I also recorded the piece and you should be able to listen to a recording of me playing all four parts by clicking the preview button halfway down that page.
On another note, I just struck a deal with Audrey Murphy (director of Hopewell Middle School Band) to write a piece for her middle school band. They will perform the piece at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis, IN in March 2011. The festival only accepted 4 middle school bands out of the country and Audrey's band was one of them.
Here's is a performance of the piece they commissioned last year and performed at the Georgia Music Educator's Association conference this year. The piece is called Pronto by William Pitts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejy8ulGjqmA
I am very impressed with this young group of musicians and look forward to working with Audrey.
I finally got a flute concertino I wrote several years ago published. It is for flute and string ensemble. Instead of renting the piece out to orchestras, we decided to go ahead and sell the copy to the orchestra (or more probable the flutist). This piece has had some interest lately, so fingers crossed something will come of it in the next year: http://www.clearnote.net/Apparition.html I've also completed a flute quartet as well as some other pieces this year that I hope to have published soon as well. The publisher is interested so I just need to get my act together and do. I am also working with some friends here in Atlanta in the hopes of getting some new works performed. I'll keep you posted!
I heard there was some trouble with links, work getting in the way, etc. So in case you missed the radio show it is archived here: http://wpln.org/?cat=5 My performance is about 14 minutes in. The show will also be rebroadcast in Nashville on 90.3 fm on Sunday at 3pm and Tuesday at 8pm.
I had a wonderful time performing on "Live in Studio C" . Its such a great space and the staff is great about checking in and making sure you have everything you need. I got a chance to meet some wonderful composers and performers at the show. I love the music that's getting written by the concert composers in Nashville.
I also got the opportunity to visit my sister and her kids in Clarksville. It was the usual kind of visit. Gossip lots, watch scary TV programs, and hang out with the kids. Doesn't get much better.
I also finally got the chance to catch up with a friend of mine who is a fellow flutist, and old college buddy. She's got some fabulous things going on and it was really great to see her and catch up. I can't wait for her latest Celtic album to go on. It seems exciting!
I am glad to be home and getting back to life a little bit. Catch up on lessons, music engraving, and more importantly sleep! In the meantime, I am waiting for some things to unfold and anxiously figuring out what might be next to write or perform.
I will performing my composition "Smorgasbord" for solo flute tomorrow (7/21) at 3pm Central time/ 4pm Eastern time on Nashville's public radio station WPLN's "Live in Studio C". You can listen to a live stream here: http://www.wpln.org (There is a link in the left side of the page to listen online). There will also be 4 other composers on the program, and I am looking forward to meeting them and hearing performances of their pieces as well.
Yesterday I received the recording of my piece "Mangosteen" from the performance at the 9th Festival of Women Composers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, PA. I am performing with guitarist Irvin Kauffman. He is assistant principal cello for Pittsburgh Symphony. This was his first public performance on guitar in 20 years due to a hand injury. I was honored that he felt the time was right to make an appearance again and that this should be the piece. http://www.fsharpminor.com/nikki/Mangosteen.html
Irvin is also the oldest member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and was a wealth of knowledge and experience. He's certainly played everything with everybody. It was a wonderful experience to work with someone who's led an incredible music career, but leaves any ego at the door. He made me feel like an equal and seemed genuinely supportive and interested in the music I am writing. I wish him all the best and hope for an opportunity to work with him again. Perhaps on cello next time?
More good news is on the horizon. I'll keep y'all posted!
Here we are back from Boston, and I think back on our feet. Provincetown was beautiful, and the wedding was just as beautiful. Thanks to Nick and Susie who kept our music stands from blowing away while we played on the beach for Dan and Lynn's wedding. Also thanks to Karl Henning for putting together the venues and helping us perform our music in Boston. He also took the time to show us around Boston some, and we hope we can all get together again in the future. I have recordings of "Maraschino" and "Toxicodendron" in the music section of www.nikkinotes.com. Thanks again to Karl for the performance and recording.
So now what? What's next? Brian has his final orals exams and one pesky class to complete this summer. Then he's finally done! Woohoo! I know he's also glad I've stopped scheduling him for a million things to perform and do...well for the time being. Or at least until I get some other wicked ideas.
I have some things in the works to get some of my compositions performed by others. Hopefully I will get some news of that shortly. In the meantime, I'm teaching a lot of students and thinking about what to write next. Maybe record some of it?
