Let It Snow!

'Tis the season to be jolly! Sure it's not Christmas yet, but I'm jolly indeed, because I'm recording and releasing a Christmas album this November! It will be all new arrangements for marimba solo and marimba/vibraphone duet (Colin Hill will be joining me for the duets).

I have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise the funds necessary to make this album, and it's already off to a great start! You can watch the video below and check out the Kickstarter page here.

Since the first few days have been so successful, I have (unofficially) increased my funding goals. You can read more about that here.

Please spread the word and share with your friends and family if you wish. I am working hard to make the best album of interesting and beautiful music that I can. I hope you'll consider joining me while we Let It Snow!

The Love of Money

We all know that money is the root of all evil, right? That's how the saying goes, isn't it?

Not quite.

"Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." – 1 Timothy 6: 9-10

Money itself is neither good nor bad. It is simply a tool or a resource, like a brick, for example. A brick can be thrown through someone's window or it can be used in the construction of a building. The way we view money is where things go awry, and I have seen and believed a range of viewpoints when it comes to money.

Why not?

Why is it that we can come up with a thousand reasons not to do something that we actually desire to do?

It probably won't go very well.

I don't have enough time.

I'm not any good at that anyway.

It seems too hard.

There's no need for my perspective on that.

I don't want to fail in front of everybody.

I don't know how.

It's too expensive.
I'm too tired.

I don't want to go alone.

I am afraid of heights.

It's too scary.

I might get hurt.

They don't need me.

I don't bring anything worthwhile to the table.

It's much easier to not do anything at all.

I'm too old.

I'm too young.

I missed my opportunity.

It might not live up to my expectations.

I might not live up to their expectations.

Making music with friends

As I look back at all the performances I've been a part of in the last year, here are the typical sorts of things I've been doing.

- section percussion with an orchestra
- studio percussion with large ensemble
- solo marimba concerts
- mass drumline at the Super Bowl (What? You don't think that's typical? Okay, you're right.)

What I realize is that I tend to play with a large group of musicians or as a soloist. What's missing is chamber music. I have had (or made) very few opportunities to perform with a small group in the past year and a half, and recent events have helped me remember how much fun chamber music can be.

What a night!

Two months ago, in my mind Madonna was just a famous name of the past who wasn't really relevant to pop music anymore.

Now it's a name that, upon mention or thought, will immediately take me back to this past week of unforgettable experiences, culminating in a performance of the National Anthem with Kelly Clarkson and the halftime performance with Madonna at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

I will be honest, this week has been really difficult. My body has not been through this kind of pain probably since I marched drum corps almost 6 years ago. Seeing my wife awake was a rarity, as I was practically working second shift while she worked normal daytime hours. And while I enjoy working with high schoolers, spending 20+ hours surrounded by (star-struck) students was mentally taxing.

But last night made it all worth it.

Being on the field for the pre-game festivities, seeing and hearing that incredible stadium full of loud fans, sharing the stage with Madonna, Cee Lo, and Kelly Clarkson, getting to drum with friends Josh Torres, Jason Hammond-Wood, Nick Taylor, Jeff Huffman, and Jeff Queen before 100+ million viewers worldwide. Indescribable, really.

I should share how this event took shape and how I got to be a included in it all.

Josh Torres, band/percussion director at Center Grove High School, got a call from a DCI employee (who also worked on the halftime team) in early December asking if he could round up and head up a 100-member drumline for the Super Bowl halftime. What a task! Thankfully, he said yes, and took on what turned out to be a HUGE endeavor.

Madonna and her team had heard that Indiana was a prime place to find world-class drummers for a drumline, and they are absolutely right. Mr. Torres took advantage of the talent and experience of four Indianapolis area high schools (along with some of their alumni and staff) to put together this massive drumline. When asked if I would strap on a drum, there was no hesitation at all. Absolutely!!!

The group rehearsed several times at Center Grove, where we were fitted for costumes, practiced the music, and learned the choreography and staging, which subsequently changed at least 23 times. The following week was for rehearsals in Lucas Oil Stadium with the whole shebang. Full costume and lighting run-throughs, detailing every possible thing we could with the time we were given. You may have heard that Madonna had put a lot into her performance, and I can tell you first hand, she is an incredibly hard worker. I was impressed by her attention to detail and her efforts to get everything just right leading up to the big performance. And I thought that the end result, while not perfect (who ever has a perfect performance?) was awesome! If even a fraction of what I experienced in the stadium made it to your TVs and speakers at home, then you should have been pretty blown away. (A side note: She was very thankful to us, the drumline, and was really nice in all our interactions with her.)

Mr. Torres was also asked to assemble an "all star team" of 6 drummers for the National Anthem, to be sung by Kelly Clarkson. As one of his percussion staff members, I got the nod. A couple of Clarkson's audio production team members flew out to Indy to pre-record us playing the percussion parts for the National Anthem a couple weeks in advance, and we had one rehearsal with Kelly and the Indianapolis Children's Choir in the stadium on Friday before the big day.

A huge thanks to Josh Torres for all of his hard work and lost hours of sleep to make this all happen so smoothly. And for letting me be a part of it. While I do expect the Super Bowl to return to Indianapolis at some point, I imagine that my experiences were truly once-in-a-lifetime.

Oh, and thank you, New York Football Giants, for capping off an extraordinary week with the perfect finish...a beatdown on the Patriots and a Super Bowl Championship!

Not everyone will like it.

Isn't it amazing how fast we can dismiss an original idea because we think, "Naaah, they won't like it"? We may spend hours, days, maybe even weeks or months, developing an idea, creating something new that, if you've spent that much effort and time on it, means something to you.

Or consider an idea that just formed. It may not be well-thought-out yet, but in your mind, something about this idea is worthwhile. "I know someone won't like it," you tell yourself.

Well guess what? You're right. Someone probably won't like your idea, your work, or your creation. But is that alone reason enough to dismiss it as a worthless idea? Does it mean that you shouldn't share the work you do that people might not like? Absolutely not.

How easy it is to place the entire value of a product or idea on the opinions of a few. If you have ever created anything, you know what I am talking about. You prepare to release your work and you immediately wonder, "How will Person One receive this? Is it good enough for Person Two? I so hope he thinks it's awesome." And what if he doesn't? Doesn't the work have any value to you? What about the hundreds or thousands of others who appreciate the work?

Author and speaker Jon Acuff puts it this way.

You don’t get to open yourself up to other people loving an idea unless you also open yourself up to people hating the idea too.

If I am vulnerable enough to share who I am and what I do with the world (thanks, Internet), should I expect 100% of the population who sees my work to like it? And consider it a failure if they don't? How ridiculous! Yet that is often the direction of my thinking. And all it does is confine me to my own little world of self-pity and lies.

Let's flip the situation for a moment. I take in a lot of content in a normal day, and some of it I don't care for, whether it's someone's blog post, a new percussion composition, or a website design. But it's awfully selfish of me to think that my opinion of someone else's work is all that matters. Just because I don't care for a piece of music doesn't mean that it has no value to its creator or many others who love the piece.

Some people like certain things, others hate those things. That's the way it is. But facing the risk that someone won't like your work is never a reason to stop being you.