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Last Friday, my clarinet teacher, Mike McGinnis, performed with the Angsudden Ensemble at Roulette!! They performed Mike's compositions written in collaboration with his friend and poet, MuKha.Here's their description:
The Angsudden Song Cycle is a collaborative project between the composer Michael McGinnis and Stockholm-based artist MuKha. MuKha created a cycle of paintings and poems inspired by Ängsudden, a point in the Swedish archipelago that juts into the Baltic Sea where sea collides with sky in dramatic ways. The poems were then set to music and will be performed by voice and a seven piece chamber ensemble comprised of wooden instruments that are either blown, plucked or struck. The music was composed specifically for musicians who along with being great chamber music players are also great improvisors and explorers on their instruments.
Kyoko Kitamura - voice
Mike McGinnis - clarinet/bass clarinet
Jessica Pavone - viola
Sara Schoenbeck - bassoon
Khabu Doug Young - cavaquino
Sean Moran - acoustic guitar
Bob Bowen - bass
Harris Eisenstadt - percussion
I have a really poor quality recording from the show (catchy, huh?!):
It was a lovely night with a variety of styles of compositions from far out to catchy. Best of all, you could tell the friendship among the musicians on stage. Layered on top of that, nearly all of the audience members seemed to know someone in the ensemble! There were entire families, too (I haven't seen too many families at Roulette before). There was such a warm atmosphere and just a fantastic set!! (of course, I am completely bias!)
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In other news, I have been playing a lot of clarinet (even occasionally a double clarinet - haha, not really, not until my parents bring down my extra one). Saturday I hung out with my favorite science teacher (my cooporating teacher from public school) and the other band teacher for jamming. They are both jazz (and funk) musicians - we all had to make compromises and they don't have my convinced that melody is really all that important (Though, they had my cracking up laughing - he put his flute mouthpiece on his tenor saxophone and managed to make some great sounds!). Sunday was another improv rehersal with the group Izzi has set up - this is much more my style. Did you know we're really going to play a gig sometime between December through February! I'm so psyched! When Izzi posts the recordings from rehersal last week, I'll post them here.
I didn't think that I'd head upstate [back home] next weekend, but I've completely changed my mind. Although I was planning on spending just Thanksgiving Day with my parents in CT (at my aunt's house), I've had a change of heart. I'm going to hop the train on Tuesday. I'm looking at it this way - I lived halfway around the PLANET for so many years and never had the option of going home for holidays that I really ought to take advantage of the close proximity now (before my life gets any more complicated, right?). I'll still only be spending 2.5 days with my parents, but I think it's completely worth it (eh, maybe I'll end up staying a few more days). I do fear the terrible drafts and chill of my parents' house.
Oh! Carl Testa just posted a new EP of 8bit [like, Nintendo] music. I think it's awesome. Dowbloadable for free here.
son. (I'm using Mike's clarinet in this photo, but I'm going to have my parents bring down my other clarinet - Imma plug up the top holes on it and wail). It's actually not as hard as it looks.Does anyone else think that I look like a walrus in this photo?
Today was a great day! I had my Teaching Physics Practicum and had to present a problem to the class. I did centripetal force and brought in this bucket with a string and put stuff in it (a deck of cards and my wallet full of change). We discussed and showed (with my stringed-bucket) how velocity, mass and length of string all play a part in determining the centripetal force. I thought it turned out pretty well. But, MAN, I need to take a class on physics misconceptions (someone told me they offer a summer course at Hunter's College - dude, NYU needs to get that class, too). I need to work on incorporating that more into the lesson.
Later this week I'll be teaching pressure to my favorite 7th graders. I'll be assigning an awesome reading on evidence of whales getting decompression syndrome, or "the bends". Whoa: the article.
