Travis J. Weller

I am honored to have “Moravian Dance” make its world debut on Friday, February 11, 2011 by the students in the PMEA District 5 Band.  Being an educator in this district and having worked alongside their directors (many whom are great friends and colleagues) I am eagerly looking forward to their performance.  There are many fine directors in this district and I know their students are up to the challenge of this program.  Mr. Jack Anderson is the guest conductor, and Steve Garay, Jim Scanga, and Donnie White are the on-site hosts for the event.  I am indebted to these gentlemen for asking me to write a piece to be debuted at the festival, and their long-time support and friendship is a blessing each day.

A sincere thanks to Susan Glover and the students of the West Ridge Middle School Wind Ensemble for their performance of “Tales of  a Medieval Warrior” this past December at Midwest.

I was delighted to find another performance on Youtube given by the Hopkins West Junior High Band under the direction of Mrs. Kay Hawley. Bravo students and thank you Kay!

I am delighted to announce that the West Ridge Middle School Wind Ensemble will perform Tales of A Medieval Warrior at the Midwest Conference in Chicago this December.  If you have not had the opportunity, check out the full score and recording on-line at FJH Music.

Four very short weeks ago, the band program at Mercer took a big leap as we started our year with a unit on chamber music that culminated in our Fall Chamber Recital.  Over twenty different selections were presented in the recital ranging from Handel, Haydn, and Mozart to Sousa, and John Williams.  You can read a full copy of the program notes and performance order by clicking here (a pdf will open in a new window (student names for security reasons have been removed, but instrumentation is identified).  During the next week, all 150 students in the band program will be taking a survey (created by Google Docs) on their chamber music experience.  The statements which the students are asked to respond to were created by some of my colleagues at Grove City College, Thiel College, Westminster College, and Slippery Rock University.  The students will use a Likert scale to respond to 16 different statements related to their chamber music performance in addition to the usual demographic information (gender, grade, ensemble).

Read more…

Bump on over to Bandworks Publications, founded by New Jersey composer Patrick J. Burns! I have been a big fan of Patrick’s music for wind band over the past few years, and I am very excited he has launched his own publishing company.  It is an honor that he asked me to write a piece for the catalogue alongside some colleagues I really respect in the business including Chris Bernotas, and Drew Fennell (whom has really delivered on conducting and interpreting some of my pieces).  Check it out!!!