matthew wengerd|bassist

Most anyone who reads this and cares about classical music has probably already heard about this recent article in Cleveland’s weekly alt-newspaper, Scene.

It addresses the lack of audition screens at Cleveland Orchestra auditions and the influence of concertmaster William Preucil on the orchestra. I won’t comment, because I have no firsthand knowledge of any of the issues at hand, but those currently on the audition circuit may find this enlightening (or at least in agreement with what they have heard through the grapevine).

Liveblogging from the USF Symphony Orchestra concert. We are in between dress and concert and hit in about 15 minutes. I had planned on doing some homework, but dinner took too long and there is no place to do the requisite listening here.

I described the program here, so I won’t do so again. Tonight was the first time we heard the Chausson all the way through and it was quite nice. Dress went very well and I’m hoping not to jinx the performance.

Off to warm up…

Re-Posted from the USF Jazz Blog

Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The joint Junior Recital of USF Jazz Studies juniors Alejandro Arenas and Mark Feinman presented attendees with a well-conceived showcase for drums and double bass. A considerable crowd turned out to hear this duo, accompanied by jazz piano student John O’Leary and recent Graduate Studies graduate Rich Van Voorst on tenor sax.

The program opened with Charles Mingus‘ Hatian Fight Song. After stating the theme, Van Voorst and O’Leary each took a turn soloing, followed by traded choruses between Arenas and Feinman. Someday My Prince Will Come followed, with excellent solos by Arenas and VanVoorst, followed by a re-statement of the head and Feinman’s solo.

Next was a transcription of performing Oscar Pettiford’s Tricotism, replete with moving double-stops and sinewy double-time passages. I have heard Alejandro play this piece several times before and he plays it with more confidence and conviction every time.

The next several tunes were performed by the rhythm section only. Bud Powell’s burning Tempus Fugit (with which, I am embarrased to say, I was not familiar until this evening) was followed by John Patitucci’s arrangement of Santamaria’s Afro Blue. This Arenas/Feinman duo was an excellent showcase for Feinman’s afro-cuban chops. The next tune was an Arenas original, We’ll See, which he dedicated to his parents. Hearing this made me wish I was able to take Dave Stamps‘ Jazz Comp classes. Ray Brown’s arrangement (sense a pattern here?) of Ellington & Tizol’s Caravan provided the penultimate work of the evening. This arrangement required Arenas to perform the A sections of the head arco and perform an uncomfortably fast switch to pizz. for the B section. O’Leary and Feinman soloed on this tune.

The closer, Van Voorst’s Ray’s Blues, was a funky romp that brought Van Voorst back on stage and moved O’leary to the Fender Rhodes. This exhuberant tune provided one of the biggest surprises of the evening when a false ending led into Black Sabbath’s Iron Man!

In all, an excellent evening and one of the most creative instrumental recital programs I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy.

I began teaching at my alma mater autumn 2005.

Upon graduation just a year earlier, I swore I would never step foot on the campus again. Growing pains (the school had less than 1000 students when I arrived in 2000 and enrolls over 3000 today) had made my time at the University unpleasant and I was bitter. An unexpected layoff just 8 months into my post-college career left me in a job I couldn’t find fulfillment in and very little face-time with any music. I figured teaching would be a great motivation to hone my chops and keep me thinking about the choices I was making regarding technique and the music I was playing. The market for private instructors in my area is quite weak and I had little hope of sustaining a studio outside of adjuncting at the University from whence I came (which never really had an electric bass specialist during my academic career).

Long story short is I am here and I really enjoy working with my students. This is my 4th semester and I’ve moved from two students for 4 credit hours to seven students at 17 (!) credit hours. At present, I only have one music major; the other students are music minors or hobbyists. I am blessed to have students who are willing to try anything (for the most part). My electric bass technique is similar to that of Todd Johnson or Gary Willis and it is a big shock at first to use the floating thumb technique or maintain consistent finger-per-fret spacing, but most are willing to try it, which is all I ask.

I even have students willing to try double bass and loving it!

The thing I do not like is the facilities. As a student, I had (gasp!) my own practice room. “The Bass Room” was reserved for bassists and bass equipment and, when I became the only bass major on campus after a year, the room became my private practice space. During my year away from the University, the practice rooms moved to a former housing area named Spence Hall and, aside from new carpet, they are pretty much as they were when people called them “home” (A good music student will still call it “home”). We even have bathrooms and closets!

The growing school means a growing faculty and the studios (in another building) reserved for adjuncts were converted into full-time faculty studios, which means adjuncts have to teach in the practice rooms. All I can say is that every time the construction of a Performing Arts Center gets pushed back, a little piece of me dies. As you may or may not be able to see, there are very large gaps at the bottoms of the (hollow) doors, meaning the hallway (and other rooms) are nowhere near isolated from the cacaphony of practicing students. Yes, I know many schools are like this, but it feels much different when you have to teach in the middle of it. Add to that the fact that someone had the idea of covering the walls in foam to alleviate the noise bleed. Unfortunately, this isn’t Auralex we’re talking about, but egg-crate foam. You know, the stuff college students put on top of their plastic matress? yep. It did nothing but kill a lot of reverb, leaving the room dead, but loud.




At least I have a very nice view (and the glass, when I open the blinds all the way, helps breathe life into the sound). The room is large and would be ideal, if I could leave an amp, desk, and bookshelf there (with the books and accoutrements to go with them) in the room, but the room is accessible to all music majors. To be fair, the PAC is in the works. The only problem is the plans call for it to be built on land currently being occupied by a retirement village.

The best thing about the University is the influx of talented, enthusiastic instructors from some of the best schools in the nation. I am thrilled to work next to outstanding musicians and excellent human beings,

I know I’ve got it way better than Jason Heath and am not looking forward to leaving this gig some day.

Rashaan Roland Kirk and John Cage in a Dick Fontaine film (for television?) entitled “Sound.”