Newsletter archive
May 2008
VCU Music AlumNews (Vol. 1, No. 2)
May 2008
Greetings, All!
Here follows our second promised edition of the VCU Music Alumni News We hope you had a good winter and are enjoying the beautiful Virginia springtime.
Thanks and happy reading!
Alumni Updates: Baber - Hanlon
Trombone alumnus Terry Baber’s company, Brokenslide Music, has published a book for trombonists by his friend Harry Rios titled “Caribbean Duets 1.” By this time, the trumpet-duet version may also by published; and “Caribbean Duets 2” (with a play-along CD) is in the works. Baber is Director of Operations for Wizard Connection and trombonist with the Orlando House of Blues.
Emmanuel Barks (B.M. 1990) is General Music Teacher at E.S.H. Greene Elementary School in Richmond, VA. He also received his MM in Music Composition and Theory from Norfolk State University (studied with Adolphus Hailstork) in May of 1996. In addition to teaching music at Greene, he’s also Music Director and conductor of the Chesterfield Community Band. He’s trombonist with both the Petersburg Symphony (who premiered his composition “Escape” in February of 2007) and the Buckingham Brass (who have also premiered some of his compositions). Barks is also President of Richmond Elementary Music Teacher’s Association and District One Representative for Virginia Elementary Music Teacher’s Association.
Alumnus and adjunct faculty member Taylor Barnett (B.M. 2002, M.M. 2004) recently celebrated the release of his debut CD “For Someone.” The disc, which features the Taylor Barnett 10-tet performing his original compositions and arrangements received a four star review in Style Weekly. “There is an unfussy elegance at the heart of the beguiling new CD from composer/trumpeter Taylor Barnett… The strong melodies quickly become familiar — an increasingly rare charm in an age where the song head may be little more than a clever but unmemorable bit of harmonic gymnastics. But Barnett’s great strength is as an educator. Someone unfamiliar with jazz could learn a lot about structure and phrasing from the clarity of his arrangements.”
The disc also featured a host of VCU Music alumni including co-producer and guitarist Trey Pollard (B.M. 2005), trombonist Bryan Hooten (M.M. 2006), saxophonist Jason Scott (B.M. 1998), and pianist Ryan Corbitt (B.M. 2004). The CD is now available on iTunes and at CDbaby.com.
Karmalita Bawar (B.M. 1990) is thrilled to have been invited to Matsumoto, Japan for three weeks this past April to attend rehearsals and final performances of the International Suzuki Ten Piano Concert. A current piano student of hers was selected to perform one of the pieces in this event. Pianists rarely have an opportunity to perform en masse. Skills such as learning to play together; listening to each other; and motivation due to being part of a team are nurtured in nearly all other instruments through ensembles and are sorely lacking in many pianists today. Bawar and her student have surely gained much during this cultural and musical excursion.
Gisele Keyes Bullock (B.M.E. 1983, M.M.E. 1987) is presently teaching in the Virginia Beach City Public School System. As music specialist at Parkway Elementary for the past 7 years, she teaches grades K-5, chorus and strings. She has been teaching for the past 22 years in VA starting in Chesapeake City and followed by Henrico County Public Schools. For the second year, Gisele conducted the Virginia Beach All City Pizzicato Orchestra, about 150 select fifth grade orchestra students. Additionally, Parkway Elementary School Chorus performed for the opening musical performances of The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach. She resides in Chesapeake with her two teenage daughters.
As reported in the newsletter of the Richmond Jazz Society, Rudy Faulkner performed as vocalist/percussionist with the 21st Century Band in a concert benefiting the United Way of St. Thomas-St. John’s 2008 fundraising campaign. The band is comprised of world-class Virgin Islands musicians led by drummer Dion Parson, saxophonist Ron Blake, bassist Reuben Rogers, trumpeter Rashaun Ross, and Faulkner.
Keith Hanlon (M.M. 2005) is currently Adjunct at VCU in the Dance Department and Adjunct Instructor of Music at John Tyler Community College. He’s also faculty at the Academy of Music teaching voice, flute and piano. Hanlon plays flute for the Virginia Wind Quintet and the Keystone Wind Ensemble as well as piccolo for Commonwealth Winds.
Alumni Updates: Harding - Shaver
Alumnus and faculty member Kevin Harding (B.M. 1997, M.M. 2004) will perform on the 2008 VCU Guitar and Other Strings Series with his bossa nova group Quatro Na Bossa on Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m. Drawing from Brazil’s most popular composers and performers, Quatro Na Bossa’s program typically includes familiar classics as well as esoteric gems in their vast repertoire, including some original material in the bossa nova style. The band includes vocalist Laura Ann Boyd and alumni Rusty Farmer (B.M. 1999) on bass and Aaron Binder (B.M. 1994) on drums. General admission is $10. For tickets, please call the VCU Department of Music at 828-1166.
VCU Alumni Tim Harding was part of the longtime global-jazz pioneers and Pollak Award-winners Hotel performance in February at Fulton Hill’s Neighborhood Resource Center. 2008 Grammy nominee Cheick Hamala Diabate, the guitarist and ngoni player from Mali in West Africa also performed in that event.
John Kiefer (B.M.E. 1995) reports that he and his family have been in Orange, VA, since 2000 after 5 years in Charlottesville. He just finished 5 years teaching Jr-K thru 8 at Grymes Memorial School in Orange. He founded Orange Music Instruction and Supply in 2000 and now has two locations: one in the town of Orange and the other in Locust Grove near Fredericksburg, which opened in 2006.
