Update on the American Prize in Instrumental Performance 2017-2018 Competition-September 17, 2017
The American Prize has announced the semi-finalists for this year's competition in instrumental solo performance, and I have been selected! Now to just wait and see when the finalists and winners are announced! Read the announcement here.
New CD Project, Free Form Percussion, and More!-September 16, 2017
Since first talking with Robert Paterson about three years ago, I have had the wonderful privilege of performing his works for marimba and even premiering several such as Stillness for Marimba and Alto Flute. Rob and I have toyed with the idea of making a CD of some of his marimba works, and now this project is starting to take shape! The plan for now is to record 50 minutes of his music. Funding is going to be a big challenge for this project, so stay tuned for some form of a KickStarter Campaign. The goal is to have the recording session take place in the summer or winter of 2019.
Another big project that is finally taking shape is being a part of a professional level percussion group. My good friend Charlie Mogen and I have recently founded Free Form Percussion. We hope to have a recital program ready by the end of the fall semester to tour around the Greater Cincinnati area. Plans are already forming for our first tour in March 2018. We will be performing in Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. We are looking forward to creating a program that is accessible to a diverse audience with music that will challenge the listeners and open their ears to new possibilities and timbres.
Another big project that is finally taking shape is being a part of a professional level percussion group. My good friend Charlie Mogen and I have recently founded Free Form Percussion. We hope to have a recital program ready by the end of the fall semester to tour around the Greater Cincinnati area. Plans are already forming for our first tour in March 2018. We will be performing in Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. We are looking forward to creating a program that is accessible to a diverse audience with music that will challenge the listeners and open their ears to new possibilities and timbres.
Lastly, the October edition of the Percussive Arts Society's free, digital publication, Rhythm! Scene will contain the fourth part of an ongoing column by Peter Soroka and me. This column, App Scene, focus on smartphone and tablet apps for students to use in the practice room. App Scene: Part 4 focuses on apps for video and audio streaming. Rhythm! Scene can be downloaded for free here.
"Distance" Reviewed in Percussive Notes-September 16, 2017
My piece for solo marimba and crotales (with optional ocean drum accompaniment) was recently reviewed in the March 2017 edition of Percussive Notes. "Distance" is published by Tapspace and can be purchased here. Below is the review:
“Distance” is a beautifully composed piece in A major that will leave the listener singing the melody afterwards. Published in 2015, “Distance” is a “programmatic work representing the separation and termination of relationships between people. The smooth, sweeping phrases suggest roads traveled between two people, while optional ocean drum accompaniment represents rainfall, change, and cleansing.”
The piece opens (and closes) with an open-5th roll on marimba and a very brief crotale passage. All other material is played on marimba with four medium to medium-soft mallets. A statement of the main thematic material follows the opening passage and is followed by a fast and brief idiomatic sixteenth-note passage outlining the melody. A rolled chorale section follows another slow statement of the melody. Following another idiomatic sixteenth-note section a climatic choral is reached.
“Distance” requires both traditional (hand to hand) and one-handed rolls, which are beautifully notated. The use of octaves in the right hand is prevalent in all facets of the piece and a strong grasp of interval control is central to a successful performance.
Overall, “Distance” is a beautiful piece that will offer technical and musical challenges to any upper-intermediate player. In this reviewer’s opinion the use of crotales does not enhance the piece very much, but the ocean drum accompaniment is quite effective, given the musical context. Aside from the two brief sixteenth-note sections, the use of compositional devices by Michael Barnes is excellent. “Distance” would be a welcome addition to any undergraduate recital.
—Joe Millea
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 1 – March 2017
“Distance” is a beautifully composed piece in A major that will leave the listener singing the melody afterwards. Published in 2015, “Distance” is a “programmatic work representing the separation and termination of relationships between people. The smooth, sweeping phrases suggest roads traveled between two people, while optional ocean drum accompaniment represents rainfall, change, and cleansing.”
The piece opens (and closes) with an open-5th roll on marimba and a very brief crotale passage. All other material is played on marimba with four medium to medium-soft mallets. A statement of the main thematic material follows the opening passage and is followed by a fast and brief idiomatic sixteenth-note passage outlining the melody. A rolled chorale section follows another slow statement of the melody. Following another idiomatic sixteenth-note section a climatic choral is reached.
“Distance” requires both traditional (hand to hand) and one-handed rolls, which are beautifully notated. The use of octaves in the right hand is prevalent in all facets of the piece and a strong grasp of interval control is central to a successful performance.
Overall, “Distance” is a beautiful piece that will offer technical and musical challenges to any upper-intermediate player. In this reviewer’s opinion the use of crotales does not enhance the piece very much, but the ocean drum accompaniment is quite effective, given the musical context. Aside from the two brief sixteenth-note sections, the use of compositional devices by Michael Barnes is excellent. “Distance” would be a welcome addition to any undergraduate recital.
—Joe Millea
Percussive Notes
Vol. 55, No. 1 – March 2017
Website Renovations and Updates-September 16, 2017
It seems that it has been quite some time since I last updated my website, so I spent the past weekend uploading new audio and video content as well as some new photos. The events page has finally been updated, and I have added this new Announcements page to inform people of new projects and performances that I have coming up.