I was saddened to hear that Erich Kunzel passed away at his home in Swan’s Island, Maine this past Tuesday, September 1.  He was 74.  Kunzel was known to symphony audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada for decades as a the Pops Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with which he made many recordings. He also… Read more »

This year (2009) the Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute was held from July 27 through August 1. It was our ninth year for this annual event held at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. The participants, pictured in the photo (left to right) were: Bob, Warren Dewey, Valerie Vassar, Zachary Nandapurkar, Harvey Price, Doug… Read more »

Since the 1970s Ruth and I have occasionally vacationed in the Adirondack region of New York State.  The area is rich in the history of the eighteenth-century conflicts between the French and English for dominance in North America. Last summer (in August 2008) we spent a week with our kayaks at a cottage in Chazy,… Read more »

I’ve been reading “Touched by Sound” by John Wyre,  a founding member of NEXUS until his retirement in 2002 when he moved to St John’s, Newfoundland. I knew John for many years, as I worked with NEXUS in the 1980s and helped produce his tremendous World Drums festivals. And I had the great opportunity of… Read more »

This blog posting has nothing to do with music. They say that it’s good, every once in a while, to stop and order female viagra online / mexico care pharmacy / buy real viagra with echeck / http://www.lampart.info.pl/emgr/prednisone-online-no/ / http://bezpaniki.art.pl/yqv/genuine-viagra/ smell the roses. I didn’t do that today, but I did stop and look at… Read more »

From July 7 through 10, 2009 I was a featured clinician and soloist for the First International Belgian Percussion Festival, held in Hasselt, Belgium. This was a very ambitious event, with a large international faculty. Besides myself, other clinicians included Marinus Komst, solo timpanist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; David Searcy, principal timpanist with the… Read more »

Except for quick hit-and-run trip to Chautauqua last summer (2008) to hear Michael Burritt perform his marimba concerto with the Chautauqua Symphony, it has been several decades since my last visit. In the 1970s Ruth was in the orchestra’s percussion section and I would occasionally play if an extra percussionist was needed. For years, we… Read more »

I have been composing music since I was in high school.  One of my high school music theory teachers encouraged me to compose a few short pieces for the senior chorus, and it was fun to get the positive responses from teachers and fellow students after the performances.   I also had fun in Alan… Read more »

During June 13 through 22, 2009 I took part in the Roots and Rhizomes residency organized by Steven Schick and held at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. Banff is located in the heart of the Canadian rockies, and must be one of the most spectacular locations in the world for this… Read more »

Bob Becker has recently returned from a week-long percussion residency entitled “Roots and Rhizomes” at the Banff Centre for the Arts in western Canada, where he was a faculty member. It got me thinking about the several NEXUS/Banff connections.

Last week (July 6 through 10) I participated in The Eastman School of Music’s first annual Summer Percussion Institute, directed by Eastman Professor Michael Burritt. On Thursday, July 9 I facilitated a “Creative Music Making” workshop for twelve participating students. The 2-1/2-hour workshop focused on freeform improvisation, based on my book, “Creative Music Making”. In… Read more »

Tonight in Woodstock, New York, NEXUS’s Garry Kvistad is presenting the Paul Winter Consort at his 18th Annual Woodstock Beat in upper New York state, which benefits the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. NEXUS had the pleasure of performing at Woodstock Beat last summer. Indeed, NEXUS spent most of last summer touring and performing at festivals: Ojai… Read more »

There are “big doings” at NEXUS this summer. I see email flying back and forth between the NEXUS guys about new pieces they are writing, new additions to the NEXUS repertoire, and some exciting new commissions that are due to arrive any minute.