I'm feeling really science-y tonight. I did a ton of reading up on CARBOM NANOTUBES made from graphene, a single one-atom-layer of graphite/carbon (a lot of reading, meaning I skimmed an entire 200+ book of artciles on nanotechnology today). The articles ranged from discussing research opportunities as dependent on financing, to the actual structure and design of nanoparticles, to the uses, to the ethical implications [of how we're possibly damaging the environment or health]. So cool! [that's a lot of science]
Also, here's some GOLD for your ears: Gilles Peterson just released a new two CD set called "Havana Cultura". You can download the podcast [read, a 45 minute commercial for this album, he talks a little over the tracks, but it's still such good listening!!!! ] for free HERE from his website. I always lo
ve his stuff, both his recent albums and his podcasts are really good. There was a good one from two weeks ago with Stuart Baker; download podcast here or on itunes [search: Gilles Peterson Worldwide Podcast]Last week on Tuesday I saw Carl and Mike play in the Carl Testa Trio. It was lovely! I've been keeping up giving my 11th grader clarinestist lessons. I keep bringing him these exeperimental/conceptual scores and he's loving it! (as am I). On Sunday Izzi got a bunch of instrumentalists together to play some of his scores as an ensemble. I'm not positive if these are supposed to be public, but whatever, they are posted publicly. It was our very first meeting, but, if you like, check them out here. From listening to them, I have learned that i sometimes need to make my mutliphonics softer and more gentle (why? Because I want to play them ALL THE TIME and sometimes I need to blend better). Oh! So, it sounds like Izzi has already landed the ensemble a gig! I'll make sure to let you know when that materializes.
OH! and Jesse and Anika came to visit this weekend. First of all, there is an AMAZING Japanese arms and armor show at the Met. The helmets were OUT of this WORLD:
I wish they could have stayed for longer!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/nyregi
Oh, and I tallied: On top of top of my double-full-time insane work-school schedule, I saw 11 shows this month.
Name: __________________________
“The sensei” has modified this article from---->
January 1, 2009
Ocean Acidification Hits Great Barrier Reef
Coral growth has been sluggish since 1990 due to an increase in both sea temperature and acidity as a result of global warming.
By David Biello
The largest coral reef system in the world—and the biggest sign of life on Earth, visible from space—is not growing like it used to. A sampling of 328 massive Porites coral (large structures resembling brains that are formed by tiny polyps) from across the 133,000-square-mile (344,000-square-kilometer) reef reveals that growth of these colonies has slowed by roughly 13 percent since 1990.
The most likely reason is climate change caused by increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to a new paper published today in Science.
The burning of fossil fuels over the past century or so has driven atmospheric CO2 levels from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 387 ppm—and growing. More than 25 percent of this extra CO2 is absorbed by the world's oceans and reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid. A rising carbonic acid level means a more acidic ocean.
And a more acidic ocean is bad news for coral and other sea creatures, which form their shells from calcium carbonate they extract from seawater. The more acidic the water, the more difficult it is to build the shells in the first place—as well as keeping them from dissolving.
Slower growth of the reef will mean both that existing coral will find it difficult to cope with escalating acidity and rising sea levels. This will have enormous knock-on effects in sea life that relies on coral reefs for habitat—as well as human fisheries and other ecosystem services.
In the meantime, it appears that changes in sea temperatures and increased acidity are already beginning to impact the
The original article can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/yhoxdmb
Question 1: From what you know, explain how CO2 absorbed in ocean water is a mixture, solution or neither.
Question 2: How does CO2 dissolved into the ocean change the ocean water? How does this effect coral and other sea creatures?
Question 3: Why do you think it’s important to protect natural wonders like the
Question 4: Do some research to find out what kinds of aquatic life lives in the
Haha. So, in honor of this great event (turning 1400), I thought that I'd like to go through exactly what happened to me today - to preserve a little slice of my life this year (btw - it's crazy and I'm pretty much exhausted by 3PM every day). I'm one month into fall semester, complete with full time student teaching, full time classes and a growing obsession with my clarinet.
I woke up at 6:30 this morning and headed out the door by 7:30. On the platform, I ran into two of my 7th grade boys (they are the best). We chatted a little on the subway, but mostly I was listening to tunes in one ear (RJD2 this morning) and reading "Scientific American". At 14th St, the three of us were lazy and instead of walking, we hopped on the L.
At school, I stood around in advisory waking up. First period class went well. It's still lab projects, but we're winding down our unit on chemistry (btw, I am so done with chemistry, not only does our room perpetually smell like vinegar, explosions by chemical reaction just aren't as cool as say...the way time gets warped when you're moving close to the speed of light!) and. so, not as many kids were all over the classroom.
