Shameless self promotion

Here is a link to the steel drum cds that Tropical Shores Steel Drum Band is selling.
Right now, my high school band is selling them for a fundraiser.

http://Kunaki.com/MSales.asp?PublisherId=120389&PP=1

more christmas music

I have been able to carve out a couple more Christmas arrangements including "Go tell it on the mountain", "Have yourself a merrry little Christmas", and "Winter wonderland"..so if you are interested, see the web site.

Looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving and might be able to do a video or two and maybe some more arranging.

Hoping you all have a restful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

new drum set video

Here is a video that deals with the reggae beat and some ideas for soca and calypso fills.

Feliz Navidad arrangemnt

I recently finished an arrangment of "feliz navidad"...which is geared towards younger bands. it should be able to put together easily.

this weekend i hope to do another video for teh sight... probably on improvisation and related issues.

staring to have more time to write and arrange with marching band winding down soon.

tiny bubbles

i have managed to carve out an arrangement of "tiny bubbles" that is easy to put together. write if you want a copy.

more later

light at the end

I have been swamped still in KS state fair performances, marching band writing and other stuff. But, i can see an end to it all and should be doing some more writing soon. finishing up "spin cycle" will be first up..followed by some praise song arranging.

schools in session

school started 2 days ago and i am already overwhelmed with my new teaching responsibilities, an additional 4 classes.

i was however able to get the new cd done. it is called "sounds from the islands" and is a collection of some of my personal favorites. the next project is the dvd for beginning pan players.. no really this time.

Sight updated

I recently updated the tropicalshores.net sight with the help of my son. lots of new stuff and more to come soon.

haven high school band camp this week on thursday and friday. so school starts for me this week in theory.

FHSU band camp

I am teaching at the fort hays band camp this week primarily as a steel drum clinician, but i am doing more band teaching as years go by. It's fun to work with kids from all over KS and the surrounding states and find that they are pretty much the same as my Haven kids.

The steel drum classes that i teach are learning tunes that i am composing on the spot which is a great challenge. working on one for the HS group called "spin cycle"...should come out to be a nice tune.

Milestone Reached

I shot a 95 today at a local golf course...first time i ever broke 100. I used to scoff at people that touted their golf score until i learned how hard the game is. Most of it I find, is mental...going from the zenith of making a 26 foot downhill putt to save par to the depression of triple bogeying a short par three hole can drive a person to Zowloff or Prozak. anyway, today marks a day where I can say, "Hey, i think i'm improoving."

Finished the One love arrangment and am now working on "i just called to say i love you" and would love to finish it before july 4.

Maybe a new video on monday also. Collin is being baptized on sunday and the whole family is playing a praise song at the church...maybe a rehearsal is in order, eh?

One Love

Finished a full band arrangement of Bob Marley's "one Love"...it is prbably playable for high school and solid middle school steel bands.

It has been over 100 degrees for 5 days now, limiting my golf to 6 pm or later in the evening. played everyday this week somewhere, irons improving slightly.

I am also working on a new cd for Tropical Shores steel drum band...the other is outdated and silly. better drums and players should help.

still chossing songs for it.

10 Christmas Tunes collection

Finished the "10 Christmas Songs " collection. it is a book of full steel drum band arrangments raning from easy to medium difficult arrangements.

Got a gig at Lake Eldorado Yacht Club from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Then a gig tommorrow night at a church in Moundridge.

back from boston

Had a super time in boston, visiting salem, cambridge, cape cod, and plymouth. went on some great trolley rides which were very helpful, also rode a couple of ferrys. the food and fellowship were just what the dr. ordered.

this week i would like to finish an arrangement of "jump in the line" and do another video...any ideas?

heading to boston

i will be in boston on june 4th through june 9th, just for a vacation. sadly there will be no pan playing and no golf playing. but it will be a great time with just linda and myself for a much needed vacation.

New Video Showing Improving on One love

I have posted a new video show some ideas on how to use the pentatonic scale (Bb in this case)for improvisation. The tune i selected was bob Marley's "One Love" and i hope it is easy to understand. if you have questions, please comment. some of the sound quality, esp when i am speaking, is a little hard to hear...so bear with me.

playing a gig in KC tonight...three hours, ugh. good money though and the people seem very nice, which helps.



