Session Drummer | Studio Drummer | Touring and Worship Drummer for Hire | Dale Baker | Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, NC

My Sunday

I played at the Chapel Hill Bible Church this morning and really enjoyed the worship time in both of the services. 

This afternoon I played at Emmaus Way and enjoyed taking part in The Gossman Passion.  The piece really came together as we performed it and it was powerful sitting in front of the choir of folks from the Newman Center at UNC.

I wish other folks could experience The Gossman Passion.  I'd love to see it go on the road, and I'd love to tour with it - maybe go up to DC, Richmond, and Cincinnati and overseas would be fun too!

In other news, I have about a month or so to go before I run my first marathon.  If you have any tips or advice for a first time marathoner, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Just drop me an email or leave me a comment below...

And coming up, it looks like I'll be busy with a some sessions in the coming weeks.  I'm working with Jamie McFarlane next weekend, and it looks like I'll be doing some work with Mike Garrigan, Mark Williams and Wade Baynham for projects they are individually producing.  I can't wait!

I'm also looking at working on a solo project over the summer and am gearing up for that.  Sorting and sifting through ideas and getting my gear prepared (read:  recording software to be purchased soon!) and trying to carve out some time here and there.  We'll see how it goes.  But I'm excited to get started and begin collaborating and creating!

Typepad and Montessori

Last weekend, I attended a Montessori conference up in DC and also took part in a conference call from TypePad.  It was a stellar few days I must say.  The only bummer, was limited web access.  Ugh!  Why must hotels make you pay for Internet service?  I wish the net was free!  I was hoping to get caught up on blogging posts, and write out my day to day experience's at the conference.  But alas, 'twas not to be.

The key note speaker for the conference was Jane Goodall and she was inspirational, but frankly I was able to take away more useable information from a session on Anger Management by William Stixrud and one on "The Courage to Teach."  I also was able to meet Frank Leto and attended one of his sessions.  We've used Frank's music in our class the last few years, and I've been impressed with the integrity of the music he creates for children.   It was exciting to finally meet and talk with him about teaching music and to get his thoughts about continuing my education as a Montessori teacher and musician.

The Gossman Passion

I'm listening to Mike Garrigan's CD that he did a few years ago, The Gossman Passion.  It's basically a musical setting of the Passion of Christ (not the Mel Gibson movie, mind you).  As best as I can tell, it's the liturgy of the Passion (more or less) set to a contemporary beat.  It's sort of like hearing the bible set to music.

Anyway, the reason I'm listening to it is I have a rehearsal later tonight, with Mike and a few other folks in preparation of our performance of this work tomorrow afternoon at Emmaus Way, in Downtown Durham.  I'm pretty excited, not only to play with Mike and Wade (and some folks I've never met before), but to be a part of this unique setting of the gospel. This is a pretty cool setting of Christ's passion. 

Check out the website for The Gossman Passion here.

And I thought Charlie Peacock was Intimidating

I remember taking the photos for the coffee table book that accompanied the release of City on a Hill (on which I also played drums and percussion), and being at Charlie Peacock's house in Nashville, taking a photo of him, and being really nervous.  He seemed ready to pounce on me and tear me into pieces, though I'm not sure why.  Reading the following piece and watching the video below brought back the memories for me...(thanks Kottke.org)

Summer Camp Options for Musicians

After receiving an email from Chuck Silverman about his programs for 2008, I started wondering about other programs that I might be interested in, and so I've compiled a few that I've found here.  I hope to attend one or more of these programs in the future as a way to continue to learn and develop as a drummer/ musician and to further improve my skills as a teacher.

Of course there is always the Drummer's Collective in NYC, which has ongoing programs throughout the year.  But as far as specific summer programs go, I found the following:

Musicians Institute hosts their Summer Shot 2008 from June 23rd through June 28th.  From their website:

"Summer Shot is a six-day crash course in technique, musicianship, music technology, style, and performance*. If you're an intermediate-level player** looking for a chance to experience MI's famous hands-on, all-music environment, Summer Shot is for you."

Then there is Berklee's 5 Week Summer Program from July 12 through August 15.  They say:

At the Five-Week Summer Performance Program, you will be immersed in all aspects of performance. Your classes, workshops, and rehearsals will focus on this important side of your musicianship. You will play in ensembles, develop improvisational and reading skills, improve your technique in weekly private lessons, and enjoy lectures/demonstrations by well-known faculty and visiting artists.

And though it might take some searching to find specific contact info for the program, University of North Texas Summer Programs offers a page detailing all the specific offerings in their Music Department.

Lent Project

My friend Wade asked me to contribute a picture to the lent project that Emmaus Way is doing.  They are collecting photos from the people in their community of images representing Lent. 

After Wade asked me for a contribution, I struggled to figure out what to submit.  At some point I heard my wife discussing this season with someone on the phone, and it made me realize that Lent can be a dark time, a time of wandering and not knowing, of hoping and seeking.  The connection between the dark winter months and Lent was not something I had thought about prior to hearing my wife mention something along those lines on the phone. 

So with that in mind, I found a photo I took of one of my kids through the lens of a Mamiya Twin Lens Camera, using my Canon wide angle point and shoot.  Julia is helping collect the photos and and is printing them off for Emmaus Way, so I sent it to her with the following rambling description:

"It's roughly a picture through my twin lens camera with my digital camera of Sophia (but it might be Isaac)...so in theory...Lent for me is like looking through a dark lens...and you're not sure what you see on the other side...you hope that it is joy or wisdom or something good, but I can never be sure...(pessimist that I am...)...so in this picture I'm not entirely sure if that is a happy girl on the other side, or some sort of scary apparition, or what...it could be anything...but since I took the photo, I know that it is my little girl Sophia (wisdom) and knowing that, adds an element of hope to the picture and to my view of Lent..."

Under Pressure...

Wow.  This is a powerful little movie about debt and credit cards.