Jeff’s Blog

Yesterday, the band, orchestra, choir and chaperons all got back from Austria. We left last Thursday for DIA, and after one 10-hour flight and another 45-minute one, followed by a long bus ride, we arrived at the Prinz Eugen Hotel in Vienna. We took a bus tour of the city, ate dinner at a nice restaurant and then went to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra in concert. Unfortunately, everyone was so tired from being up almost 30 hours straight that no one could stay awake during the concert.

After sleeping well that night, we got up the next morning and spent some time on the streets of Vienna, via the subway. The public transportation system in Austria is pretty much perfect. You buy a ticket, and once you validate it it’s good for two hours. During this time period, you can ride any of the city’s public transportation (busses, street cars, subways) in any direction as much as you like!

When our time there ran out, we went to a senior center (which was really nice, and funded by the state) to play a concert for the residents. We played well, and were even invited to stay for coffee and cake! That night, we ate at a restaurant similar to Gordon Biersch in America. We had a sort of hamburger with no bun on a plate, and then went to the amusement park to ride a huge ferris wheel and ride a few of the rides. We went on bumper cars.

The next morning, we went on another tour of Vienna, this time focusing on famous classical music composers of the city. The most notable, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, appeared everywhere in both Vienna and Salzburg. As part of the tour, we went into the Mozarthouse Vienna. This was the building where Mozart actually lived, worked and taught private lessons. From there, it was off to the castle of Empress Maria Theresia where we had a tour of the amazing building. The choir sang a few songs outside of the palace, but it was too rainy for the band or orchestra. Because of the extra time this allowed, we went to an Easter market that was set up in the courtyard. Dinner that night was in traditional Austrian style with a buffet of various delicious meats. We stopped on the way back to the hotel at a beautiful overlook of Vienna, which looked amazing at night.

The next morning was Easter Monday. We attended a Catholic mass at the Melk Abbey, a truly magnificent church. Choir and orchestra played some music along with the massive pipe organ. After the service, we toured the massive building complex and then boarded the buses again. After driving on the Autobahn for a while, we stopped at a rest stop and my friends and I ate Winerschnitzel. It is an amazingly delicious food. We then got back on the road for another few hours and finally arrived in Salzburg.

We checked in to our hotel, which was considerably more… cozy than the one in the huge city of Vienna. That night we went to Sport-Oase Salzburg, which was a very American-feeling bowling alley and mini-golf place. We had spaghetti and ice cream for dinner, and then bowled a few games. We got back to the Turnerwirt Hotel and slept.

The next day, we had a walking tour of the old town of Salzburg. It was a lot different than Vienna. We saw the huge Hohensalzburg Fortress from the 11th century, and then went to a local mall to shop. It was a lot like an American mall, though, except with much better food. We then had wings and ribs at the Fürsberg Restaurant.

The last day of our trip consisted of visiting a salt mine that had been in operation from 500 BC to 1982 AD. It was a lot more interesting than it sounds, though, especially with what I’ve learned in my world history class at school. Later that day, we went to a music school for 11-14 year olds and gave a concert, then had time to socialize with the students. This basically ended up with us sitting there eating food awkwardly and being made fun of in German by the students. Luckily, we went to the Mozart Dinner Concert that night and had a several-course candlelight dinner with live Mozart music in a restaurant that had been serving since 800 AD.

The next morning, our trip home began at 3:20am (Austria Time) and lasted until about 3:30pm (Denver Time, which is 10:30pm Austria Time). We had two bus rides and one very, very long plane ride.

Overall, the trip was spectacular. It was great time with friends, and we got to see a lot of very cool things while we were there. Seeing the way of life in Europe was one of the coolest cultural experiences. I’d like to go back to Europe someday and see a different part, like France or Spain.

Jazz great Oscar Peterson dies at 82 - Celebrities- msnbc.com
Oscar Peterson, who sat atop the world of jazz piano for decades with his driving two-handed swing, technical wizardry and rapid-fire solos, died on Dec. 23 of kidney failure, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.

This is very upsetting to me. Oscar Peterson was actually an idol to me. His jazz piano playing is (was) incredible and it inspired me. His album, Night Train was one of the first jazz albums I ever bought, and it’s still one I practically worship. He lived a musically successful life, however. It’s just a shame he won’t be working his jazz magic anymore. Herbie Hancock, another one of my jazz idols, said this about Oscar Peterson’s passing:

Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century up until today. I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. He mastered the balance between technique, hard blues grooving, and tenderness. You’ll find Oscar Peterson’s influence in the generations that came after him. No one will ever be able to take his place.

This shows how deeply Oscar Peterson influenced the jazz community. He was truly something special, and he will be missed.

