Laurel Black Music

As we gear up for fall and the concert season ahead, whether as a student, professor, or touring artist, it's a good time to reflect on our technical habits.  For those that took time off over the summer, there's the process of re-integrating hours of practice. For those that are preparing entire new programs (ehhem...yours truly), there's the challenge of not rushing through the learning process, mentally and physically.  Throughout my time writing the Marimba Body series, folks have approached me with different questions of "do you have anything about ___?"  Coming up a few times is the issue of elbow pain - what it is, how we get it, and how to heal and then prevent it.  Here's what I've learned, experienced, and found. Three Common Pain Areas Most commonly, percussionists experience elbow pain: - on the outside of the elbow (lateral epicondylitis, aka: tennis elbow) - on the inside of the elbow (medial epicondylitis, aka: golfer's elb...

Coming across a Facebook conversation about a child who was labeled as so sensitive to criticism that he was assigned to a special class, I found myself inspired to share one of the books nearest and dearest to my heart: The Highly Sensitive Person , by Dr. Elaine Aron, Ph.D. "How to thrive when the world overwhelms you" mmm, yes I found this book years ago, and immediately knew it was for me. Even the cover of this edition suits a sensitive person, with mild contrasts and just enough darkness to make sure you can read what's on the cover. Lovely There's all kinds of info in this book, from a self test, to discussion on therapy options, to discussion on how to be proud of this trait, not ashamed by it. What does it mean to be highly sensitive? An HSP observes before acting, notices more about any situation (artistic, natural, social, etc.) than others, and is therefore more easily overwhelmed than his or her peers. In the Author's Note for her ...

As collaborative piano takes up nearly 50% of my music-making during the academic year, I've started to keep lists...looooong lists... of everything I learn each semester. It's mostly so I can feel a sense of accomplishment, but it's also smart to keep a running rep list, no matter what it's for. If you're not already keeping track of rep you learn - for whatever instrumentation - I'd go ahead and start! Performed in Recital Flute Chaminade, Concertino Clarke,  Hypnosis Mouquet,  Pan et les Oiseaux Ganne, Andante and Scherzo Bohm, Fantasy, Op. 21 Schumann,  Three Romances Griffes,  Poem Reinecke, Ballade Clarinet Cahuzac, Cantilene Hindemith, Sonate Rabud, Solo de Concours Saint-Saëns, Sonata Bassi, Fantasia from I puritani Weber, Concertino in E-flat Major, Op. 26 Violin Bartok, Romanian Folk Dances Khachaturian, Concerto , II.  Percussion Sejourne, Concerto for Marimba and Strings Rosauro, Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra Gre...

Though it may seem that this post is about testing you on your professional music acronyms, I promise that's not the case.  Laurel's been a busy bee since school let out in early May. New Music Gathering 2017 New Music Gathering (NMG) is a pretty cool 3-day conference for anyone who participates in new music.  From May 11-13 we all gathered at Bowling Green State University to talk about, listen to, and dream about new projects together.  You can view this year's lecture, presentation, panel, and recital schedule here .  It was really cool - and not just because Steven Schick was the keynote speaker and featured guest artist.  L+M Duo performed during a concert on Saturday afternoon called Grab Bag of Awesome, featuring us as well as other chamber groups performing all kinds of music.  We played our first-ever commission, Magicicicada , by Pennsylvania-based composer Rusty Banks .  Though Marianne met Rusty before (actually at NMG 2016...

 Woohoo, y'all!! On behalf of the Percussive Arts Society, I am pleased to invite you to participate in the 42 annual Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC® 2017) in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year, PASIC® will take place Wednesday, November 8 through Saturday, November 11 at the Indiana Convention Center. Your Professional Development proposal, “ PercussionMind: The Mental Performance Habits of Today's Top Percussionists...and Where You Fit In ,” has been accepted to be presented at PASIC17! I am beyond excited that a current passion project, PercussionMind, will be revealed this year at PASIC.  If you want a quick summary of what it is, and learn about my collaborator, Mike Cerreto, check out the tab in the menu bar above. :) PercussionMind is inspired by that long thought-journey taken as a young adult as you wonder what, exactly, suits you best in the professional music realm.  Here's a jaunt through my personal story: In early undergrad, ...

Thumbs. Without them who knows how we'd play our instruments. Interest in the relationship between the hand, wrist, and thumb began a few years ago when I took piano lessons to refine my technique. (As similar as piano and percussion are in theory , there's much less crossover than I mistakenly thought and hoped.)   Anyway, something my mentor said was when the thumb isn't being used it should relax towards the rest of the hand and fingers.  Sure, may sound obvious, but in the throes of playing - piano or percussion - it's easy to forget little things like this.  Brain: Play a broken 13 over 7, across 6 surfaces...crescendo...oh, right. THUMB. End Scene Thumbs that are mis-mapped, working more than they should, or working when they don't need to contribute to funny aches, pains, and numbness that can get mistaken for carpal tunnel.   Just like all other subjects in the Marimba Body series, how we relate to the structure and movement desi...