NEXUS has a concert coming up that is taking them back to their “Improv” roots. Improvisation. It always has that “edge”. It’s unpredictable. Exciting. Unexpected. Sometimes improbable! We all know about history-making drum solos, guitar licks, jazz sessions, and even comedy sketches on shows like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” All based on improvisation. There… Read more »
Russell Hartenberger‘s musicality as “so solid you can always hang your hat on it.” It’s fitting, then, that Russell offers a workshop called “Rhythm and Time in Music”. Useful to non-percussionists and percussionists alike, Russell takes a historical look at Western music rhythms, then explores non-Western cultures to compare them. Intriguingly, he says the workshop… Read more »
It’s December and every shop surrounds us with heavenly voices. Concerts abound featuring beautiful choral music. It surprises people to hear that NEXUS has some very interesting choral material in their repertoire. Past concerts have seen NEXUS sharing the stage with the Amadeus Choir, the Elora Festival Singers, the MacMillan Singers, and the Toronto Children’s… Read more »
I want to tell you about Bill Cahn‘s workshop entitled “Creative Music-Making.” Bill has given it a subtitle – “Four Simple Steps to Cultivating the Inner Musician” – and it is designed for any age, professional and amateur alike, experienced or “never tried it”. Completely interactive, the workshop provides an opportunity to TRY THINGS –… Read more »
The holidays are upon us! In every corner of the globe there are celebrations – I’ll give you a list of a “baker’s dozen” at the end of this post. It has set me to thinking about the FAMILY and POPS repertoire in the NEXUS programme collection. “An African Celebration” is a joyous programme with… Read more »
Bob Becker’s blog mentions George Hamilton Greene‘s grave in Woodstock’s Artists’ Cemetery. (For a nice winter view of this peaceful place, click John Cage, Peter Schickele and many others have premiered new works. Drumtalker. Woodstock has several other famous percussion inhabitants too: Brazilian-born Cyro Baptista who began his work in North America with a scholarship… Read more »
I admit I’m a “newbie” when it comes to John Cage. I know of the man, of course, but had never really heard his work. I knew about the 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence; – I certainly hadn’t heard that! And I’d seen any number of send-ups of “prepared pianos” (a Cage innovation)…. Read more »
NEXUS member Robin Engelman has just returned from Sweden and Finland where he was the guest of each country’s army! A bit unusual, you might think, but it’s due to Robin’s long-held fascination with military drumming, the historic rope tensioned field drums, and fife and drum music. He’s become an expert in the field (pun… Read more »
If you have booked NEXUS, then you know Ray Dillard, the NEXUS Business Manager. He’s the man we turn to when we need to know if a gig can work logistically. He can tell us how many cases each instrument set-up takes, what we need in terms of light and sound, how many hours we… Read more »
Adams Musical Instruments and Pearl Drums are two of our Sponsors. They help us out in a whole lot of ways and they can help you out too. Did you know that Pearl/Adams will help you financially if you wish to present a NEXUS educational event such as a clinic, workshop, or master-class?
Today I want to tell you about Garry Kvistad’s collection of strange instruments and his Science of Sound workshop. Garry is the “newbie” with NEXUS. He joined NEXUS in 2002 when founding member John Wyre retired, so he’s been a Nexonian for a mere 6 years compared to NEXUS’ thirty-seven!
Just a quick post to let our Presenters know about marketing materials that are available. We have flyers that we can send to you for your own overprinting. We have complete HARDCOPY press and promotional packages that we can snail-mail to you for committee meetings or newspaper and magazine writers. These come with full reviews,… Read more »
I’ve just been reading the Orchestras Canada weekly newsletter. It’s called Soundbytes, and it comes into my email box every Friday. This week they announced our new website, but that was just one of several “newsbytes” from across the country. “Soundbytes” is a great resource. As well as the latest news, it provides useable and… Read more »
I’ve been thinking about NEXUS and their film programmes and film scores. NEXUS has two fascinating programmes of Silent Film Accompaniments: the fun “Teddy At The Throttle“, Mack Sennett’s great silent comedy starring Keystone Teddy the dog, who saves the girl tied to the railway tracks. (This summer NEXUS performed “Teddy” in the Ottawa Chamber… Read more »
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 »
