bakersfield edition

The last month or so was a bit crazy since I was studying for my major exams and wishing I had not scheduled them around the same time as my orchestra premiere. Whoops.

But you know what? I PASSED. That's all that matters!¹ And so I decided to get on a jet plane as soon as I found out I was DONE.

So, after flying into LAX and visiting my family and my beloved Dodgers,² I headed up to California State University Bakersfield for a two-day composer residency to meet with students and talk to them about my music. This was all made possible by Jim Scully, a fellow composer I (virtually) met when we both had our music programmed by Nolan Stolz via New Music Hartford in 2009.³

Three years later, I finally got to meet Jim Scully in person. What a truly nice and gracious guy! And the students at CSUB are truly good (and inquisitive) kids. I had the best time sharing my pieces and answering questions about my work and explaining how composers manipulate time and expectation.

Anyway, I'm off to a Bakersfield Blaze game. I'll see if the Reds have any good prospects.

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1. I am now unofficially (or officially) ABD. I suppose this depends on the College Office's knowledge of my passing these exams: this may take a while.
2. Please get well, Matt Kemp. My team barely has any run support without you. Siiiiigh.
3. For more context, read "Writing a Piece in 60 Minutes." I guess I have this tendency to enter competitions where I have almost no time to compose a short piece of music.