I just got back from CCJA. This session, I started out in one in Boulder that focused on iim-V7-IΔ’s (a very basic chord progression in jazz) and Bb blues (a very basic concept in jazz). I completely understand where they are; I was there too when I was in seventh grade. I respect that they’re taking the opportunity to learn more jazz outside of school.

However, I’m a bit beyond those concepts, so I got the guy who runs it to switch me into a different group. I ended up in the one run by Jeff Jenkins - one of the best pianists in the area! The music is very challenging, and I’m really excited to be in the group. I think I’ll learn a lot from my time there, from Jeff and from the music itself.

Tonight was the second of the two holiday concerts. Long story short, it was better in everything except full orchestra (the Messiah), which was so much worse. It was disappointing and embarrassing to even be on the stage. Oh well, at least it’s over now.

Tonight was the first Holiday Concert out of two; the next one is tomorrow. Tonight we had to get there at 6:30pm, at which point we waited an hour and a half to get to set up the stage to play. First up was Jazz 3. I played Sing, Sing, Sing on piano with the band, and the other pianist played The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
along with a vocalist. Then, I moved over to my bass clarinet for our concert band (”Wind Ensemble”) performance. We played A Festive Christmas and A Christmas Entrada, both of which went very well. Then I moved to my third instrument, regular clarinet, for what should have been the best performance of the night. Unfortunately, the choir and orchestra didn’t do their part, and the Hallelujah Chorus was, in fact, a disaster. It might be better tomorrow evening, but I’m not counting on it.

Yesterday at 10:00am, myself and part of the band, choir, and orchestra left for the annual Estes Park Music Camp. When we got there, there was a fairly lame talent show in which people who thought they were funny got up over and over again, thinking they were entertaining. Some friends and I left to get food, and came back in time to get our room key and get into our rooms.

We then had our first rehearsal out of four, followed by dinner and another rehearsal. Then we had our evening free time, in which we played Apples to Apples in our room. We went to bed around midnight, and got up at six, thanks to one of the people in our room who woke us all up.

Then we had breakfast, a few more rehearsals and some more free time, and got home around 5:15pm today.

Yesterday was the State Finals competition for marching band. We qualified so well in Regionals that we didn’t have to go to Quarterfinals on Friday, and then yesterday morning at Semifinals, we placed 5^th (much better than 7^th last year). Unfortunately, we also placed 5^th that night at Finals, and we expected much better. There were some bands with unreasonably high scores, and it seems like foul play, but probably not. This season was great, starting back in June, then Band Camp, and then several competitions and this.

Our marching band just finished Band Camp for the 2007 season. We spend six hours marching and playing music for two weeks straight to kick-start the marching band season. It is always a lot of work, and all this week it was in the sun. Everyone gets very strange tan lines and sunburns, and your personal life ends when it begins. But it’s not actually that bad, and it definitely is necessary. When it comes time for the first football game or competition, everyone is thankful that we put that much hard work and time into our show.

Despite the fact that we just spent 60 hours on marching band, we now have three rehearsals a week. Two of them are three hours apiece, and one of them is five. Last season we had around 230 hours of total rehearsal time. But we also placed sixth in state. This year we’re a lot farther along, and it is going to be a great year.

So far this summer, I’ve been up to a lot. I am working as a web designer at the BVSD again, and I got a raise this year. My old boss (the webmaster) left, and they’re still in the process of hiring a new one. Also this year, I got to bring in my keyboard and compose some background music for a podcast they’re doing, which was amazingly cool. I got to use Garage Band and make loops with my own bass lines, drum beats and other licks until it sounded like a song.

Along with working, I did C’s Jazz in Summer again this year, which was not as good as it was last year. It was still great to play jazz though, and the guitarist was amazing at playing blues. I’ve also been doing a salsa group with CCJA. There have only been two sessions so far, but it’s going to be really fun.

I also participated in Bike to Work Day, a yearly event in which many businesses provide free breakfast to people who either bike or walk to work in an effort to reduce pollution from cars and get people active. Finally, marching band has started again, and we’re really far ahead. We plan on doing very well in the state competition this year, and we’re well on our way. We’ll be marching and playing in the Independence Day parade this Wednesday as well.

Those are all the major things that have been going on; I also switched my blog to WordPress, but that’s not really important. This summer is a week shorter due to a school schedule change, and it’s already going fast, but it’s not that bad. At least I have something to do.

Tonight was this session’s final performance. It was, once again, one of the best groups I’ve been in. There was a great drummer (a high school senior), two great saxes (one was a freshman), our instructor (a college professor), and me. We played Caravan, Sweet Love of Mine (in a reggae style), and Ornithology.

We got there early enough to watch a few other bands, and then we were on. Our instructor had knee surgery today at about noon, and yet he still made it for the gig tonight, albeit using crutches.

The actual performance went great, and the decent crowd we attracted liked it. Unfortunately, I won’t have time to do CCJA in the fall because of marching band, but I’ll be able to do the winter session.