Monday, November 8, 2010

Fall

To begin, some snapshots from summer (click to enlarge)

Matt, Brian, and I trekked down to San Diego Count for a weekend of hikes and baseball.

Matt, put those guns away.
Brian was a leopard in his past life.
Temecula county below us.


Eating while riding on a bike-taxi ain't that easy.

                                            

Sunny San Diego, as seen from Petco Park

I'm Shrek, duh.


I feel like a trombone super hero.


In a Cave, Big Corona, Ca.



On to Fall.

DWF ahoy!

Tractor silhouette, deep in the heart of Texas.

Walking down to the horse ranch near my house.

Sir Eric Daino, newcomber, rocker.
His new band is sure to excite the ears.

Parcheesi! Tina had the come-back win of the century!

We ventured to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, home to one of the largest Japanese gardens in the country.
I could have swore I was dreaming, this place is enchanting.
This bird taught me a great hunting lesson as we watched him stalk, attack, and devour his prey... poor baby Koi.

:)
"The Flying Wizard! Your Balls Will Fly!"
says the golf tee that held my brat together at the Flying Saucer.
This colonial bar in downtown Fort Worth houses nothing but German food and fine imported German beer.
Mit Vergnügen!
The stunning Bass Hall, home to the Fort Worth Symphony.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Back in the Saddle Again

Hey y'all,

Well, after a fantastic summer with Pacific Crest, family, friends, and my butterfly Tina I am back in Texas.
The mid-months sure flew by! The next post will be about my summer, complete with photos.

 I have room mates! Dan, a junior music education major plays trumpet, enjoys video games, and has an awesome cat! Eric, a first masters student is here to study musicology. He composes music and wants to start a progressive rock band here.

I had my ensemble audition today, unfortunately I am not satisfied with how I played. Hopefully the panel disagrees.

Thats all for now, more posts about summer and this fall semester coming soon.
~shaners

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

quickee

hey y'all,

thank you to those who watched the UNT Symphonic Band concert live online.
My mom said that at one point the stream froze for a few minutes while the camera was focused on me...
divine providence? probably not... ;)

My musical ability has been gaining momentum this semester; Vern Kagarice seems to have found a way to connect with me that has jump-started my ability. In a lesson he cracked a remark that, "There are two kinds of people in this world; the kind that want to know why their car won't work, and the kind that don't even know how to open the hood." In context he means that the issues I have on trombone are formed because I want to know whats wrong and fix the problem consciously and physically, instead of just allowing my inner ear to do the work. For you non-musicians, it's the difference between analyzing everything yourself, or letting the mechanic take care of it. More on this subject in a future post. 

As a UNT student, I am learning a few things about commitment, passion, and actively realizing my goals.
I am not going to preach to anyone about how to grow personally, but I think it's appropriate to acknowledge growth when it's happening. As many of you parents may know, you can not really teach anyone to balance on a bicycle, but you sure can cheer when a kid figures it out!

Thats all for now.
Soon I will be posting about a genre of music that has a really bad rap...(not 50 cent).
Folk music has been stereotyped to hicks and cowboys, but most people do not realize what bluegrass, country, and other folk styles have to offer.

happy wednesday,
~shane

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Live from Denton, It's Symphonic Band!!!!!!!!

hey friends, the UNT Symphonic Band will be broadcast live on the world wide web.


All times are Pacific S.T.

Tuesday, February 9th - 5:30 pm
Thursday, April 1st - 5:30 pm
Thursday, April 29th - 5:30 pm



Notice the first show is coming up quick! 
Future blogisodes include: 
- Bluegrass, not just your grandpa's fiddle... 
- Vision Questing, education at its finest? 

thanks for tuning in,
~shaners

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Haiti

I have never been so saddened by anything in my lifetime.
The count of dead bodies as a result from the natural disaster in Haiti has surpassed 200,000!
Let me repeat myself, a single earthquake and numerous after shocks has left over two-hundred thousand (and counting) humans dead within the region of one major city.

3 Million people do not have access to food or water.
300,000 people have been left homeless.
Tens of thousands of children are now orphans, and even more parents are childless.
Tens of thousands of people need urgent medical care or they will die from injury or infection. 
The streets of the city resemble fear and anarchy.
The country's government has been destroyed.


Haitians racing to a medical supply helicopter. 

Negligence: failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstance.

Lets look past Haiti for a moment, are there not numerous national or world-wide events that we choose to neglect on a personal level? I suppose that I am using Haiti as a jumping off point because it is the most recent and urgent. Regardless, there has to be something that hits close to home to spark some morality beyond our everyday nonsense we involve ourselves with (like this blog).

I do not post this to hassle you, my friends and family. I post because I know that encouragement and hope is something that we are capable of giving. So I encourage you and myself to find something you care about, and take steps toward doing the right thing.


(caution! some photographs contain severely graphic content)