Below is a link to an article about the 'sonification' of data acquired from the famous Higgs Boson particle. I was reminded of my own experiments with sonification of data from the Mars imaging satellite that I did last year with Moses Milazzo. Anyway,it's kind of neat in a nerdy/musical sort of way.
 It's been a good summer so far, with some fun gigs and lots of time spent with Elmer! This past Thursday, Swing Memories played at Warren's Jazz Bistro to a full house. There were so many people that came to listen and dance, they ran out of tables! I've posted a set of pictures on the Swing Memories website, so go take a look! I was talking to the manager after the gig and he was very interested in having us play there every month. I'll definitely let everyone know next time we go back.  Also I've been working on music for St. Mark's, recording and writing several new songs, practicing instruments, teaching students and rehearsing with the band. Elmer is a great little companion throughout the day. He reminds me, now and then, that there are other things that in life other than music. (Like feeding him, playing with him, changing his diaper... etc.)
I've started feeding him some rice cereal each day, as you can see from the picture here. He's getting better at it; the mysteries of swallowing solid food are slowly revealing themselves to him. If you haven't already, go check out the photos and recordings from our Spring Recital! It was a great success and we had the biggest audience yet! I'm very proud of all my students and grateful to all my colleagues for their hard work. Elmer, of course, made an appearance. He was a big help throughout the whole process of rehearsing and working on the music. I've attached a few photos of his efforts:
I've begun the process of posting recordings and photos of our Spring Recital this past weekend. I'll have everything up very soon. Please check out the webpage!
My Spring Recital is coming up - Saturday, May 12th at 3pm, located at St. Mark's. Click the image below for the flyer with all the details. Several of my students will be performing as well as the usual groups with which I perform: The Tempe Guitar Trio and The Mesa Winds.  After the concert last night, my busy season is finally winding down. I've laid down my baton for the Pops Orchestra until October. The Sunland Singers also are off for the summer. The Mesa Band has only one more concert in May. Swing Memories has switched to a lighter summer schedule of rehearsals and gigs.
It's been a good second year of The Perry Project. I continue to be surprised and pleased to find new opportunities to meet musicians and make more music. Even though I am done with my busy performing season, I still have lots on my to-do list: I have high hopes for getting some more compositions completed this summer. I have my 4th Perry Project recital coming up on May 12th, where I plan to have another performance with the Woodwind Quartet and Tempe Guitar Trio as well as featuring my fantastic students and other musical friends. I'll be keeping busy at St. Mark's; the Praise Ensemble continues to expand its repertoire and we will also be having our third Taize service on May 13th. I also have a stack of New Guinea tapes that I need to digitize and process. Amidst all of this music-making is my new son, Elmer. He's a handful, but a pleasant one. Here's to another great month! Happy Easter everyone! It's been a very eventful and fruitful year so far. Every week has been filled with lessons, rehearsals and performances. I've had twelve concerts already this year--either performing or conducting or both--with many more before the Spring season is over. All my groups have been playing great and I am very proud of them all! Worship services at St. Mark's are going well too. It has been about a year since I began recording backing tracks for use during the Praise service. As of now I have 85 songs recorded, each one having 3-4 tracks. I've learned a lot about the process and have become more adventurous and creative with my arrangements & compositions. It is something that I definitely enjoy and it really helps fill out the sound of the Praise Band. And, of course, I can't forget to mention my (our) best composition to date: Elmer Maughan Perry. My son was born on January 21st, 2012 and he has been the greatest blessing God has yet given us (which are many!). He is already in love with music. He loves to listen to us sing and he's got quite a voice himself too. Now, I have to start him on an instrument. The question is, what will it be? Piano? Violin? Guitar? Flute? Trombone? I will be pleased no matter what he chooses to do with music. Happy Spring everyone! March Concerts: Swing Memories 3/3/12 (tonight) 6PM at VFW Silveridge Pops 3/5 1:30PM at Zaharis MS Mesa City Band 3/7 7PM at Sunland Village East Silveridge Pops 3/16 7PM at Greenfield Village Mesa City Band 3/28 7PM at Sunland Village Sunland Singers Chorus 3/29 7PM at Sunland Village East 
Elmer Maughan Perry
Happy New Year everyone! All my various projects began again Monday, Jan. 2nd so I've been pretty busy this week with the various groups. Anyway, have a few random thoughts that I thought I'd share: 1) A friend sent me this You Tube video last week. It's very funny, but also very clever. It is a video of the musical group Mnozil Brass being silly. I highly recommend following one of their related videos to see them doing more traditional performances--they're fantastic. However, it seems that everything they do has a touch of humor to it. 2) Today I changed the guitar strings on both of my work guitars (the ones I use all the time). It's a bit time-consuming, so I often like to listen to music or watch something on TV while I do it. So, I popped in my DVD of Giulio Cesare and watched Act II. This is definitely one of my favorite operas for many reasons. For one, it features male soprano Michael Maniaci. No, he isn't a counter-tenor; he's the closest thing we have to a living castrato. Anyway, he's got a beautiful voice and it's a fantastic aria. If you like opera at all, you should check this out. If you don't like opera, still check it out to see a man singing in fantastic ranges. 3) For the Christmas Eve service at St. Mark's I arranged a ton of Christmas carols and hymns for the praise band to sing. One that I am most pleased with was this pop-rock version of "Hark The Herald, Angels Sing". Here's just a snippet of the piece (mind you, this is just the backing track that I recorded, but it gives a good idea of what was going on). I think there was something else that I wanted to share, but I can't remember what it was now. Anyway, I think that's enough for one post anyway.
Happy New Year! It's been a great year! I'm slowly piecing together all the recordings and videos of the recital (while also spending plenty of time enjoying the holiday and all the friends and relatives that have been visiting). Here's a piece that we played at the recital that I'd like to post separately. Taylor, Tyler and I (aka the Tempe Guitar Trio) had a load of fun playing it and I've posted the score at Score Exchange. Happy New Year! The recital was a great success! Thanks to all my students for their hard work and my colleagues for joining me for an evening of fun and fine music. All the performances were great. I'll get MP3s and videos up as soon as possible on the Recital Page.
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