This all started with my very first commission – a duet for oboe and vibraphone composed for Amy Anderson and Lisa Rogers, the oboe and percussion professors from Texas Tech University. Lisa was familiar with my percussion works having conducted Limerick Daydreams & Sizzle, but Amy was certainly taking a chance on my oboe-writing skills. One of their first performances of the piece took place at the International Double Reed Society Conference (a.k.a. the lion's den).

Several other non-percussion ventures have occurred since then (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, wind ensemble, orchestra) and I always feel a little bit lucky when these ventures are successful. However, most of these performances are not in front of such concentrated audiences, especially not with me on display stage.

Today, I return to the lion's den – this time, the Southeast Regional Tuba & Euphonium Conference at the University of North Florida – with the comfort of euphonium player Brian Meixner by my side. We will perform Coming Home for euphonium and piano as well as the world premiere of my newest work Spitfire for euphonium and marimba/vibraphone. Let's just hope that no fruit-throwing ensues.

Laura Stevens, flute
Nathan Daughtrey, marimba

Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Faculty Composition/Chamber Recital
Charles E. Hayworth, Sr. Memorial Chapel
High Point University
High Point, NC

*The video is best viewed at 1080p HD quality.

"An Extraordinary Correspondence" is published by C. Alan Publications (© 2012) and available for sale from Steve Weiss Music.

Legacies is available for sale from Steve Weiss Music.

On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 I will be giving my first faculty recital at High Point University. Seeing how I teach both music composition and percussion there, it seemed fitting (albeit a little self-serving) to perform a recital of my works. We have a wonderfully talented faculty at HPU and I am delighted to be playing with four of them in what will hopefully be the first of many future collaborations. 

Program

Improvisation from Episodes for Solo Piano

Strange Dreams (for alto saxophone and marimba)
with Bob Faub

Encantada (for solo vibraphone)

Coming Home (for euphonium and piano)
with Dr. Brian Meixner

Concerto for Vibraphone (for vibraphone and piano)
with Susan Young 

An Extraordinary Correspondence (for flute and marimba)
with Laura Stevens

Halcyon Deconstruction (for solo marimba and electronic accompaniment)

Recital Details

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Charles E. Hayworth Sr. Memorial Chapel
High Point University
833 Montlieu Avenue
High Point, NC 

Facebook Event

An Extraordinary Correpondence for Flute & Marimba
Commissioned by Jennifer & Richard Elliott 
Purchase from Steve Weiss Music 

Coming Home for Euphonium & Piano
Commissioned by Christian Folk 
Purchase from J.W. Pepper 

Gate City Snapshot for Concert Band (Grade 3) 
Commissioned by Brent Davis & the Mendenhall Middle School 8th Grade Band 
Purchase from J.W. Pepper 

Halcyon Days for Solo Marimba with Percussion Quartet
Commissioned by Josh Knight & a Consortium of Percussionists & Directors 
Purchase from Steve Weiss Music 

Halcyon Deconstruction for Marimba and Electronic Accompaniment
Purchase from Steve Weiss Music 

Legacies for Percussion Ensemble (10 players)
Commissioned by the NC Chapter of Percussive Arts Society
Purchase from Steve Weiss Music 

Star of Wonder for Holiday Percussion Ensemble (7-9 players)
Written for Andrew Dancy and the 2012 Marimba Christmas Ensemble
Email me if interested 

"Tangling Shadows" is published by C. Alan Publications and is available from Steve Weiss Music.

Just the other day, my percussion quintet Sizzle! was performing live by the Exclamation! Percussion Ensemble (directed by Delaina Oberman) and dancers at the Flint School of Performing Arts. The performance piece, titled Random Velocity was choreographed by Flint Youth Ballet ballet mistress and FYB alumna, Elizabeth Philippi. More info...

Coming up on March 15, 16 & 17, my marimba/piano duet, Almost Beyond, will be performed on Dance Concerts at High Point University, choreographed by Cara Hagan. Unfortunately, I will be out of town for two of the performances, so they will be dancing to a live recording.

