I hope Ed Rendell reads this. I hope he reads and gets off whatever horse that apparently got him elected. Saying he’s a friend of education is like saying Enron cared about its shareholders. It’s like saying Vick was humane to dogs. As the Keystone State Lawmakers continue to exchanger verbal volleys this week, friends of mine go unpaid and all functions of the state come to a screeching halt. I have the solution to free up a lot of money in the budget – kill standardized testing where it stands. But knowing Rendell’s agenda, we will stay the course and ultimately force districts around the state to make their cuts to save the essentials. So now the arts in public education find themselves in another tooth and nail battle because we are non-essential….yeah, right.
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Where would I be without Joe Pisano? Still kicking around wondering if my stuff was good enough to be out there – that’s where. Joe has been in my corner from day 1 on this journey. He is my friend, my colleague, and my brother, and I really appreciate all he has done – which included calling me the other day to say “Hey, I updated your site. That’s a great picture!” Thanks again Joe, for all you have done for me!
Another guy that has really given me a shot in the arm of late is Drew Fennell. Many thanks again to Drew who this afternoon debuted “Shine!” with the Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Summer Wind Ensemble!!! My respect and appreciation for Drew as a musician, conductor, and composer continues to grow. The performance was great, and I really appreciate those students bringing this music to life!!! Bump on over to myspace and check out the live recording from the July 18th concert – it even still has that new recording smell to it…I think!
More to come in the months ahead, so stay tuned! And if not, Korg makes a very affordable model (that’s free advertising you can’t buy anywhere!)….
If you have a minute (or 7 if you are going to listen to Pirates!), bump on over to FJH and check the new recordings of Pirates! and Irish Jig For Young Feet. Both songs are recorded by the Washington Winds, and you have the option of taking a look at the score page by page as you listen.
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