Last day at Saxophone Alliance

At this point I'm saxed out after three solid days of saxophone music. I picked up a bunch of new chamber music for saxophone in addition to spending time with a gold-plated EX alto. I spoke with Prowinds about our bass. It is still on order--according to Vicki "it is hand made in Paris." The good news is that we locked in the price. They gone up another 30% since this fall.

What you see me holding is a soprillo. One octave higher than a soprano. We'll add one to the orchestra if I can find $3500.

I heard two saxophone orchestras today John Bleuel's West Georgia group and the Jean-Michel Goury North American ensemble from France. Both concerts were very good. John, as most of you know, is faculty at the Britt saxophone workshop. In addition to being an amazing saxophonist he is a top-notch conductor. Someday soon I'll bring him to Ashland to conduct our ensemble. In the mean time if you want to work with John you must sign up for the saxophone workshop. Remember all SOU students have all but $150 of their tuition paid for.

The Goury concert was a unique saxophone ensemble. They performed six contemporary works including Reich's New York Counterpoint for saxophone ensemble. Now I'm tempted to perform even more avante garde music next year.

I spoke with the saxophone teacher from Thailand hosting the XVth World Congress. He strongly encouraged us to apply. They are working hard to make Thailand as affordable as possible. He mentioned 5 star hotels with meals for under $100 per day. I'll continue to work on getting us to Thailand if you continue to work hard in rehearsals.

Unfortunately we were not selected to perform at the Green Show this summer. Their loss. They don't know what they're missing.

Here is my family picture of Georgia grads that are attending the conference. Many have jobs and are scattered around the country. Kenneth Fischer is on the left and Otis Murphy on the far right next to Stephen Fischer. I'm in the middle next to Caroline Taylor of the Lynx saxophone percussion duo and Arkansas Saxophone Quartet.

I'm back on Monday. Remember Tuesday's rehearsal is in the Choir room