It’s Been a While…
…since my last blog post! Just about a year and a half, in fact! A lot has happened over that time. The Dunedin Music Society has dissolved, and with it, the Dunedin Concert Band. The unfortunate scenario gave rise to two new ensembles that I want to talk about in this post! I’ll also discuss other projects I have been thinking about over that time.
First, though, we need to talk about these new ensembles. The new ensemble I’m participating in is called the Pinellas Wind Symphony, of which I am the percussion section leader! I’m not unfamiliar with the role, as I have done the same or similar roles in the past, but this will be the first time I’ll be holding that role in a brand new ensemble, so there’s a different learning curve with it. I’m excited to be a big part of this new ensemble!
During the dissolution of the DMS, it was up in the air whether a new ensemble would arise out of it. So the percussion section, which consisted of Alex, Kerry, and me, got together for dinner one night to talk about plans. One of the ideas we floated out there was to just make our own ensemble. We were in a fortunate position where we had our own marimba, vibraphone, bells, and assorted drums and accessory instruments, so we decided to move forward with the new ensemble. And thus, the Coastline Percussion was born. We had our debut performance during the SPC Percussion Ensemble performance, and you can view the two pieces we did here and here!
As far as future projects go, I have been super, super busy with work, school, and ensembles, so I barely have had time for myself or for this website. After some serious consideration, I have decided to put my education on hold to focus on myself and the projects that will bring my content to the next level. That being said, project #1 is to have an official launch of the website! I have a few things launched already, being a temporary home page, a public performances page, and this blog site you are on now! Once the website is fully launched, it will consists of all aspects of what I do, including a portfolio, services I provide, an About page, and my YouTube pages, to list a few. Yes, I did say YouTube pages, plural. While music is the main thing I do here, I cannot deny my love for video games, so I’ll be featuring some projects from there as well. It’s been a long while since a new video, but if you’re interested, you can check out the gaming channel here and the music channel here.
Project #2 is to have *a* composition under my belt by the end of the year. I’m thinking of composing a marimba solo, but as my experience with composition is rather limited, it’ll take me some time to get my groove on that. I have my own marimba now (a big, huge, special thank you to my buddy Alex for working with me on that!!!!), so that should make the process more convenient for me.
Project #3 is to have a larger presence on YouTube! I mentioned the channels a bit ago, so I’ll be dipping my toes back into the video editing pool. I have a couple of videos that are (slowly…for now) in the works to get myself resituated with the software I use, but I hope to expand that out soon and get that going in full swing!
While I have ideas for further projects, I need to leave it at these for now, as these are the most tangible projects I can currently work towards. It’s all gonna take time to get going, but I do aim to make significant progress on, if not outright finish these projects by the end of the year, and I couldn’t be more excited on what the future has in store for me! If you read this far, thank you. I’ll catch you another time!
~Kyle Collins