Lastly, Cara & I have paired up students from her Dance Composition class and my Music Composition Seminar class to produce little 1-minute vignettes to be performed at the end of the spring semester. We're leaving up to the students whether the music or dance should come first or whether it should just be an organic process. I'm really excited to see what they churn out.

Looking forward to being proactive about creating more dance collaborations in the future.

"Spun" is published by C. Alan Publications and is available for purchase through Steve Weiss Music.

I had been wanting to write a piece for solo marimba and percussion quartet since playing pieces like Minoru Miki's "Marimba Spiritual," Michael Burritt's "Shadow Chasers" and Lynn Glassock's "Off Axis" in my formative years as a performer. The pressure of composing for a fairly well-established genre combined with writing to please 23 other percussionists started to get to me before I put pen to paper.

Every composer/writer/artist type has his/her own creative process. After a seemingly never-ending spell of writer's block 2 years ago, I wrote an entry about climbing out of the dark compositional abyss as I finally sorted out the first movment of my vibraphone concerto. Fortunately, I've been able to sidestep those problems since then by writing more regularly and modifying/streamlining my process. In this case, I stumbled across the phrase "halcyon days," which refers to a period of peace and tranquility, in a book I was reading and was delighted to discover its Greek mythological origins. The story of Alycone & Ceyx is rooted in love, death, sacrifice and, as in all stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses, transformation (as illustrated in the painting above with Alcyone changing into a kingfisher). 

Here's a recording electronically generated by sounds available in the Virtual Drumline 2.5 library. Feel free to click on the blue line below the sound wave to make comments about specific moments in the music on SoundCloud.com.

Halcyon Days for solo marimba & percussion quartet by Nathan Daughtrey

"Halcyon Days" received its world premiere on November 17, 2011 at California State University-Long Beach (Dr. Dave Gerhart) with Andrew McAfee as the marimba soloist. It will be available for sale to the rest of the world in the summer of 2012 from C. Alan Publications.

Every year at PASIC I realize how much I talk about (er… annoy people with my posts about) running on Facebook (and here I go again). One of the first things out of people's mouths when I haven't seen them for a year is "Man, you've been running a lot, huh?" It has become something that defines me and I'm okay with that. Let me tell you why though. A couple of years ago, I mused about Why I Think All Classical Musicians Are Pre-Programmed to Be Runners, talking about how similar the disciplines are, whether you are preparing for a marathon or a recital. Potayto, Potahto.  

While in Indianapolis this past weekend, more of the career & networking benefits of running became apparent. Over the summer, I volunteered to organize the PASIC Fun Run, which in the past has occurred on Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. during the convention. Historically, the attendance has been rather poor and I was determined to improve on that, so I expanded from one morning to three and plastered the social networks (tweeted with hashtags, created FB events, harassed friends & "friends" on their FB walls) to get the word out. 

What we ended up with was a terrifically eclectic group of percussionists each morning that had this common thread of running (and drumming). Where else are you going to hop from conversations with percussion professors from New Mexico, Missouri, Connecticut, Texas & South Carolina to the President-Elect of PAS to husband/wife drummer/percussionist for actor/musician Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan Band? We didn't set any speed records. We didn't run terribly far. We did have a lot of fun, meet new people and talk about anything from marathons to the new Schwantner Percussion Concerto to the mess at Penn State to our upcoming concerts & recitals. Even people who didn't join us for the runs each morning used topic of the Fun Runs as a conversation ice-breaker since I had posted about it so much leading up to the conference.

In the clinic I co-presented with Josh Gottry at the convention, I encouraged the young percussionists & budding composers in the audience, in the spirit of networking, to approach performers and composers they might have put up on a pedestal. They're all people. I think any two people can have at least one common thread that can break the ice – be it percussion, sports, politics or even… 

Running.

Good for your health. Good for your career.