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Buzzfeed’s Loryn Brantz’s digitally edited the waistlines of 6 Disney princesses, and the

It’s a while since I posted anything here. Let’s just say it’s been a tumultuous road for me the last couple years. But here I am. I’m back. And I’m drawing again. And it feels good. I’ve been missing it so much and now I just need to get some good habits back in my system. I was reading a thread on PencilJack and it really hit home with me. Some kid posted that he was … Read More

Did I neglect to mention that PolyOmni Music is here? PolyOmni Music is my new sheet music sales site. PiNdrop Music Design has been overhauled into a free music education materials site, which means free music, free exercises, and free education packets. So, all my salable music had to go somewhere, right? We’re starting off slow, with all of my indoor percussion music available for sale. Marching band music will come, as will concert pieces, street … Read More

Someone I know had said online recently that they were going to see their favorite sax player, and I joked, “Kenny G?” Someone else commented along the lines of, “Don’t go there.” I found this interesting. I was joking, of course, but it dawned on me that many of the negative responses to Kenny G comes from the position that his music is cheesy and bad, while if one were to make reference to him purely … Read More

I’ve been wanting to update my site for a while, and here it is. It’s been restructured so that everything is more user-friendly. I have other plans for it, as well as content. But, I will not speak of the future. I will speak of the now.

Being the over-analytical person I am, I love talking about technique. I love offering my knowledge and love learning more about the teeny-tiny technical details of being a percussionist, of being a musician. During such a conversation with a couple friends, one of them asked why I felt the need to talk in such detail about technique. He postulated (and I paraphrase): does having these conversations really matter when, ultimately, we just need to concentrate on … Read More

It’s been busy. Recently, I finished the music portion of a commission for a school in Beijing, China (!) with my friend and PiNdrop Music Design partner, Noah Clark. Next up, I’ve got to write for my new ensemble, Lodi High School, as well as three other commissions that have come in. I also just put up a new show for the PiNdrop catalog, Cinderella, so if you’re looking for a new indoor show, check that … Read More

Here’s what I know: 1. WinShape, the philanthropic arm of Chick-Fil-A, made donations to anti-gay groups. 2. Dan Cathy, President of Chick-Fil-A, made public statements regarding his stance on gay marriage. 3. The Cathy family owns Chick-Fil-A, and thus, the WinShape Foundation. Therefore, it is the Cathy family that is taking a stance against gays and gay marriage through personal statements and monetary donations via their company. 4. Chick-Fil-A, as a company on the whole, is … Read More

PiNdrop Music Design is a proud sponsor of the Mandarins’ home show, Saturday July 7, 7:00 PM at Consumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. Look for our ad in the show program. Oh, and if you went to the Moonlight Classic show, bring your ticket stub and save $5 off the General Admission price at the gate!

I now have a SoundCloud account. Follow me as I post new things.

I just entered a one-minute piece called Panic into Vox Novus’ 15-Minutes Of Fame, which is an open call for new, one-minute pieces of music for various soloists and small ensembles. Panic is a piece written for The Parhelion Trio, consisting of flute, clarinet, and piano.

In late 2010, on through much of 2011, I began experimenting with some audio/MIDI software I had acquired. The result was supposed to be a full album, but things happen and so much time has passed that I decided to release the finished songs as an EP entitled Bandcamp.com. I’m pretty proud of it. You know it’s a good sign when you want to listen to your own music. It means you’ve done something right. Please … Read More

I have written a duet for violin and piano for Hilary Hahn‘s Encore Contest. I submitted my entry in the latter half of February. Unfortunately, the rules state that I cannot publish it until the end of June 2015, whether I win or not, so it will be some time before I can post an audio rendition of any kind on this site. I can tell you that I am very proud of it and, regardless … Read More

I now have a YouTube Channel. I’ve posted 2 videos so far: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) Spider-Man 2 (All music are digital renditions) Please feel free to share, “like”, and leave comments.

I’ve made changes to the site to make it more music-centric. The art stuff is still here, it’s just taken more of a back seat. Much more music content to come, so stay tuned.

As a way to get some demos together, I started composing new music for existing movie clips. Two have been posted on YouTube so far: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) Spider-Man 2 Check ’em out. Share if you like them, and feel free to leave comments on YouTube.

This is something I’ve wanted to write about for a while now. When I first started composing, oh, those many, many years ago, I wrote everything by hand. I then had to be my own copy boy and write all the individual parts out by hand. Composing is something I not only loved to do, but I found it helped me, along with teaching, enhance my sense and awareness of musicality and phrasing by “forcing” myself … Read More

…and nothing was posted during 2011. Nothing. 2011 did not turn out the way I thought it would. Not even close to the way I wanted. I barely wrote a word of anything. I drew near nothing, save for a pinup I’d owed my sister for close to a year (guilt…). My two worlds of personal and creative life collided, ricocheted off each other, and exploded separately. There were casualties on both sides. The only real … Read More

Competition is good. Competition drives. Competition sets and raises standards. Competition is not for everyone. I know a band director who does not want to teach winning or losing to his students (whether he sticks to that or how well he does with that remains to be seen). He would rather teach excellence, which, in and of itself, is noble. Excellence is something to strive for no matter what one does, whether it’s drumming, golfing, cooking, … Read More

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here (um… August 2010, really?), and there are many things to talk about. Picking a single topic from many is like choosing which jelly doughnut to eat first. So let’s start with something simple. This is what I’d like to see from this year’s drum corps: 1. CLEAN DRUMLINES! An obvious request, sure. But if I continue to hear the barrage of dirty attacks and sloppy ends-of-phrases that I’ve been … Read More