Blog

Further to my last blog post, where I mentioned NEXUS creating the chilling score for the Oscar-winning “The Man Who Skied Down Everest”, you can hear some of it in this short trailer! Amazing visuals too! The music was entirely improvised. Robert Aitken played flute.   http://vimeo.com/5375024

Thanks to Lauren Vogel Weiss for photos of NEXUS at PASIC 2012 in Austin. Check our Facebook page to see all of them (and please click that “Like” button while you are there, so that you receive updates to the page!) Ray Dillard, who conducted this revival of John Cage’s “The City Wears a Slouch… Read more »

Malletech introduced its new PhD (Premium high-Density) line of concert snare drum sticks last week at PASIC 2012 in Austin, TX. The three new models are made from Honduras rosewood, and were designed by Tony Cirone, Michael Burritt and me respectively. The specs for my model, shown in the details below, are: 17 3/16 inches… Read more »

NEXUS had a great “trial run” or “sneak peek” of John Cage’s “lost work” The City Wears a Slouch Hat   at PASIC in Austin TX last Thursday. Great turn out! We will have some photos for you soon. Now NEXUS is preparing for the full premiere at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY on November 17th… Read more »

Bill, Bob, Garry, Russell and Ray are heading to Austin TX this week to take in the sounds and sights of the here,  and a little bit of NEXUS’s PASIC and Austin history here. )

On Wednesday, October 24 I facilitated the second of two “Creative Music Making” workshops at Buffalo State College. The 2-1/2- hour afternoon session took place at the Burchfield-Penney Performing Art Center. There were 16 partticipants on a variety of instruments – electric bass, trumpets, flutes, violin, viola, banjo, oboe and percussion, including a homemade amadinda… Read more »

On Wednesday, October 17 I had the pleasure of presenting the first of two  “Creative Music Making” workshops at Buffalo State College.  The 2-1/2- hour session on freeform improvisation was based on my book “Creative Music Making” (Routledge, 2005) and it was the result of an invitation from Bradley Fuster, a member of the BSC… Read more »

Today, Drum Corps International spotlights a Guardsmen DVD and its percussion feature – NEXUS’ “Xylophonia”: “a delightful work written by Joseph Green, older brother of famed recording xylophonist George Hamilton Green. The piece had been identified in pre-season promotional materials as “Just Ducky,” due to the duck whistle sounds that were added in the “Nexus… Read more »

Click HERE to read about NEXUS’ performance for the 30th Anniversary Concert of Soundstreams in Toronto, Canada, on October 11th, 2012.

What a great week! NEXUS was honoured to be a part of Soundstreams’ 30th Anniversary Spectacular at Koerner Hall. It was an ear-opening concert, beautifully presented, and a fitting tribute to Lawrence Cherney and Soundstreams, and their many accomplishments. Reviewer Margaret Lam wrote: “The works were presented by some of the best musicians this country… Read more »

NEXUS is preparing for their return to Austin TX on November 1st for PASIC 2012. PASIC is billed as “the biggest percussion event in the world.”  For the NEXUS performance Bill has been creating a new water gong and working on sound triggers for Cage’s The City Wears A  Slouch Hat. You can read more… Read more »

One of the advantages of being associated with a major conservatory like the Eastman School is the ability to regularly connect with visiting guest artists from all over the world. Such a visit occurred on Thursday, September 20, 2012 when Tim Genis, the timpanist of the Boston Symphony came to Eastman to present a two-hour… Read more »

NEXUS has brought many “lost works” back into the spotlight, expanding possibilities for modern percussion – everything from 1920s novelty ragtime music to silent film accompaniments to John Cage works. On  November 17th NEXUS will be a part of the  newly staged revival of John Cage’s The City Wears a Slouch Hat, written for CBS… Read more »