Hello from Bryce Peltier, Guest Conductor

Greetings from the beautiful Northern Oregon Coastal town of Astoria!  My wife and I just recently had a baby and I am slowly getting myself back into my music.  The seasons also changed and when the coast changes.... Oh my!  Look out!  I hope you have all had a wonderful fall and that you are enjoying time with your recorders and other various instruments.

I look forward to coming back to conduct this Friday evening!  I have definitely enjoyed your enthusiasm.  And one of the things I have realized is that every session does not have to be filled with music of old, but can be a time to appreciate the music of recent times.  

From the beginning I was encouraged to teach from my personality and my background.  This time I thought we could bag the Renaissance for a minute and really focus on jazz and contemporary music.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Renaissance and Baroque musics, but I LOVE jazz and other music that is rhythmic and bouncy, stuff that one just has to get up and dance to.  I guess that could be why I am a member of a salsa band and I that don't want to give up playing jazz and latin music.

Anyway, I hope that you will all come and enjoy experiencing a little more jazz and saucy music on recorder.  The bulk of what I will explore are some more Stan Davis arrangements.  His stuff is pretty cool.  They are packed full of stuff for everybody to sink their teeth into.  Also, if you are a good reader, this stuff is fun to have a go with.  But we'll definitely work through his two pieces that I am planning, My Melancholy Baby and the Fats Waller tune The Joint is Jumpin'.  Instrumentations for both are ATTB.  So, if you are a lover of that tenor sound, and you actually own one, then you better be there!

Last year I had found a tune that I think you all enjoyed playing, and listening to, called A Little Latin.  I got it from a site called Loveschubert.  I found another tune there that I thought you would also be interested in called Piazza Vittorio.  This piece is a syncopation lover's dream and I suppose other's nightmare, but I guarantee you will love playing it and at the very least learn a little about tackling a piece like this.  Instrumentation on this is SATB and everyone gets the swingy playful melody at least once.  This piece is a special arrangement that invokes the Brazilian spirit that everyone will love to add to their repertoire.

I am hoping for one more piece to surprise you with.  I want to continue adding to the collection of jazz arrangements for recorders, but that is all I will say about this piece right now.  A few years back at a workshop, I heard a recorder quartet play a jazz arrangement and was thrilled by the effect.  I have since heard other jazz recorder players and think it is a great sound and know that the recorder has much to offer in the world of jazz.  So, I hope to offer a night a swinging fun, playing and learning together about jazz recorder playing.

See you soon!

Bryce