How Dylan Spent Thanksgiving

Relaxing at Mandalay Bay

At the Controls

Dylan at the Lake near our Apartment

At The Zoo

Dylan's First Peas

Dylan turned 5-months old on Nov. 10th! So far Dylan has had rice (eh), oatmeal (yum), and now sweet peas (organic, not bad). Figure it is only going to get better and better from here on in. Green beans next, then maybe some other peas, then probably carrots, squash, then the good stuff (sweet potatoes, bananas). She seems to not be a picky eater so far, so we are hoping that continues:

The other news from Tempe, AZ....

I have a month of teaching left before winter break, two more papers to complete, two pieces of music to write, and a final presentation. Going to be a busy month. I would not be surprised if I do not get a chance to add anything more to this blog before then, so that is why I am going to make this a long update. First of all, my bike was stolen last week, so I now ride Nicole's bike with basket to school everyday. My dignity has taken another hit, but I'm still ticking. Dylan has definitely grown out of her new born and 1-3 month clothes, and into her 6-month clothes, so we have our first batch of hand-me-downs for the next little girl who is born. The weather got chillier this past week, down to the 50s in the mornings, so Nicole was forced to buy Dylan an adorable hat:

As far as school goes, I am finishing a few songs I worked on before leaving New York, hopefully will be sharing those really soon. I also performed a new piano piece at the composer's concert last week. I have not gotten a recording yet but will post when I do. I am working on completing a paper on improvisation for my Intro to Ethnomusicology class which has been very fun to write (that is actually not sarcasm). If anyone cares to see that I will post it here when it is complete. 

Otherwise our life here seems to be rather uneventful, other than the event that every day is with Dylan. Today we are going to take her to the art museum (thanks Mom for the membership). It is 64º out, so she probably won't get to wear her hat :(.

Personally, I kind of feel like we are in some sort of suspended animation period, even though I know the world and time is moving on it kind of feels like we are living in a grace period. I think it is because as busy as I am I am not working nearly as many hours away from home as I was in New York. I go to school in the mornings and I am usually done by 1 in the afternoon. After that it is up to me to complete what I need to complete. I love this kind of schedule, and we are fortunate that I am making just enough money for us to live comfortably. The student loan has been a part of that though, so I know that next year, when I would like to not take out another loan, things will be different. Brian Kassel was actually in town this past week, attending a week-long seminar on Buddhism. He has been living on a Buddhist retreat near Tuscan for the past month or so called Diamond Mountain (http://diamondmountain.org/). He lives in a yurt and helps bring food and supplies to the monks and nuns in return for the room and board. It was great seeing him and discussing Buddhism. Interestingly the concepts are very similar to ones that keep coming up in my classes, for instance the breaking down of assumptions concerning labeling and the meaning of self expression. My school is doing a festival in April dedicated to the music of John Cage, who studied Buddhist philosophy and used its concepts to create music where he tried to abandon self expression. He found that using the I-Ching and chance operations he could create music where neither he nor the performer controlled the outcome. There is much more to it than that, here is an interview with him discussing his philosophy on chance if anyone is interested (check out minute 18:50 for Cage's take on it):

Anyway, my point was, that one of the things I am enjoying most at this school is that I am not being forced to fit into a box of "classical composer". The school is constantly trying to redefine what a composer is, and they are honest that they don't even know what to call the music any more - "classical" is an antiquated term, "art music" seems pretentious, "institutional music" seems self-defeating. It is an interesting time to study this music, as orchestras around the country are failing financially and the method for transmitting music is changing so rapidly. 

I am looking forward to sharing some of my new works. Oh, and I have an album on Spotify :). Goal #1 from this year complete.

Here are a couple of youtube videos that represent my mind right now:

and

Check out Reggae Randy killing "This Old Man", especially when this old man plays four! - killer!

This Old Man

Not All Work and No Play

Halloween