Around 9 I left school for NYU to sit in the Teaching Physics Practicum [with all the actual physics grad students]. For now, each person has been "teaching" a problem to the class. I did mine last week and got great feed-back (did I write about this already?). I did a great job teaching how to use a formula, but I hardly touched concepts and taking advantage of intuition. If I could re-do the presentation, it would look soooo different than the first time. Well, overall, I am learning SO MUCH! (You can learn so much from another's mistakes) at the end of each presentation, we share comments with one another. Our professor also has some good insight. Today I took a few notes:
-One newton is a quarter-pounder hamburger (Or just a quarter pound) [I will never forget this]
-One classmate did an excellent problem about pushing a cart, then asking how far it would get in a certain amount of time...however, it was no ordinary cart, but a "magical [=frictionless] cart with 100 newtons of beer loaded into it". Wow, if that doesn't grab your attention, NOTHING will. Fantastic. The trick is if you can grab students' attention at the beginning, you've got them!
-We were talking about "an infinitely long wire" (or other infinite item) and what that really means. I had never thought about this myself, but the true definition is that the wire is soooo much longer relative to smaller bit that your'e working on that it become negligable (like, think about significant figures. If the edge effect of a wire is 0.00000000004 on any give section, but you're working with numbers like 2.3 or something, it's negligable).
I'm so glad that I'm sitting in on this class once a week! I'm learning so much - so practical.
I returned to JHS for fourth period, advisory. Many of the students were finishing up their chemistry projects.
Next - lunch: cheese and tomato sandwhich, apple. Produce bought at the farmer's market on Saturday [when I went on a produce shopping spree].
Fifth period was awesome! I get a HS student a clarinet lesson. Normally this student plays bass clarinet, but I suggested we play B-flat horns because...well, I've played a bass clarinet a total of 10 minutes in my entire life and can't really say anything specific about it. So, I started by showing him some chromatic exercises (oh, how they are at the core of my technique). I brought a little Mozart duet with me, we ran throught the first tune (from "the magic flute"). Then, I turned it over to new and crazy stuff: multiphonics, humming while playing, playing without a mouthpiece, playing just the mouthpiece, playing with half the horn, shoving stuff up the bell (cork, hand, cloth, you name it), placing stuff near the bell (for vibrational effects). Sooooooooo awesome. We'll do another lesson next week!
Seventh period was our last class. A pyrex flask dropped, but didn't break - sweeeet!! After school, I helped out with the homework sesssion - it was chemistry and math (I actually really like 7th grade level math).
Around 4, Xann found me and whisked me away (she student teachers there, too). We walked right by Ssam bar and I was curious to see if John was around, and in fact HE WAS, so we had すばらしいサービス. I asked him to make me any drink knowing that I'm getting over a cold. He procured me with a whiskey based cocktail named "The Penicillin" Hahahahaha!!! Well, let me assure you that I felt better after drinking it. haha.
Xann and I wandered back to NYU petting every dog along the way (she's a HUGE animal lover). Best of all, we shared a small serving of 99cent fries right before I hopped the subway. What a great afternoon.
Back at the ranch, I cooked eggplant (it was now or never, I'm going home this weekend) and ate that for real dinner (booze and fries definitely don't count as food). Practiced a little clari. Read a letter from Cassie [in Germany]. Watched an episode of The Simpsons [online]. Blogged. And somehow it ended up being 11:00. Dude. I need to go to bed. But, WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!
Additionally, mark you calenders for just a few things that I've got my eye on. Join me if they sound good!!!
The director of the New Music Ensemble, Esther Lamneck, is performing clarinet in a faculty show October 13th at 8PM. More Info. Carl Testa and Aaron Siegel will be performing sets at Ibeam in Brooklyn (so close to my house = yes, very yes) on Oct 17th. More info. Mike McGinnis, my excellent clarinet teacher, will be playing on Nov. 13th at Roulette. More info. Enough of looking to some great stuff coming up this season, let's gather around and get a little nostalgic for concerts of the past. Dave just posted a few videos from "And It's Surely to Theri Debit" from August 3rd. See videos here.
The opening scene, Amrit, sitting at the desk, begins with the first classic joke, "Photons have mass. I didn't even know they were Catholic". Clarinetists, me, Dave and Joseph enter the stage. Next, composer-instrumentalist, Carl, enters and begins to warm-up on his bass clarinet. Clarinetists spend time meticuously cleaning and preparing their horns. Chris and Dave K. enter the stage with oversized 2-dimensional bird. 1A is so good.
Middle of the show - the clarinetists work hard playing trios. Dave K. naps, Carl composes, Amrit eats a meal, Chris [off stage] reads a newspaper. 2d is my favorite tune overall. Take a look and notice how still I am while playing compared to the other two clarinetists - my teacher in high school was a completel stickler for staying still while playing - we can't be inefficient by wiggling around.
