Hello, Newgrounds! It seemed like there was a lot of activity here last month. I just noticed today is the deadline for the Streamers Universe Animation War, offering $3000 in prizes. Damn, not bad! And Hyptosis's art contest just finished a few days ago. It's great to see Newgrounds incentivizing so much creativity.
Here is my monthly update as usual. I like doing these. It feels like a sort of marker for myself, and a chance to reflect on how work has been going. Maybe it's interesting as a description of life as a professional musician. Enjoy!
At the beginning of November, I traveled up to Western Massachusetts and to record music with flutist Sam Levreault. Sam and I have collaborated for a couple of years on various projects. This month we recorded music by Mozart, John Williams, Gaubert, and Bizet. I think we'll release these recordings next year. It was great to be back to the Pioneer Valley. Autumn is a great time of year in New England: colorful and vibrant, and a temperature that's cool but not yet cold.
I don't have an affiliation with any particular church right now, but I am working as a substitute pianist. It's nice; I get to experience different performance spaces, meet different congregations, and observe different styles of worship. Last month I played at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, the Trinity Church of Austin, and the Memorial United Methodist Church. The recordings from the U.U. performances are available online.
The thing I was most proud of this month was hosting the New Sounds concert. This featured music by local and student composers of all ages and experience levels. The concert was livestreamed, and then the audio was edited and uploaded to YouTube. This was a wonderful experience. I'm honored to have presented this music.
I continued to work at Ballet Austin as a piano accompanist. As an experiment these past two months, I occasionally recorded myself during class (with permission from the instructor, of course). Then I edited the better exercises into separate audio tracks, mostly about 1-4 minutes. These piano improvisations feature melodies from classical music and pop culture. I'm fond of using video game music in particular. The goal is always to provide music that's conducive to good dance, and to serve the instructor's vision for each exercise. These recordings are available to subscribers.
Finally, I uploaded a jam session with local musician Jacob Dycus. I thought this brief collaboration was especially productive. Jacob is a guiarist and a drummer based in Round Rock. He's a member of a Christian metal band called Forgiven You. Jacob and I met as colleagues at Premier.
In December, I have a couple events. I'm playing with the Chisholm Trail Middle School choir for their holiday concert, and on a student recital at Armstrong Community Music School. I played for the Kids In Harmony piano studio recital on December 4. I thought that was a great recital, complete with awards to students for their accomplishments and Kids in Harmony T-shirts. If you want to support Brittney Benavidez and her piano studio, visit kidsinharmonytx.com. Later this month, I'll probably release the recording of my performance at that event.
On December 24, I'll be performing with Graham Yates at Wellspring United Methodist Church. We'll be playing four-hands Christmas music that he arranged and composed. I'll also be playing at the Unitarian Universalist again on December 19. And finally, I will continue to write music and produce musical audio. Most of that work isn't public yet. As projects are released, I will announce them.
Thanks for reading!
Best wishes,
Ben