music

Sketching Wonders: Inktober 2017

  My mother has always been so good at visual art that I never thought I would be able to do it. My earliest memories are of her using oils to paint Mt. Rainier while we lived in Sequim. Many years of my childhood passed by in art supply stores where my sister and I… Read more

Keith Jarett made a marvel out of a mess when he played an unplayable piano in front of an audience of 1400 people. According to the Hidden Brain podcast, he almost refused to perform because the instrument was ‘unplayable.’ Instead, Jarett took pity on the 17-year-old concert organizer and improvised to meet the piano’s limitations… Read more

“Band Director Conducts Daughter in Solo Scholarship Performance” Eighteen-year-old Mikaela Rink has a secret to her clarinet success. “It’s like living with a human metronome.” Rink said, referring to her father and the clicking timekeepers musicians use to keep rhythm. Bob Rink often passes by her door as she practices at home, telling her if… Read more

Last night, the director kept stopping us in that annoying way that band leaders have. “We’ve got to get those triplets sharp. Some of you are thinking you can just slip through them at a relaxed pace and it’s throwing us off,” he said. “I am not in a parade up here waving at you… Read more

Thursday night I was driving down to the church when I realized my fingers were freezing, my heart was beating, and my mind kept thinking of all the ways I was going to embarrass myself. I wasn’t headed to a solo performance with my clarinet. It was the rehearsal with the choir. The music I was playing for… Read more

At the Liberty for Christmas

“It turns out you play clarinet with my mother!” said the woman I see every morning when I drop my son off at preschool. I thought the new lady who took my place as last chair looked familiar at the practices. Last Tuesday, I played a Christmas concert in the Puyallup Community Band at the Liberty… Read more

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