Following 2d's trio is 2e - totally funky timing.
It's almost been an hour - where our protaganists end the show at exactly 60 minutes. In 3A, our performers are doing mostly the same thing as in the beginning, except Carl is playing the musics that he's composed in the second section. Dave K. has a thrilling performance on a drum machine - everyone's favorite part (we think it has something to do with the hair).
Fin.
Oh! and did you know that I'm one entry away from 1400 entries (yeah, like this is no. 1399). WHOAH!!!!!!!!! (Who here has me beat?) December I will celebrate 8 years of blogging. Sweeeeeeeeet!! That's practically like a birthday.
On Tuesday/[Wed?] I brought my flute to have Sean show me a thing or two (I showed him clarinet multiphonics last week). Second period, I swung by the music room to find Sean, Roy, the HS band teacher, and their new student teacher. Immediately, guess what Roy suggests, "We've got 30 minutes, let's play!" Sean, Roy and I all improvised on the flute and the other student teacher played her violin. Oooooooh!!! Let me tell you that it was so much fun!!! (A great way to start the day!) Meeting Sean and Roy is the second best thing that's happened to me (teaching 7th grade physics is the first). Their classroom is full of so much positive energy. It's amazing.
Oh, I wanted to mention that last weekend I saw the Julliard New Music Ensemble, just to see what my competition is (haha, not exactly, I just wanted to see what other ensembles are doing). Hmm...I should be surprised, but the show was too tonal, too rhythmic, too conservative and boring. Eh, it was free and I didn't drag anyone along with me. But, really, mostly this music just wasn't my type of thing. Perhaps other people really liked it, but not this girl.
Following that show, I bought a membership to Roulette, an experimental music venue in Soho. Guess what - I GET FREE ADMISSION to any of their shows for a year (BARGIN). I went twice this week already - such a smart investment since 1. I am interested to see anything that's playing there and 2. it resolved the tension of "oh my god, I want to see a show" and "cover charges of $10 add up over time". So, if you're in the city and want to catch a show with me, let's go to Roulette!
Here are a few videos to make you feel GREAT about science. Can't you imagine even high school students enjoying these. They are so appealing.
Meet the Elements:
Electric Car:
Put It to the Test:
I was shown this recording on the first meeting of New Music Ensemble, and you can imgine how it has sparked my complete enthusiasm (let's face it, I am *completely* obsessed). I'll also mention that the ensemble played this piece last year in the spring concert. By far best of all, Izzi and I played the score last Tuesday!! What does that entail? Well, we met in a music studio at school, he brought the composition set up set-up on his computer and a microphone, and I brought my clarinet and we let it rip. SO THE BEST THING I'VE DONE ALL WEEK!!!!
(I need to get to BED, dudes. I soooo have class tomorrow, a Saturday)
Saturday I met up with Alden, Lisa and Alden's Mom (those women are both officially the best) and we saw Julie and Julia. It was a cute fluff movie, but we sure did want more Julia on screen. Haha (on a side, I met Meryl Streep's brother; he's a principal at a middle school in the city). Afterward I stopped by Isa's for a small dinner birthday party. She had an entire table of food. She cooked almost all of it, but the genius is that it was all cold dishes! Like, tuna and pasta salads, etc. What brilliant thinking -you can even cook that stuff a day in advance and not have to worry about it.
So, I'm trying desprately to avoid doing homework. I spent a while making a killer eggplant parmigiana. I ran an errant this morning and bought a very official teacher black cardigan from Target (or maybe I'm just pulling an Anthony Braxton? haha. No, this is definintely trying to be a teacher). Oh, so also, I have one professor for three of my classes and I already feel like they are beginning to bleed together into one. I'm trying to figure out which homework is due for what class. Haha.
My "all touchy-feely" thougts about teaching this week was: up until the students arrived, I spent all this time hanging out with my CT in a casual sense as collegues, but once the students arrived and he was teaching, it was really interesting to meet his teacher-persona. His was a little more firm when necessary and demonstrated a lot of leadership and guidence. I, too, have a teacher-persona and in those best moments of teaching, I run on autopilot. Anyway, I was curious to see what he was going to be like with his students and I saw. Excellent. Sooo much learning going on!!!