Now many of you know my husband,Brian Chamberlain, is a classical guitarist as well and he just finished the major hurdle of his graduate studies...his graduate recital. That has freed up some time for him and I to finally get to play together. So we hope to start out doing some weddings and private events and maybe earn some extra cash. So, I made a website: http://www.chamberlainduo.com We'll be performing our first wedding in Provincetown, MA for Brian's uncle's wedding. Then we scurry off to Boston to play a couple of concerts of our own music as well as Karl Henning's. Nothing like jumping straight into the fire! Poor Brian, he just doesn't get a break,maybe in August....oh wait, he'll have to study for his final graduate oral exams. Oh well. One day, Brian, one day.
The hubby's final graduate composition recital is coming up on Sunday, and we're both really excited about the performance. The music is great, the performers we secured are amazing. Should be one heck of a concert!
Slipping on the Edge of Loss nn. 35, for Solo Piano - Performed by James Walker Left to Rust nn. 32, for Tuba and Piano - Performed by Vince Jackson and Huu Mai Lost Hollow Road nn. 15, for Flute and Guitar Duet - Performed by: duoATL Levee nn. 37, for Flute and Guitar Quartet - Performed by Nicole Chamberlain, Brian Smith and Athens Guitar Trio
-Intermission-
Slow Motion Exit nn. 24, for String Quintet Ecclesia nn. 39, for Mixed Chamber Ensemble - Performed by: Mercury Season
I am finally back to normal life, but had a great time at the 9th Festival of Women Composers. The performance of "Mangosteen" went very well, and I got to meet some fabulous people. I even got to have dinner with Katherine Hoover and she gave some good sound advice.
This week, I had my first flute book published called "Flutology - the Fundamentals". Basically its a reference guide with fingering charts, trill charts, scales, and exercises that I had been using in my lessons, and my publisher thought I should turn all those materials in a book. I even got to design the cover. So here it is: http://www.clearnote.net/Flutology.html
Next on my plate is to practice for Brian's masters composition recital. I am playing on 3 of the larger works and I am excited about the caliber of performers we were able to book for his recital. His recital is May 2nd at Georgia State University's Kopleff Recital Hall at 3pm and open to the public. More info as we get closer to the performance.
March is an exciting month this year, especially for a couple of my compositions. The best part is I get to travel and perform!
"Mangosteen" is having an especially good month. It is finally published by Clear Note Publications. You can buy a copy at Carere Music here in Atlanta or you can buy it online at http://www.clearnote.net/Mangosteen.html. Some copies have already been sold at the Georgia Guitar Symposium in Columbus, GA. I am also going to perform the work again on March 20 at 3pm with guitarist Irvin Kauffman at the International Festival of Women Composers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I am looking forward to hearing alot of great works performed and learning about new pieces in the lectures from the 18-20th. And hopefully I'll get to visit some with the in-laws.
"Smorgasbord" is being performed today in Paris, France by James Strauss at Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot. I wish I could be there, but the finances just wouldn't allow it. I hope he is able to get a recording of it. It would be nice to hear someone else perform it for a change.
Last, but not least, I'll be performing with Mercury Season on March 17 at Georgia Perimeter College Dunwoody Campus at 1pm. We will be performing music from Ireland. The concert will include my arrangements of "Brian Borus March", "Irish Confetti", and "Molly on the Shore".
March is a busy month, but should also be a blast. Anytime I get to travel is a good time. I've already been to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Columbus,GA, and Savannah, GA this year. We'll be making it out to Boston for a wedding and hopefully a concert in June. Should be an exciting year!
It's great to be home, but I feel I haven't quite gotten back to routine. Trying to round all the students back has been a little tricky. Hopefully over the next week it will all iron out. I did enjoy touring, however, I don't think I would want to do the same show on an extended tour.
It was a wonderful experience and met some fabulously talented people who were more than willing to mingle before and after shows. The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players had a wonderful cast, and I've never felt more welcomed from a group of people. Who would think that they would really listen to the orchestra, but they do! I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact I played the tiny beast, the piccolo ;)
It was a different experience each show, mainly because of change of venue. The first show we couldn't see the cast from the pit, and it was probably for the best. On the second show, there were plenty of distractions. Not only could we enjoy watching the cast during our tacets, but there was some pit movement during the opening overture. Talk about having to keep your focus! By the third show, I finally started feeling comfortable in my skin, but then the tour was over. Now I'm left singing all the songs over and over, and "I know that a policeman's lot is not a appy one...appy one".
I look forward to what new experience and travels that this year brings, and there seems to be some wonderful things on the horizon. This month will be fairly on schedule, I'll be teaching alot and writing some. But March brings concerts and travel. I can't wait!
Well it's a new year, and I suppose I will have to get to my resolutions at some point. Right now, is not the time. It's a little crazy this week or two. The next week will include a ton of traveling.
Brian's great uncle died Friday, and we will make a sad return to Pennsylvania to attend his funeral. Not a pleasant reason to have to travel, but it will be good to see his family and get another chance to know everyone better.
