CD Cover Art
January 25, 2010 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
Just noticed today that the cover jacket for Christian Lindberg’s new CD, The Baroque Trombone, released last September, uses one of the images included in the Trombone History Timeline. The image, shown below, was added to the 17th century timeline in October 2008. I came across the painting for the first time while tracking down another painting by the same artist, Lionello Spada; that painting is also shown below. I think they’re two of the most beautiful depictions of the early trombone in visual art.
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1615—Reggio Emilia, Italy: Lionello Spada’s fresco in the cupola of the Chiesa della Ghiara includes depictions of numerous angel-musicians, including an angel playing trombone (see facing image; public domain) (Quintavelle, plate 81; Monducci 130).
c. 1610—Rome, Italy: Lionello Spada’s painting, Concert, which shows a group of musicians presumably preparing for a performance, includes a clear depiction of a musician removing the outer slide of a trombone (see below image; public domain) (Egan; Monducci 81).
Peace and Calm: New Compilation CD
January 7, 2010 by wkimball · 2 Comments
Gabriel Faure’s “Pie Jesu,” arranged for alto trombone and organ, originally recorded for my solo CD, Collage, is now featured on a compilation CD by Tantara Records titled Escape to a Place of Peace and Calm. I don’t have the CD available on this site yet, but it can be purchased directly from Tantara here. It features a nice variety of really beautiful music. It’s good to be a part of it!
Google Analytics Update: 2,000 plus visits!
December 1, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
I mentioned a month ago that at the end of every month I get a website report from Google called “Google Analytics.” The report details all sorts of things, including how many visits the site had that month, which pages are getting viewed most, which countries people are visiting from, which keywords people are using to find the site, how long people are staying on the site, etc.
I also mentioned that number of visits has been increasing pretty steadily since the site’s inception and that October’s total was sneaking up on 2,000. Well, looks like November was the breakthrough month at 2,393 visits!
Number of visits from each of the last 6 months: 764, 1091, 1149, 1482, 1982, 2393.
Most frequent countries to access site in November (out of a total of 85 countries that visited): US, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Spain.
Google Analytics tidbits: sneaking up on 2,000
November 3, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
At the end of every month I get a website report from Google called “Google Analytics.” It details all sorts of things, including how many visits the site had that month, which pages are getting viewed most, which countries people are visiting from, which keywords people are using to find the site, how long people are staying on the site, etc. I’m always intrigued, in my own nerdy little way. Number of visits has been increasing pretty steadily since the site’s inception; October’s total was 1,982—sneaking up on 2,000!
Here are a few interesting tidbits:
•Number of visits from each of the last 5 months: 764, 1091, 1149, 1482, 1982.
•Most popular pages: home page, trombone timeline, alto trombone, blog (trombone history category), blog (general).
•Most common keywords people use to find the site: alto trombone, trombone history, will kimball trombone, will kimball, trombone history timeline.
•Traffic sources: search engines (64%), referring sites (28%), direct traffic (8%).
•Most frequent countries to access the site: US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany.
•Other countries to access site (most visits to least): Spain, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Brazil, France, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Philippines, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Indonesia, Portugal, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Ireland, Taiwan, Austria, Finland, China, and many more (78 countries total).
•Percentage new visits: 72.7
•Average time on site: 3:15
College Professor Among Best Jobs in America
October 28, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
I was a little surprised to see College Professor listed as #3 in Money Magazine’s “50 Best Jobs in America” (Nov 2009). I love my job, but I have never really seen it as one of those high-paying or “trendy” careers that often fill these kinds of lists. The rankings are based on several criteria, including pay, job growth, and quality of life. Here’s a link to an online version of the article.
Note from Adam Woolf, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
October 19, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
I got a nice note about the site from Adam Woolf, alto and tenor sackbut player in His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts and a number of other prominent early music ensembles. He is currently working on a sackbut tutor, the first of its kind. Please check out his excellent website–many sound clips of beautiful sackbut playing!
Big Brass Brain
September 21, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
On October 24th I’ll be premiering a work at the Bowling Green New Music Festival with trombonist Bill Mathis. The piece, by BYU composer Steven Ricks, is called “Force of the Mind,” and is written for 2 trombones and electronics. Yet another element of collaboration in the piece involves a sculpture, shown below, by BYU art professor Brian Christensen. The sculpture (which actually contains parts of a trombone from a studio “trombone toss” of several years ago) will be placed center-stage during the performance. It will contain speakers projecting the electronic sounds, as well as a separate click-track generator that we will plug headphones into, giving the appearance of our being plugged into a big, brass brain. Should be pretty exciting. Just gotta figure out how to get the thing on the plane!
Notes from the Netherlands and St. Louis
September 16, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
I received a very kind note from Hans Mons of the Netherlands, whose website on the dulcian, a predecessor of the bassoon, is extremely informative (see, especially, the section on iconography).
I also received a nice note from Jonathan Reycraft, trombonist in the Saint Louis Symphony. He points out an excellent timeline of the US Naval Academy Band. Lots of great photos!
Barlow Prize announced: new concerto to be premiered by Joseph Alessi
September 13, 2009 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University has announced Benjamin Ellin as winner of the 2009 Barlow Prize, which includes a $20,000 cash prize and a commission to compose a new concerto for trombone and orchestra. The concerto will be premiered by Joseph Alessi with the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011.
British composer Benjamin Ellin’s recent projects include Tafahum, a concerto for ney and orchestra; a major viola work for Rivka Golani; a harp concerto; and the opera Welcome to Deen. His website can be found here. The official Barlow announcement can be found here.