Featured Composition: Expansive Horizons for Solo Marimba by Daniel Temkin

Expansive Horizons for solo marimba is a virtuosic work from Daniel Temkin. The title comes from the images of nature--"brazen, jagged cliffs, to smooth, flowing rivers"--depicted throughout the work. The eight-minute fantasy begins with an established motive that is then transformed throughout the solo against many changing textures. The vast natural world is palpable in the work's many sections, including: "Cascading gently," "Soaring," and "Allegro meteorico."

Expansive Horizons was featured (in arrangement) in DCI and WGI competitions as part of Music City Mystique's 2010 show.

To hear an audio sample of this challenging work or visit Dan's personal website, click HERE.

Featured Book: "Down to the Wire" - A Contemporary Approach to the Concert Cimbalom by Richard Grimes


Down to the Wire, by composer and concert cimbalist Richard Grimes, continues the 19th-century tradition of the Hungarian cimbalom methods Cimbalom-Iskola and Cymbalschule and brings the cimbalom into the 21st century. Richard uses Western classical percussion techniques, in addition to traditional Hungarian cimbalom technique, to address issues of consistency and articulation. The result is a beautiful, full tone with less technical effort.

Down to the Wire is both a collection of 24 cimbalom etudes and a technical method addressing tuning, body position, hammer grip, articulation of tone, body of sound, soundboard coverage, and extended techniques. This comprehensive book covers everything in regards to technique that one needs to play cimbalom. As the repertoire for and necessitating cimbalom continues to expand, Richard's book Down to the Wire is a necessary and revolutionary addition to the world of the contemporary cimbalom. To get Down to the Wire, click HERE.

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Richard Grimes is also the artistic director of CimbFest: The American Concert Cimbalom Festival, the first American, all-cimbalom festival, which began in 2009. To find out more about CimbFest, click HERE. Also, contact Richard at richardgrimes@earthlink.net for more cimbalom information!

Featured Media: (CD) Hat Trick by The Rich Greenblatt Group

Hat Trick (2008) is the most recent album from the Boston-based Rich Greenblatt Group (vibes, saxophone, piano, bass, drums). All 9 tracks are original compositions by bandleader/ vibraphonist/composer Rich Greenblatt that mix funk, odd-meters, and South American and blues influences with modern jazz and swing. Whether you are familiar with earlier Rich Greenblatt releases Hot & Dry and Mooin' or are new to Rich and his band, Hat Trick is a great jazz album for you. To hear audio samples, click HERE; to buy the album, click HERE.

Featured Composer/Arranger: Doug Wallace

Doug Wallace is a versatile percussion soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Washington National Opera, at the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara, CA) and the Tanglewood Music Festival (Lennox, MA), and with a number of contemporary chamber ensembles (among others). Doug also has an extensive teaching resume. He runs the percussion programs at Madison High School, Thoreau Middle School, Kilmer Middle School, McLean High School, Longfellow Middle School (all in Virginia) and the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.

Doug's compositions have been performed all over: The Juilliard School, The Eastman School of Music, New York University, George Mason University, The Music Academy of the West, The Aspen Music Festival, Temple University, and at The Bands of America National Percussion Festival.

Check out Doug's great percussion ensemble arrangement of Frank Zappa's classic G-Spot Tornado for 8 players (drum set and either seven percussionists or six and electric bass). G-Spot Tornado, a virtuosic arrangement that encapsulates everything "Zappa," was the Bachovich Composition of the Month for June 2009 (see the feature HERE). For audio samples, click HERE.

Have a great summer, Doug. Keep up the good work!

Highlights (June)

~Bachovich Works in Italian Competition!:

Antonio Santangelo's International Competition for Percussion Instruments and Drumset will use the following Bachovich works as required pieces for their competition in September 2010:

-Snare Drum: 2008 PAS MassChap Snare Drum Collection (compiled by Samuel Solomon)
-Marimba: Fear of Silence (Joel Harrison)
-Vibraphone: Monte Nido (Richard Grimes)

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~Audio Music:

Check out Tom Hamilton's most recent release:

Pieces for Kohn / Formal & Informal Music
2-CD reissue of analog electronic music from the 1970s
featuring performances by Rich O'Donnell and JD Parran


For more info, click HERE.

Additionally, read Tom Hamilton's opinions on audio music (as answers to questions from writer Kurt Gottschalk) at the blog Spearmint Music.

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~Drumset and Percussion Camp with Bachovich Media Artist Wes Crawford:

Wes Crawford announces his 2010 Drumset and Percussion Camp:

Our camp runs from JULY 11-24, 2010 and is open to all drummers/percussionists ages 13-18 with at least one year of experience with school band and/or private lessons. The camp is held at Goucher College in Towson, MD and room and board are provided (or you may commute). The camp is part of the Goucher Summer Arts Institute, which includes concurrent interacting camps for Jazz, Computer Music, Dance, and Musical Theatre! I hope that many of you will consider this camp for a fun intensive experience in drumming! We have an incredible lineup of Faculty this year!

In addition to camp director Wes Crawford, the camp faculty features Bachovich President Andrew Beall. For more information about the camp, click HERE.

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~PAS Winner/Previously Published Work now with Bachovich:

Bachovich Music is proud to announce the publication of Soliloquy for solo vibraphone by Larry Spivack. This four-minute work won 2nd place in the 1980 PAS Composition Competition. It was published by the Lang Percussion Company in 1981 but has been out-of-print for many years. Larry Spivack recently revised the piece for the 2010 Edition in the Composer's Manuscript. Click HERE to watch video of Soliloquy.

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~Other New Bachovich Compositions:

-Perception Piece for multi-percussion duo by Jared Soldiviero

-Four for Flexatones for four flexatones (video) by Ju Ri Seo

-2010 MassChap Xylophone Collection compiled by Samuel Solomon

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~We've Gone Global:

Bachovich continues to expand, with sales in Lithuania, Costa Rica, Japan, France, Belgium, Poland, England, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Hungary.