Raleigh

I've come to the realization that I need to update my blog on a more frequent basis.  I see my last post was just shy of a month ago, and so much has happened since that last post.  I'll go in order.

First, I had an arrangement of "Be Still, My Soul" picked up by Hart Morris and Arnold Sherman at Red River Music.  Not sure on the timeline there, but it'll be awhile still.

Second and much more recent, I just got back (along with my wife, and my sister, who flew in from Huntsville to meet us) from Raleigh, NC and the Capital Area Handbell Festival.  This was the third year in a row they've played one of my pieces, and the third year in a row my wife and I have made the effort to go out there.  The first year we just listened along, then last year, we went (along with my sister) and played with one of the choirs there.

This year, we went whole-hog and did everything.  We left Indianapolis Thursday afternoon and got as far as Morehead, KY before we stopped, then drove the rest of the way in to Raleigh on Friday.  We got my sister from the airport, then by 7:00 we were out at the NC State Fairgrounds.  We had a sight reading session with Dr. William Payn, the guest clinician for this year's Festival.  It was three hours of reading and playing some very interesting music, some of it old enough I hadn't encountered it yet.  I'm sure we all would have enjoyed it much more if we hadn't just finished up eight hours of driving, but not much to be done about that.

Saturday was the festival itself -- 9:00am until 5:00pm, pretty much solid bell ringing, with a break for lunch and a Raleigh Ringers concert (always a treat).  Ringing with several hundred other people is an experience unlike any I've ever had -- if you've never gone to a festival, I strongly encourage you to attend.  Not only was the ringing itself fun, but I discovered some new music (Light of Peace by Veronica Bingham and Derek Hakes was just gorgeous) and some techniques (the singing bell -- running a dowel rod around the outside rim to create a sort of haunting drone) I want to try at my church.  Exhausting day, but a great group of people, and a great way to spend a day.

Sunday was the Second Annual Advanced Read and Ring at Raleigh Ringers Central -- four hours of sight reading advanced literature with other very talented handbell ringers, and on the Raleigh Ringers' own equipment.  It was an absolute blast to play such hard music, and even more fun to be under the direction of Dave Harris himself.  Of course, it didn't hurt that we played three of my pieces during the afternoon -- Winter's Waltz (Beckenhorst press HB342), God Rest Ye Merry (Coming from Beckenhorst in May, 2010), and Compassion, a piece I wrote just for the Advanced Ring and only finished a few days before we left for North Carolina.  It was a true treat to take the baton and conduct these gifted ringers as they played through my pieces, especially since I'd never heard any of them performed live by a handbell choir before.

A great weekend, to be sure, but like all good things, it had to come to an end.  As for what I'm up to now, I'm working on tweaking Compassion to ready it to send off for hopeful publication, as well as working on a few other pieces.  I finished a Festive Peal on "Antioch" yesterday, which I sent along with a hymn accompaniment to J.R. Smith, editor of Overtones, the AGEHR magazine.  I'm also working feverishly on a novel for National Novel Writing Month -- 50,000 words in 30 days (if you haven't tried it, you should -- everyone has at least one good book in them, and if, like me, you're not on your first year, you'll discover we all have several really awful books in us, as well, but it's all good).  I hope to get back to more intensive composing come December.  Until then, I'll try to keep everything updated, both here and on the website, on a more regular basis.