We will drive back in time for me to get on the tour bus for the NY Gilbert and Sullivan player's production of "Pirates of Penzance". We'll have one rehearsal and dive right into the first performance at Appalachain State. We get back on the bus for a performance in Atlanta, then onward to Panama City. This will officially be my first time on a professional tour, and embarrassed to say my first time playing in a real pit. I'm looking forward to this tour! Something I've always wanted to do, I'm glad I get the chance. I am really busting it hard to play well, so I might get the opportunity to do it again if I end up loving the experience.
This will be the first time since Brian and I got married where we will be sleeping apart. I'll miss him, and I'll miss the puppies. They're not coming with us on this short trip to Pennsylvania. They'll be happier at the puppy hotel that they seem to love so much.
So it's a busy and crazy start to the year, with a lot of potential to travel for music and travel to see family (on more happier occasions). Brian will finish his master in composition and hopefully a start to our collaboration on performance, composition and perhaps teaching. 2010 has great potential, indeed.
So this was probably the first week where I finally felt like a professional musician and not someone who was taking a break from an office job. I had a jam packed week of performing, teaching, music engraving, networking and positive feedback from the whole thing. I really feel like I am actually working as a musician, not hoping to one day get more work. Its definitely here and I am working hard, but still having a blast doing it.
Because I've had 2 performances and 6 rehearsals in the past 5 days I had to reschedule most of my students, so needless to say I haven't seen my husband much. Its been a crammed week for sure. And I am looking forward to having tomorrow off, and having a break this morning is certainly refreshing.
Let's start with the orchestra gig I had this weekend with the concert on Monday. I was hired to play 2nd flute with an orchestra put together by a conducting grad student for his graduate recital. I wasn't expecting much, mainly I was expecting alot of students. That was not the case. Who walks in to play piccolo? Only a flute professor of UGA from when I was at UGA. Although it was fabulous to see him again and to finally get to play with him, it was nerve wracking. This is someone whom I respect as a player and think highly of, and although I had played many a jury with him sitting on the panel I really wanted to play my best this time as a professional. Lucky for me and anyone who has met him, he's so positive, encouraging, and laid back it made it easy to relax, have a good time, and in fact play well. It turned out to be a great experience, and another reminder to always be prepared, you never know who's gonna show up to play piccolo.
Now preparing for Tuesday's concert was a different ball game all together. I was premiering a work of my own for solo flute "Smorgasbord" as well as music by Boston composer Karl Henning. Karl and I were even performing a duet of his, but would only get two rehearsals to put it together. Lucky for me, he as gracious enough to send a midi of the clarinet track with and without a click track for me to rehearse with. I knew it would be a difficult piece to put together ensemble wise with only two days, I felt it was a good request to ask for and see if he could provide. He was more than happy to do so, whew! The rehearsals went well and we really didn't need as much rehearsal time as we had planned. I certainly hope to be able to perform with Karl in the future. We certainly clicked, maybe I'll get to go to Boston next time, a place I've always wanted to visit.
Enjoy a little clip of Karl Henning and I rehearsing his duet Heedless Watermelon:
I was incredibly surprised by the reaction to "Smorgasbord". It went over well, and many people, aka composers, asked about the techniques I used. It certainly raised people's curiosity and the audience found it amusing. I've recently been pushing myself to write more positive and humuorus music, since that is how I have been feeling recently. My life has changed for the better, I am happy, my music should reflect that. I am surprised at how easy that has been for me. "Mangosteen" and "Smorgasbord" are great examples of my upbeat disposition. "Nautica" reflects the intensity and spirit in which I've been tackling my life during this transition into being a wife and full-time musician. This has all been a good thing, and I am glad I took that leap from an intense, stressful office job as a single graphic designer, to a married full-time musician with new experiences every day and plenty of love and support.
Being able to quit my job, makes it easier to practice and write. I feel better prepared for everything, and I am certainly performing better. I am even more productive as a composer. The future is just as exciting, if not more so. "Mangosteen" has been accepted into the 2010 Festival of Women Composers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. So in March, I will make the journey to Indiana, PA to perform it and hopefully check out the Jimmy Stewart Museum. I am also going on my first tour in January. Its only 5 days traveling throughout the south playing in the pit of a musical, but its a new exciting adventure. Playing music and traveling are my two favorite things, and I am gonna get paid to do both....wow. I have certainly been blessed, and I have lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
I found out a score of mine, details to come, will be performed at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Festival of Women Composers March 17-20, 2010! I'll get more details later this week, including which of the three scores they selected and if I might be performing. Looking forward to a fun adventure and possibly meeting composer Katherine Hoover :)
Today I finished a new work for solo flute/piccolo. The piece is made up of 4 short movements:
I. Crunchy - Aggressive and punchy attacks on the extreme registers of the flute give this movement the characteristics of the title.
