Jun 06

My apologies. It’s been far too long between posts. No real excuses but have been caught up trying to get through the first semester of University for 2010. Only 2 assignments to go and I’m done!!!

I’ve been doing a bit of playing, but as always not as much as I would like. Did a gig in Sale this week just past playing the soundtrack live to a silent movie. Met some great new muso friends and will hopefully be talking about them on the blog over the coming weeks. Had fun playing that gig and have been doing some fill-in big band gigs as well.

Had done 4 rehearsals for Miss Saigon which is going to open next weekend at the Drum Theatre in Dandenong. I’m playing reed 3, alto saxophone, clarinet and flute and as I am the only reed player playing saxophone have all those saxophone solos that are mentioned in the lyrics of some of the well known songs. Rehearsals have been going well and the cast and orchestra sound awesome so it should go well. It’s playing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in June so that will keep me busy this month.

Apart from playing and teaching and uni stuff, I’m still working on building websites. Have had a few interesting issues there but I think that is mostly resolved. Looking forward to the school holidays coming up soon to devote more time to relaxing, playing, and maybe even getting some practice done. A novel concept I know, but it’s long overdue. Even thinking about getting some lessons again before too long.

I’ll do my best not to take so long to make another post. Hope you haven’t missed me too much. Feel free to make some comments and let me know what you think and that you are out there.

Take care

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Mar 25

It was my last day of teaching for Term 1 today. I’m really glad to be on holidays now even though I have lots to do. I have two gigs this weekend, a uni assignment due on Monday, and then leave for a month at Kapooka on Friday of next week. Feeling a bit nervous and unprepared for that but I’m sure it will be fine. I hope my legs (more specifically my shins) will be OK as they have been a bit sore recently.

As soon as I get back from Kapooka I have my first semester teaching placement. I’m going to be at PLC this year and am both excited and nervous about it. They have a great music school and an excellent reputation so feel a bit of pressure. I visited the school on Wednesday and at least have some idea of what I’ll be teaching, not that I’ll be able to prepare much while running around in the bush!!….

Looking forward to a wedding gig on Saturday with a jazz trio. Should be fun. Then Out for the Count returns to the Rainbow Hotel on Sunday night.

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Mar 10

Well I did promise to provide some news/an update regarding the Inverloch Jazz Festival and I have not done that as yet….so here it is!!

I was booked to do three performances but only got to do 2, as the last afternoon/evening was washed out. There were storms in the area and two of the venues got closed down and one of them was a venue I was scheduled to play in. I was meant to play on each night of the festival and after the Saturday night performance I drove for a couple of hours to get to my family’s holiday home to spend some time with them. I was on my way back to Inverloch on Sunday for the performance that night when I got a call (Thank goodness!!) from Jon telling me that it had been cancelled. I was pretty close to being back at Inverloch again but turned around and made my way back to Melbourne.

I enjoyed the festival and got to catch up with some people I hadn’t seen in a long time. There was some great playing around the venues through the weekend, from what I saw and heard. I really enjoyed the Air Force Jazz Ensemble, they play some great tunes with really solid arrangements and good soloing. I had fun with the performances I did but didn’t feel I played at my best. The great thing about a music performance is that once you played it, it’s gone…..unless it’s been recorded of course!! I don’t really care to hear any recordings of my playing from the weekend this time around. I was told about some recordings that people really enjoyed that I had done earlier though so am looking forward to hearing those at some point soon.

Have a couple of gigs coming up this weekend which will be interesting. Got a couple of calls yesterday regarding upcoming gigs as well so even though I am not playing as much as I would like to be, things are still happening. Hopefully the calls will keep coming….

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