This has been a fun concert experience to work on with the always brilliant Don Hart.
America’s Wonders (Cincinnati Pops)
Category Archives: Music Prep
Brandi Carlile
I’ve fallen into the habit of pairing the first listen of a much-anticipated album with a good bottle of something fitting. For the release last year of Brandi‘s “by the way, I forgive you” I choose a London Gin because of conversations during the album’s string sessions with engineer @edwardspear about what we were into at the moment. So happy to have been able to do the music prep for arrangers Kristin Wilkinson and the late legendary Paul Buckmaster on the project, and thrilled to see Brandi and the twins winning Grammys for it tonight!
Rich Mullins
Sussing out what’s going on in these Reed Arvin string arrangements while I work on music prep for Sunday’s Rich Mullins show at the Ryman has been pretty cool.
Orchestra Sessions at Abbey Road
Excited to spend the next two days working at Abbey Road with Carl Marsh and Chris Greseth and a 65 piece orchestra.
Obligatory Abbey Road crosswalk photo
Orchestra Session at Oceanway Nashville
Another Monday, another 12-inch tall stack of music delivered to Oceanway Studios for an orchestra session. Now to check my toner level and order more paper…
Recent work – Fall 2015
The last couple of months have been packed with a lot of good work. A partial list of work done for December concerts:
- Michael Card’s New Hope Born Christmas Tour
- I wrote four choir arrangements for this tour, a fun full-circle moment for me as I toured with Mike a decade ago as part of his tech crew. He performed in the USA, Enniskillen Northern Ireland, Inverness, London, and Budapest, with local choirs joining him and music director Jeff Taylor in each city.
- CMA Country Christmas 2015
- Did the music prep for orchestrators Kristin Wilkinson, Larry Paxton, and Buddy Skipper again this year, for artists including Jewel, Charles Kelley, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Darius Rucker, Brian Setzer, and Michael W. Smith.
- Peace On Earth: A Gala Celebration of the Arts
- This concert at the University of Alabama in Huntsville featured the band Act of Congress with members of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Huntsville Community Chorus, and the U.S. Army Materiel Command Band. Don Hart was the orchestrator, and I did the music prep.
- Christmas at Belmont
- I did the music prep for a new arrangement written by Carl Marsh for featured artist Kathy Mattea, “Unto Us a Child Is Born,” featuring the Belmont Symphony Orchestra and choir. The show was broadcast nationally on PBS on December the 21st.
- Kid Pan Alley
- Don Hart orchestrated four new songs for Paul Reisler for a concert with the Manassas Symphony Orchestra, and asked me to help out with transcriptions and music prep.
- Paul Rom’s The Angels Danced on Christmas Day
- Carl Marsh orchestrated this new work for Paul Rom, I did the music prep, and the Louisville Philharmonia gave the world premiere.
- Hosanna! Church’s annual Christmas Concert with the Minnesota Orchestra and a 300+ voice choir
- I did the music prep for several new arrangements and orchestrations written by Carl Marsh, including a mini-suite from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker that involved entering 14,000+ notes into Finale (giving me the chance to make it through a couple audiobooks while I worked).