II. Gelatinous - Jazz influenced, like a lot of my music I suppose, but with a bit of humor. The thick and slow moving quality is credited to the use of quarter-sometimes half tone slides.
III. Carbonated - I use the pizzacato technique quite a bit in my writing for flute. I love exploring the different techniques at the flute's disposal. Unlike other instruments, we don't get to use mutes or other devices to change our sound. Its all in the face :) This movement exercises the flexibility of a player to not only play straight up pizzacato, but to use other syllables to produces different types of sounds. End is result is a poppy, fun, and incredibly humorous piece. Sometimes, music is taken to seriously. It can be fun without being ridiculous.
IV. Fluffy - I took a chance and gave this movement to the piccolo. I don't play the piccolo enough and it has a certain tone quality that a flute just can't produced. My gripe with most composers is that they tend to think of the piccolo as an extension of the flute's register. But there's so much more to this tiny wooded beast. It has its only personality, and in this movement I explore it's toy march persona.
I am looking forward to performing this piece in November. I rather have someone else play my music, so I can relax and hear what I've written with some distance. But I feel I actually wrote within my capabilities with a little bit of challenge. It should go pretty well, its short and sweet and to the point. Hopefully it will add some contrast to the program in November.
On Sunday, October 25 at 3pm at MacLean Auditorium in Presser Hall at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA I will be performing with Dr. Brian Luckett in concert. We will be performing a new program. All works are by composers who's lifetime overlapped ours:
Lost Hollow Road by Brian Chamberlain (That's right the hubby) Sonatina Mexicana by Carlo Domeniconi New Castle Parade by Brian Luckett Acrobats by David Leisner Serenata al Alba del Dia by Joaquin Rodrigo Six Pieces for Flute and Guitar by Annette Kruisbrink Suite Buenos Aires by Maximo Deigo Pujol
We took off my work "Mangosteen". We've played it about 3 times for Agnes Scott College related events, I thought it was just time to swap it out for something else at least for this concert.
We found some new pieces and this seems to be a less intense concert than the ones we've done in the past. Hopefully I won't be completely exhausted at the end of this concert. That is if I make an appropriate shoe choice.
I was glad to make a new connection with Annette Kruisbrink via Brian Luckett's love of her guitar duet. We actually adapted her guitar duet for ourselves, but wanted to find a piece she had written specifically for flute and guitar. Low and behold she had written two. I dropped her an email and she was kind enough to send us the scores to read. Wouldn't you know it? The first two movements of "Six Pieces" was from the guitar duet we had adapted. So we just had to put it in our program.
Hope you all can come. Admission is free. Be sure to visit our new website for more concerts and information: http://www.duoatl.com
September has turned into the month of rehearsals, and I have to make a few leaps between genres. I love late night rehearsals when I don't have to be in at work the next day at nine. That was killer, I never had time to do any individual practice. Now I feel prepared when I go to rehearsals. Its fabulous!
Last night we kicked off Mercury Season rehearsal. Its a small chamber ensemble made up of flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, tuba, and cello. We're currently in residence at Georgia Perimeter College, so for the past 2 years we've had to come up with a unique program each concert based on a theme. This time we are doing music that was inspired by Autumn.
It was great to get back together with everyone and make some music. We're playing a little bit of everything, like always. Some Piazzolla, Joplin, Vivaldi, Schubert, and even some Neil Young. Last night we just touched on a little bit of everything so we all know where we stand and can adjust our individual practice time accordingly.
We did, however, get some bad news right before rehearsal. Bill got a text that Fred Mills had died. Fred Mills as the trumpet professor at UGA, my alma mater, and a former member of the Canadian Brass. It was shocking news, and not expected from anyone in the room. Hopefully we'll get more information on what happened, and hope the best for his family. I'm sure UGA School of Music will have a fantastic Memorial Concert for him. He did good things for the trumpet studio.
Well today's another day, and I better get to practicing. I have duoATL rehearsal tonight and jazz rehearsal with a new group tommorrow night. Its definately all keeping me on my toes.
duoATL performed at the Summer Shade Festival yesterday. Turned out to be a very rainy one. Luckily we did have a tent, but by the end of the concert I was standing in a good sized puddle. Right before we started the Pujol, Brian says "Don't touch the microphone." Great. Nothing like a bit of fear of death to put some life into the music. I was glad to be done with that gig. It went well, and I appreciate all the folks that stopped in the rain and listened. Next time I just hope its sunny. At least there was no wind turning my pages.
