Covid19 sure has caused some changes in the music industry. In my opinion, some of these changes are good and will hopefully remain a part of our musical landscape long after we have this virus under control. ArgosTV, and the streaming of "living room concerts" is one of the good changes. These unique concerts and performances allow us to see the intimate side of performers. They highlight that we are all human, sharing this existence from our homes and sharing the similar goal of just trying to find ways to connect with life and the situations we have grown accustomed to. I am thankful that Argos Productions has included me as a regular performer on their streaming service; a service that has rapidly become treasured by many other performers as well! For me, ArgosTV has become a way to show my inner world of music. It allows me to perform on instruments that are too big and burdensome to move around to different locations. It allows me to experiment with ideas and have access to a full studio of sounds and toys should I need some last-minute "alterations" to my sonic landscape. In short, ArgosTV is allowing me to express my creativity in a brand new way. I hope you follow Argos Productions and support ArgosTV...it is jam-packed with crazy inspiring stuff!

The cool thing about being a composer for film and television is that I need to stay up on as many genres of music as possible. There is so much to learn that sometimes I just gotta take a day off of everything else to just dig into YouTube and study. As part of a music history course that I teach for the College of Southern Idaho, I have a chapter on world music. Check out this video that I shared with my class about the importance of the xylophone to a small African community. This slice of life documentary really highlights some massive cultural differences along with providing a cool authentic soundtrack.

I am excited to be moving into the next phase of this project which is an arrangement/interpretation of the marimba solo Starscape by Mitchell Peters. This is a simple and beautiful piece that oftentimes gets overlooked. I thought it would be fun to experiment with some ideas and try to add an alternate reality to the piece. 

In the photo below we are testing out some quirky visual ideas that I can't wait to share. The test of the visuals was a success so now it is time to clean up my playing and hit the studio. 

...back to work!

It has been a while since I have spent some time on this instrument. I keep meaning to take it into the studio and knock out some backlog recording projects, but something else more pressing always seems to come up. So now it is time to stand firm. I have a creepy arrangement developing in my head, trying to sort out a video concept, and plan on hitting the studio with this baby in early 2020.

But first I have to decide which mallets to use. In the video I am using the blue Gary Burton mallets which may be a bit sharp for my taste. I love the articulation but crave a rounder sound. When I use softer mallets I lose the articulation. There are a couple of spots that would allow for a mallet change in the middle of the song but I think I came up with a more creative solution. Time will tell:).