regional bands and jazz bands.
Congratulations!
It’s official now. I will be the trombone instructor at the University of Iowa next year. It is a one year position while a search is being conducted for the full-time position. Kate and I are very excited at this opportunity!
One of the things I love most about time off from the normal grind is the time to do a relaxed warm up. When you aren’t trying to crunch your whole warm up into a thirty minute (or sometimes less!) block, you can take your time and allow your chops to get good and warm. It allows me the time to really explore some of the holes in my playing and I have the time to get all over the horn. I am usually a little more tired after a practice session like this, but it is just so refreshing to actually have the time to do all that I want to do on the horn.
I have been offered the position as Interim Instructor of Trombone at the University of Iowa. Dr. David Gier has become the Director of the School of music and will continue to teach graduate students and coach trombone quartets. My duties will include teaching undergraduate trombonists and dealing with the day-to-day. The formal title of my position is yet to be determined as it may end up being categorized as a TA+. This has been announced, but it still waited dean approval. I will update when more is known.
Thanks to everyone that came out to my second DMA recital this week. The program was as follows:
Enrique Crespo – Improvisation No. 1
Charles Small – Conversation
John Stevens – Triangles
Gustav Mahler – Songs of a Wayfarer
Stjepan Sulek – Sonata Vox Gabrieli
Today is the final of the DMA Comprehensive Exams. I am glad to be done with this part of the process. It has been good though. I have learned a lot and I have learned that there is a lot I did not know. I feel that this is the stuff I should have been learning all along, rather than how to recreate medieval numes from all the different regions of France….. One of the most difficult things about studying for comps has been time management. I have found so many interesting things that I get off on to a tangent a read for a couple hours; have to stay focused! In addition, Apple’s iPad couldn’t have been release on a worse weekend. I pre-ordered one, so it came on Saturday. I have been loving it, but I have not had the time to enjoy as much I will starting later today. For now, this is a must-buy app:
iBone XL for iPad!
iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibone-xl/id365562270?mt=8
I have spent the majority of the past week indoors and/or in bed or laying on the couch. Back injuries are awesome.
False.
This is a minor upgrade, but I recently swapped out the plastic linkages on my Edwards Axial-Flow Valve for the metal linkages now offered on http://www.edwards-instruments.com. So far, they are quieter and more smooth. I think i will go through oil MUCH quicker though.
Kate and I spent some time taking some new bio pictures. This is my favorite from the bunch. What do you think?
Herniated/ruptured/bulged disks. Whatever you want to call them, they are messed up. This is the third time this year that I have had the disks bulge. Each time it puts me out of commission for around a week, if not more. This time was pretty inopportune. Doctoral Comprehensive exams are less than a month away and I need all the time I can get get to study. I can barely walk and I can not drive, so getting to the library and even sitting at the computer is extremely difficult. I am only writing this blog because of the WordPress app on my iPhone; I am writing this laying down on my back in bed.
The doctors do the typical thing: give some muscle relaxers and a pain killer and then tell you that they won’t do much and that the back will either get better or it won’t. Thanks for that…
Have any of you had spine issues? What have you found to help the most for pain management?
Thanks,
Dr. Jonathan Sayre Allen 