Elana (Fox) Lippa (B.A. 1998), now mother of Aaron, age 4, and Marisa, age 3 months, is the new Director of Planned Giving at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, MD, as of February of this year. Elana is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and sings regularly with Wolf Trap Opera Chorus and Washington National Opera Chorus. She sang in the chorus of “A View from the Bridge” at WNO this past November and plans to continue singing with area opera choruses.
Art Martin, a sax alumnus who attended back when VCU was RPI, writes that he had the opportunity to re-connect on the phone with one of his valued mentors, Prof. Wayne Batty, who retired from VCU only recently (after serving our fair institution over 50 years). Art himself recently retired from teaching in New Jersey. “Since moving to Florida, I have been playing three or four times a week. I just finished doing “Carousel” at the Cocoa Village Playhouse, getting ready to play “Jerry’s Girls,” just performed with the Space Coast Pops and pianist Jeffrey Biegel and just did the Opera Othello with Maestro Steven Crawford from the Metropolitan Opera. (That was difficult since we only had one six-hour rehearsal.) I’m also playing with Swingtime, a twenty-piece big band, two concert bands, and also have my eight-piece and fourteen-piece bands going, as well as doing some adjudicating for Music in the Parks and Performing Arts Consultants.”
Steve Norfleet (B.M. 2000) recently released his second album as a leader, “Expectations,” featuring his tenor sax work along with Kristjan Randalu (piano) Pascal Niggenkemper (bass), and VCU alumnus Robby Sinclair (B.M. 2002) (drums). It will be available on CDbaby.com, iTunes, and all Plan 9 record stores throughout Virginia. He has also scored an indie video, visible on YouTube. For more information, visit his website.
Pete Schoenhoff (B.M. 1993) taught elementary school music in Southwestern VA. He earned a masters degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech, taught CS at Tech in 2002, then worked as a software engineer for a defense contractor in Northern VA. Pete recently took another software engineering position with a small company in Suffolk, VA, to be closer to extended family. While in Northern VA, he played lead guitar and keyboards for a Beatles cover band called “The DeafAids”.
Saxophonist and educator alumnus Gary Shaver (B.M.E. 1983) has been well known in the Richmond region for some time, including as a member of the popular band Spectrum. He has also been involved with the state songwriters group, VOCAL for many years. “Beginning in July of 1991, the Virginia Organization of Composers and Lyricists began presenting a monthly songwriters showcase, featuring original work by a variety of songwriters,” says Gary. “We consider this showcase to be the longest running of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia and most likely in the entire mid-Atlantic region.” Gary was the featured writer for VOCAL’s 200th show in March. He performed his own jazz and pop-country instrumentals. “VOCAL has been a big part of my musical background and provides great opportunities for writers to learn from one another and share their work with a live audience.”
Alumni Updates: Smith - Wenrich
Kerry Smith (B.M. 1993) is now a Partner, Composer and Creative Director for MassiveMusic, an international music-for-media company. He’s won 5 CLIO awards and had two works added to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
VCU Jazz Faculty Professor Antonio García had the pleasure of running into Nate Smith in Chicago. The drummer’s new single, “Monday Morning,” featuring John Gordon, is now available for download at iTunes, Amazon.com, and Rhapsody. See the music video here.
Dave Stocker (B.M. 1998) says that after a stint in the Phoenix area directing the Classical Guitar program at the Arizona School for the Arts, he’s now working full-time as a freelance transcriber, engraver and music editor. He works with Hal Leonard Corp. on their Guitar/Tab/Vocal songbooks as well as providing engraving and editing for various other clients small and large. Stocker has moved back to Powhatan, VA, where he now resides with his wife, a secondary school English teacher, and two sons.
Samson Trinh (B.M. 2006), a saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader is very excited about his new alliance with the Mills Family Band, headed by siblings Allyson and Curtis Mills. “The style is very folk, country, pop, and jazz-influenced. I know that sounds odd, but this is a group that loves every juice of music! We recently opened up for Nellie McKay at the Ram’s Head Tavern (Annapolis, MD) and recorded the show live,” soon to be released as the debut CD “Live At The Rams Head Tavern.” Says Samson: “And this was a band that formed two and a half weeks before the gig!” The Mills Family Band also includes VCU student bassist Matt Harris.
Patrick Turner (B.A. 2006) has been hired as an Adjunct Bass instructor at Houston’s San Jacinto College in Houston, a two-year college with a strong music department and an emphasis on jazz. He’ll also be a clinician for their jazz band as well as part of a small Jazz Faculty ensemble. In addition Turner has started to get some regular work with a Latin jazz band. “Good thing I learned how to play the tumbao, samba, and bolero at VCU!”
Guitarist Matt White’s (B.M. 2005) ensemble Fight the Big Bull continues to find success. The group was invited by MacArthur Fellow Ken Vandermark to perform in a series of performances in Chicago in April, has signed to Clean Feed Records, a label based in Portugal, and is planning a European tour next September. The band includes alumni Bryan Hooten (M.M. 2006) (trombone); Jason Arce (B.M. 2007) and Jason Scott (B.M. 1998) (sax), Bob Miller (trumpet); students Reggie Pace (trombone) and Pinson Chanselle (percussion); plus bassist and former VCU student Cameron Ralston. For more information about FTBB, visit their MySpace page.
Deborah Wenrich (B.M. 1994) is the Music Director for Rehoboth United Methodist Church in Partlow, VA, and is playing fiddle for the Welsh Band Mochpryderi based out of Fredericksburg, VA. She enjoys spending time with her sweet little 4-year old daughter, Faith.
A Friend We’ll Miss
Mark Thornton (B.M. 1976) wrote to inform us that trombonist Deborah Moser Payne (B.M.E. 1979) died on January 1, 2008. “We lost a wonderful graduate of the VCU Music Department… She will be missed by all who knew her.”
Send us your update!
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