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This week, I am excited to announce the results of all the recent projects my percussion trio, Lineage Percussion, tackled during our week together in Tucson, Arizona! Although much of my focus was directed to ensuring the success of my benefit concert for the Alzheimer's Association, ...in loving memory, I also had a busy week of events planned for Lauren, Wesley, and myself. From recording sessions, to school clinics, to new marketing materials, and a lot of delicious food, you can read about it all below! A New Video!In the spring of 2016, Lineage Percussion hosted a "Call for Scores" in Partnership with New Sound Publications to commission composers from around the world to write new pieces for percussion trio. Louis Aguirre wrote a very unique composition for three pairs of jing cymbals titled, Oru a Oshún. We gave the United States premiere of the work back in April of 2016 and then we performed it at the National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition the following month. The piece is a dedication to Oshún, the goddess of love, wealth and honey, owner of the river in the pantheon of the Afro-Cuban religion called Santería. This work, with its text in Yoruba, is meant to invoke and worship the Orisha. Therefore, we found the setting of the Sonoran Desert in Tucson to be a fitting backdrop to this ritualistic composition. After a week of recording and editing, we are happy to release the video of Lineage Percussion's performance of Orú a Oshun. Enjoy! School Clinics
Brand-New Branding Before arriving in Tucson, we wanted to completely rebrand our trio. For the past few months, we sketched out ideas for logos, exploring different colors and images that would be more indicative of our mission as a performing chamber ensemble. In the end, Lauren's brother, Chris Floyd, designed the perfect logo for Lineage Percussion (click on his name above to contact Chris if you'd like to hire him for an graphic design jobs!). After settling on the logo, we designed business cards and t-shirts for our Tucson residency. We wore the t-shirts at all of our school clinics and were able to hand out our cards to many people we encountered during our performances! Looking Ahead... Lauren, Wesley, and I have been very fortunate to have been able to continue performing together as an ensemble despite the obvious difficulty of living in three different regions of the country. At the beginning of our residency week, we presented a masterclass to The University of Arizona Percussion Department, discussing the ways in which we have managed our long-distance relationship as a performing ensemble. This trip to Tucson proved, once again, that the difficulty does not lie with the actual act of performing together. In fact, it was refreshing to perform alongside Wesley and Lauren again since our ensemble communication is effortless; we all understand each other and how we approach each instrument. The difficulty, however, lies in the logistics. For example, it was very tricky to find a mutual time that we could all get together for an entire week. We had to find the funds to pay for plane tickets and meals. We had to contact schools and organizations to set up shows and performances. And, of course, we had to find the time in our own personal schedules to practice our individual parts.  However, this trip proved the validity of continuing to perform as an ensemble despite the long distance. As Wesley and I prepare to finalize our graduate school choices, it is likely that we, once again, will end up on different ends of the country. But, with many more pieces left to premiere and with a lot of exciting ideas and plans for the future, you can expect to continue seeing a lot more from Lineage Percussion for years to come!
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