This summer has been great! Mum and sister came for two weeks, and we took a road trip in the mid-west and around the east coast; we visited cities and places including:

1. Chicago, Premiums outlets;
2. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo;
3. Niagara Falls;
4. New York City - Statue of Liberty, Time Square, bus tour, Top of the Rock on Rockfeller Center, etc.
5. New York City - Met Museum of Art, Central Park;
6. Philly - Independence Hall, National Constitution Center, Liberty Bell, City Hall, etc.;
7. Washington D.C. - Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, White House, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/Air and Space, etc., Shenandoah National Park;
8. Shenandoah National Park

It was SO tiring... now rest for a couple days before I head to Hong Kong!

I am done with everything for the semester. I feel such a big relief. There is a moment of sadness though--I had to return my office key today. I'm going to miss having an office; I'm going to miss everything in BG. A Master's degree goes by too fast. Two years go by too fast. I feel like I just arrived here yesterday, and now I have to go. But life moves on, right?

Thank you BG. I will not forget this place, and you will remain special in my heart.

Anyhow, I'll be back for the New Music Festival in fall to hear my Five Songs of the Von Seggerns (2010)! I received an email today from a teacher in Nebraska, whose student is researching about the train accident in Amanda's poems, and came across my piece. I am very glad that my music is making connection with people - this is what keeps me and all musicians working. We make music because we care; we make music because we want to communicate.

I think my composition style is constantly evolving. Since the composition of my Apparitions - a fantasy for chamber ensemble (2010-11), I have found a new style to work with. I personally see my Five Songs of the Von Seggerns (2010) as a sum of my early style, which is always harmonically exact, rhythmically defined and structurally strict. This set of songs also serves as a bridge to my more current style, which pays less attention to exactness and allows more aleatoric chance operations; pays more attention to instrumental timbre/color, building up of texture, achieving intensity through density of pitches, emphasizing on different sound properties and acoustic in general. This is fascinating--I can't wait to hear what I will come up with in the future!

After deciding to attend UMKC instead of the other school, I am so released now. I feel so much more settled down. Today was the premiere of my thesis - Apparitions - a fantasy for chamber ensemble (2010-11). It went very well--I now have a good recording thanks for Conrad Chu (conductor) and the fabulous players from BG. This piece is so different from my earlier compositions.

And, right now I have been looking to acquire a car so that I can travel to my new school.

April is a very unsure month. I need to make my final decision on what school I will attend for my doctorate, which will directly affect my travel plans in the summer, and whether or not I should go to the soundSCAPE Summer Festival in Italy. This is a really difficult time for me... hopefully everything will clear up soon.

Sometimes, I think maybe I'm too tired for more schooling...

Had such a great experience at GAMMA-UT this weekend, and met so many fantastic musicians from around the country. The paper sessions as well as the concert were all great--I have so much to digest now--good stuff, of course. The Bel Cuore Quartet's performance was amazing. I think I'm the happiest composer in the world.

Zeitgeist was amazing. They are very professional, and are certainly enjoyable to work with. They presented four pieces tonight with such musicianship and high degree of ensemble playing! It is very exciting to hear active contemporary music playing outside of school!

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The storm (thunder and rain and snow) was getting really bad on my way back to the motel, hope that it'll clear up by tomorrow!

I am on the road again! I am really looking forwards to Zeitgeist's and Bel Cuore Quartet's performances this week! I'm staying at a motel now, and am about 180 miles away from Zeitgeist's Studio Z. I just received Bel Cuore Quartet's reading on my Saxophone Quartet (2009), and it was fantastic! Life is obviously treating me very well at this moment, except that my homework and project loads might kill me when I get back.

There was this classic music technology panic tonight at the performance of my Awakening for trombone and live electronics (2010). Well, first of all, the freeverb~ object was not recognized at all. Then, there was this long sustained tone that wasn't supposed to be there. I was so glad that after two cues of events, it cut off... but nonetheless, I don't think anyone noticed, and that sustained tone actually fit the context. I was so afraid that it wouldn't cut off - in that case, I would have to "X" kill it... Anyways, it was a great concert, with the great trombonist - Kevin Fairbairn!

Having been so inspired, I just finished an electroacoustic piece: Katachi I for fixed media (2011). I have been processing these sounds, and now I finally get to use them! Guess what sounds I used? (Program notes will be posted soon!)

I recently came across a blog entry about the benefits of music in schools. This is pretty interesting and persuasive, and under each "benefit" are these links to other more detailed articles.

The topic of the article is "20 Important Benefits of Music In Our Schools". You can review the article here.