Every Classical Musician Should Read This Book!

Jason Heath has written an excellent and very candid account of the life of a free-lance musician. Jason is a highly respected bassist in the Chicago area and a colleague of mine. This book should be on the recommendation list of any private instructor who has students interested in pursuing performance degrees in college. Road Warrior Without an Expense Account is not just an account of the difficulties of making a living as a professional musician. It is a treatise on ways to reform the current system of music schools in the United States. In my title to this blog entry, I used the term classical musician. Although many of the topics covered can apply to other types of professional musicians.

Buy It Here

Or From Amazon

Jason also has a very informative blog and podcast series.

http://doublebassblog.org/

http://contrabassconversations.com/

Just today, I ran across a great article entitled Top 7 Considerations for Music School Applicants. Check it out!

David Taylor on YouTube

This was posted on the ITA website as having been recently premiered. I got all excited about a new concerto by Daniel Schyder. It turns out this is a performance of Absolute Zero, the original concerto for bass trombone written by Mr. Schnyder. Either way, it is pretty awesome to have a high-quality video and audio version of David Taylor performing this very important work on YouTube.

Movement One



Movement Two



Movement Three

Just in Time for Your Christmas Shopping List!

Along with many other of Chicago's finest musicians, I am on Mannheim Steamroller's latest release. This just came out today and you can order it from Amazon below, or at many other major retailers.

Click Here to Order

ESO Low Brass with Leonard Nimoy

The above photo is from the ESO's opening gala concert this season. We performed Gustav Holst's The Planets with narration by Leonard Nimoy and NASA visuals projected over the stage. The gentlemen pictured are, from left to right, Adam Moen, Reed Capshaw, Michael Becker, Leonard Nimoy, Mark Fry and Sean Whitaker.