March 2020 College News

1 Te Blue Sine Quartet performing at the Victoria Performing Arts Center 2 Edgar Blandon, marching band tech at Akins High School in Austin 3 Kaylee Williams, featured twirler for the Bobcat Marching Band 12 | March | College News MUSIC Music, Music Studies, Per formance, & Sound Recording Technolog y FACULTY ACCOLADES Dr. Martin McCain served on the competition jury for the 2020 International Trombone Association’s George Roberts Bass Trombone Solo Competition preliminary round. McCain led masterclasses in Rochester, NY at the Eastman School of Music and ROCmusic Collaborative February 13-14 and hosted Boston University trombone professor, Don Lucas who presented a masterclass at Texas State on February 10. Dr. Todd Oxford was an adjudicator for Klein ISD Solo and Ensemble Competition in Klein, Texas. Dr. Oxford was a soloist for the Society of Composer’s, Inc. National Conference at the University of the Incarnate Word and the Texas State University Round Rock Campus Arts and Lecture Series and was a fnalist for Te American Prize – Professional Instrumental Soloists Division in Danbury, Connecticut. He was also recently hired to perform the national anthem for the Round Rock Express Baseball in Summer 2020 at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. Dr. Oxford is a nominee forthe college level Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities. And lastly, Dr. Oxford has his 2020 Awarded Lifetime Biography included in Strathmore’s Who’s Who: Global Network for Outstanding Professionals in Farmingdale, New York. Historically Strathmore’s Who’s Who publishes an annual two-thousand-page biographical registry, honoring successful individuals in the felds of Business, the Arts and Sciences, Law, Engineering and Government. STUDENT ACCOLADES Kolten Bippert has been hired to teach studio saxophone at Bastrop High School. Te Blue Sine Quartet ( Edgar Blandon , Abel Jaimes , Josh Schurtz , Ryan Harris ) performed for over 400 students at Victoria Performing Arts Center. [ 1 ] Edgar Blandon has been hired as marching band tech at Akins High School in Austin. [ 2 ] Rachel Brown has been hired as marching band tech at Round Rock High School. Erik Gamez has been hired to teach studio saxophone at Akins High School in Austin. Lauren Gordon was accepted for study this summer at the Université Européenne de Saxophone in Gap, France. Te Texas State Jazz Ensemble performed at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival. Te students were able to have a clinic with Diego Rivera, Michigan State University’s jazz saxophone professor. Te ensemble's performance scored a 137 out of a possible 140 from the judge’s panel. Students Dayne Reliford , Abel Alaniz , Isaac Pulido , Daniel Kerwood , Brian Golden , Roberto Aponte , and Hunter Moftt all received Outstanding Soloist Awards. Following the festival, the School of Music received this congratulatory comment from Larry Dwyer, the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Notre Dame: “Your band was truly one of the best I have ever heard at the Collegiate Jazz Festival. In the early years when CJF was competitive, your group would have been right up there with Indiana, Illinois, North Texas, and some of the other groups which typically won the “best big band” award. If such awards were still given, Texas State would have won.” Jenna Quiroz is a recipient of the School of Music’s Excellence in Graduate Studies Award for 2019-2020. John Vinzant is a recipient of the School of Music’s Outstanding Graduate Student for 2019-2020. Mr. Vinzant ranked third among all candidates in the College of Fine Arts and Communication. Kaylee Williams , a twirler for the Bobcat Marching Band, was recently featured in a Texas State Newsroom article. She performed for residents in the Atria Copeland assisted-living facility in Tyler. Since residents of the facility are elderly and therefore more at-risk from the spread of Coronavirus, she donned her uniform and kept a safe distance, performing outside on the lawn of the facility where residents could watch from their windows. “Being a Bobcat to me is turning any situation into something to impact others. My position in the Bobcat Marching Band is to bring joy and create an experience for people. I think it is important for students to use their abilities during this time to show people what Texas State strives for,” said Williams. [ 3] YOUTUBE COLLABORATION Dr. Martin McCain was recently a member of a collaboration that consisted of 46 other trombonists and a violinist on Christopher Bill’s arrangement of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. Te collaboration took place at the 2019 International Trombone Festival and can be viewed on YouTube. Christopher Bill's YouTube Channel of all-trombone arrangements of popular songs have gained popularity since the spring of 2014 when a cover of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” where he uses a looping station to compose the song on the spot went viral. His videos have since amassed over 45 million views. College of Fine Arts and Communication | 13