After school [after a staff meeting until 4ish], I walked over to NYU for class at 4:55 (just an hour break which really just mean physically getting to NYU and eating a snack). Class ended early and I went over to the Music Department to audition for the New Music Ensemble run by avant garde clarinetist Esther Lamneck. I had been in touch with her a little bit via e-mail and she seemed eager to have me audition. I played a few Fancies for Clarinet Alone by Bill O. Smith which demonstrated a few of my new clarinet tricks. It looks like I'm going to fit right in.
As for the ensemble, it looks like we're going to do a lot of interactive new media! Like, an instrumentalist improvising some sounds that in turn are either manipulated by a computer system or somehow invoke another sort of action/sound/visual by a computer, therefore creating a sort of duet with a variation of the original sound. Does that description make sense??? The improvisations are about matching qualities you hear somewhere else in the ensemble to make a cohesive whole. This type of music demands a sharp ear and varied use of extended technique to blend best. At the end of class, we did a short 15 minutes of guided improv. It's certainly not a style that I'm used too and did admitedly feel uncomfortable and put on the spot (there were two clarinets, four flutes, a bass, a guitar, a few others didn't join tonight), however, I will work hard to GET BETTER!!! I'm so excited to be challenging my improving skillz.
The only bad thing! This class is from 6:45 to 8:25 when I will be student teaching 8 to 3 easy, plus class 5 - 6:30. Dear GOD when will I eat (then have the chance to brush my teeth before blowing all those food chunks into my clarinet - so gross). I'm going to have to do everything I can to muster the energy for this class, but it's so new and exciting for me, I think I'll make it just fine.
Then I swung by my new and favorite JHS/HS for prepping for the first day of classes tomorrow!! Mostly my CT (coordinating teacher) and I battled with the printers in the teacher's room. Around 3 I headed out to sit in the park with Rebecca and we were the two poorest (like, no moneez) grad students ever and shared snacks brought from home instead of spending $2.50 on a coffee. (Rebecca was like, "let's find the cheapest cup of coffee...and then split it" haha - dear god, I couldn't even afford that). Then, I had my first meeting of class "Recent Advances in Chemistry". Wow, um, do you remember what "stoichiometry" means? I sure as hell didn't.
I got home at 7:20, and didn't eat until 7:45. WTF. How am I expected to eat????? Dude, I'm going to start to include two scoops of ice cream every day otherwise I'm gonig to loose more weight. First of all, I don't want to loose weight. Second of all, I couldn't afford any new clothes (that's sort of funny to think about as a reason, but it's true).
- Here's a new radio clip from WNYC where two members of a community garden that maintains chickens are chatting. I like the first 5 minutes or so where they talk about 1. low level care ("fewer imputs") to maintain the chickens, for 2. great outcome - eggs, and also how 3. children really like it and 4. it helps to build community (supposed story telling with chickens). Additionally, they mention how many people from their community immigrated from countries where chickens are kept at home, and so it's familiar. This is a non-scientific conversation on the radio show.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/
- Whoa, check out this article. The title speaks for itself.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/
- Six minute clip from the Today Show, notes: not too much information, but very visually friendly:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
- I think it would be really interesting to address the question of "What are the risks in this unregulated chicken raising?". In recent years, with outbreaks of both Avian and Swine Flues (is "Swing Flu" even PC anymore?), the pro-chicken guys were like, "wow, it's great that there are no law against chickens", but also have no realistic count/record of chicken keeping in the city. Then, we have the scientists trying to predict the next outbreak of disease and they want better monitoring, etc. I think an except from this short article:
http://www.scientificamerican.
These two articles aren't specifically about urban agriculture, but they take a look at genetically modified crops.
http://seedmagazine.com/
Notes: Lots of good topics in this article. The stress of the growing human population - and how something needs to get done. Then, the issues over patent rights, etc, are preventing innovations from being distributed. Pointing out that general public feels threatened by genetically modified foods.
http://www.time.com/time/
Notes: In section of acticle "weighing the perils", discusses "genetic pollution" and unknowns about how much cross pollination (would it accidentally create difficult to kill weeds?). This was not mentioned in the article above. Large industries are creating and distributing these GM foods, can they be trusted? also, no one is addressing the importance of biodiversity.
http://128.59.83.19:82/
Current [live] statistics of roof temperatures from the Queens Botanical Gardens; a comparison of temperatures between black, white and green roofs.
http://www.eurofresh.com/
Large tomato greenhouse - explains controlled environment, water recycling, etc. Also, make a note (that while I have absolutely no interest in law of any sort), they seem to be filing for bankruptcy, as indicated on the bottom of their homepage.
