I can smell the funnel cake from here…

So Dr. Pisano says to me ” You’re hosting the November Blog Carnival.”
I say “Sure!”
He didn’t share with me that this carnival lacks funnel cake…very distressing.

But we are lining up a series of great posts for the November carnival.  I can almost smell the funnel cake from here…

There is plenty of room for new posts as well as bringing back some old ones that have received attention.  So far I have really enjoyed reading a number of older submissions and reflecting upon my current perspective compared to the one I had reading it the first time.  It really is amazing how this campaign has taken off, continued to evolve, and is bringing some refreshing conversation to the perspective.

If you have not submitted before, never fear as this is easier that cleaning your band office coffee pot after a two week coffee hiatus….not there was mold growing mind you, just a penicilin experiment gone awry. The process is actually very easy.  You can find the Music Education Submittal Page by clicking on the following link: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4443.html. 

I am looking forward to hosting, so come one and all and step right up to the greatest show on earth!  And if you are able, I am really jonesing for some funnel cake…

Don’t call 911 yet, THE FIRE STILL BURNS…

The pieces have been saved from our band rooms, but there are plenty of you out there who didn’t realize MY BAND ROOM IS ON FIRE! There is still time to make a save, as the fire is still burning. Join in on the conversation and save a piece of music (just no more than seven). As you can tell by the list below, a lot of friends and colleagues made some tough (but great) choices in an effort to preserve our music. Hats off to Holst, Alfred Reed, and Frank Ticheli who were the composers mentioned the most often. First Suite in Eb and The Pines of Rome were also a favorite in terms of singular pieces. I find it very rewarding to find some of the hidden gems in the literature listed below (Nelson’s Courtly Airs and Dances, Carter’s Overture for Winds, Reed’s Rushmore). Since writing this post, I have discovered several more pieces that I probably could not live without (Selections from the “Danseyre” arranged by Patrick Dunnigan and Ticheli’s Symphony No. 2). As far as noticeable exceptions – The Stars and Stripes Forever (I guess we all just figured we could buy a new edition by Brion and Schissel), 2^nd Suite for Military Band in F (No love for their second masterpiece by Holst), and Festive Overture (Shostakovich can really get the juices flowing) really come to mind quickly for not making the first list. Looking at notable composers left off the list – the absence of writers like Mark Camphouse, James Curnow, and James Barnes are very surprising to me. Timothy Mahr, Samuel Hazo, and David Gillingham definitely deserve to be saved at some point – it would be interesting to see where the those gentlemen would end up if this list was done five years from now and songs like Endurance, Ride!, and Galactic Empires get more exposure. So in no particular order, here is what was saved when MY BAND ROOM IS ON FIRE!…