Wait, hold up! There is a thing called Plasma arc waste disposal, like a high energy plasma burns dangerous waste into elementary particles. WTF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_arc_
I've still been working a lot on multiphonics for the clarinet. "OMG that's a lot of notes"
Also, if you have 25 minutes you really HAVE, HAVE to watch this episode of South Park from the 10th season titled "Tsst" in which Cartman is trained into obedience. It's sooooo funny (it might be one of my favorite episodes). If you're living in the US, you can watch it HERE.
First of all - a little gift. You can download this Dr. John and The Meters album here: download. It's pretty sweet for being a free boot-legged!
So, I've got some pretty important things to report upon. First of all, Meghan came to visit. 
Here we are at Washington Square Park. We had oodles of fun. We went to the Museum of Natural History, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, at dim sum in Chinatown. Our special highlight of the trip was going to see "In The Heights" on Broadway because Meghan is really into musicals and, so, naturally we had to see something on Broadway - how classic an adventure (and "nes, nes, necessary"). All in all, she was the best possible visitor of all time. I can't wait until she stops by again, probably in a year from now. 
After Meghan left, I had a few more low key days in NYC, then headed for Chicago to visit more great friends and family. Upon a special request, I stuck a dozen bagels into my suitecase and was off. I had a stroke of bad-good luck. Because of bad weather conditions in Chicago, our airplane was stuck on the tarmack for TWO HOURS. Since I have flown trans-pacific so many times, the wait time didn't phase me - I just pretended that we were flying. The best part of it, was that Southwest offered me a $50 voucher - and I know I'll be using it soon. Where to visit, where to visit???
In Chicago, I spent a lot of time at the Art Institute of Chicago. One day I am sooo going to do a science class about symmetry in the natural world and art:
These Japanese ladies are playinng go!!
We took a hike over the weekend - I am such a sucker for escaping the city on weekends! Jesse is the best (we have matching Japanese tenugui headbands!)
Apple picking with my aunt was hilarious (I know! it *was* early for apple picking, but a few breeds were fruiting):
I flew from Chicago back to Albany to spend a few days at home. It nice to see friends and family back home, but I had too much on my mind to relax much. I did, however, have fun driving the abuelita-mobile. Cruisin', if you will.
Oh, at Troy Night Out, we found this guy DJing on four gameboys! Who knew there was a circuit bending scene in Troy - link. 
Best of all, Kristin, Andrew and I went for a hike in Petersberg Pass between NY , MA and VT to SNOWCAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, there was no snow in SNOWCAVE!!! but it was still so awesome
Plus, this is the best picture of Kristin and me EVER - we look about the same height.
at The Tank in Manhattan. Dave and I had been practicing these trios for clarinet that he wrote recently. It was so much fun to be on stage. Perhaps best of all, I wore a monochrome powder blue outfit. Nice, huh (how did I end up with an ourfit like that)? The entire show was only an hour long, where the middle 20 minutes focused on my favorite part - the best of the clarinet trios. In fact, you can take a listen to the whole hour production or the 20 minutes of clarinet trios. We also had a great turn-out, 43 people showed up to see. I'd really like to do a lot more performing now that I'm living in the city. And, I have been doing a lot of playing. I have a new teacher in Brooklyn, Mike McGinnis, who coincidentally, sometimes plays in Carl's enembles. I think he's an excellent teacher. He's got an entire slew of new clarinet exercises for me, some of which still just tickle my fancy - probably anything that produces more than one sound at once.
On Monday Invisible Circle played at Dave's place. Before the few solos shows, there was a pot luck dinner full of so many delicious items like a bell pepper and almond salad! I brought waffles (oh, you haven't met my new waffle iron:
Caption: I LOVE WAFFLES.)
Well, here are a few good shots of Invisible Circle. He's playing this Thursday at Death by Audio in Brooklyn (where ever that is, I have no clue and will be out of town)
Also, for the fall semester I a have an audition for the NYU New Music and Dance Ensemble. I have scoured the internet for related recordings, or took a look at a few artists whom they've recently featured and they seem interesting. They do a lot of electronics with instruments, or so it seems. I really have no idea how it will go, but at least the director will be aware of my presence on campus, especially if some grad students need instrumentalists later on in the semester.