I am also continuing to work on longer playalong tracks for anyone who is interested. it will be a while to get them done, but i will keep posting progress.

Another steel drum band in KS

My daughter, Jaimie, recently started her own steel drum band (Island Shores) in Manhattan, KS and is now playing her own gigs. It is a lot of fun to see her blossom into a young gigging musician.

Out of school now and free to work on new steel drum music but more importantly, golf.
I play a very difficult course at KSU called Colbert Hills. very beautiful course but a HUGE challenge for me. scored a 105 with a couple of mulligans thrown in.

I would like to make another video tomorrow.

passing the tourch

Played a cool gig in KC last night with my oldest daughter. she and i split lead and guitars and took a bass player and a drummer. I am trying to assist the daughter in starting her own steel drum band. i noticed that she is much more at ease talking with people at the gig, which is a sign that she is maturing.

anyway the gig went great and then we hurried home to attend my sons high school graduation the next morning.

time to sleep.

Summer goals

Today our band goes to st louis for the weekend. they gave a super concert last night (jazz, concert, and steel drum band) and will now go to competition.

my summer goals for steel drums are to record a new cd, do 10 new videos, and 15 arrangments. i also would like to compile a christmas collection of arrangements.

along with all that, i would like to start book 6 and convert some of the older stuff to a newer finale look and add drum set parts.

more after st louis

new venture for my classroom

busy with concerts, golf tournaments and all kinds of stuff lately. hardly time for music writing. did manange to finish my piece for concert band called, "Legacy".
will try to post a sample soon.

here is a project for my class room i am working on. it is from "donors choose.org"
Help Public School Kids by Funding my Registry at DonorsChoose

Big D

The Haven high steel drum band performed at the Carnival of Steel at Richland college in North Dallas...it was a great time for all. some really good high school and college bands performed and the crowd was very appreciative.

got to pick up my tenor basses from my good friends at Krum high School. kind of a Sister steel drum band to haven as we visit them from time to time.

met a few people who told me that they purchased my books and that it helped them get started playing steel drums in earnest. really does one good to meet another person face to face that you had a part in changing there music life. fun.

Big D

The Haven high steel drum band performed at the Carnival of Steel at Richland college in North Dallas...it was a great time for all. some really good high school and college bands performed and the crowd was very appreciative.

got to pick up my tenor basses from my good friends at Krum high School. kind of a Sister steel drum band to haven as we visit them from time to time.

met a few people who told me that they purchased my books and that it helped them get started playing steel drums in earnest. really does one good to meet another person face to face that you had a part in changing there music life. fun.

Carnival of Steel

I am heading to the Carnival of Steel at Richland College in Dallas.. it is a great festival to attend if you want to showcase your school steel drum band or just hear some good pan music.

The 10 members of the Haven High School Steel Drum band will perform at 2:30 pm on Saturday. We will play such favorites as: pans gone wild, kokomo, caravan, trini 2 d bone, st thomas and others.

looking forward to a great weekend.

It has begun...

The High School golf season has begun and we have finished 4 practices....friday was canceled because of a spring blizzard of, oh , about 18 inches. so far, so good on the golf...the other coach really knows his stuff and is very good about teaching me as well.

finished a couple of videos over the weekend while i was snow bound, mostly dealing with improve again. will post ASAP. remember to check for new music downloads at www.tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcentral never know what you are going to find.

speaking of finding, i am going to boston in june with my wife and would like to know more about how to see the sights there. it seems we will be staying in braintree.

I recently played a "gig bass"- an instrument of 3 drums about the size of a guitar pan. they were great and i think that i will be getting one for the hs band as soon as i can.

More free tunes up

There are free downloads at www.tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcental
Bliile Jean, Sednoa Showdown and Majesty are now available in pdf format with recordings too. If you want them, download them.

If you have any comments about other tunes to do, let me know and i will do what i can. I am also making a new video today working with how to "fill in" spots on a tune.

Happy spring.

Trini 2 d bone

Trini 2 d bone is done and will put at this address www.tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcentral

hopefully that tune and an unfinished tune called "burger boogie" will be avaiable soon.

new arrangements

I have almost finished 2 new arrangements: trini 2 d bone and burger boogie. they will be available soon in my downloads section.

lots of performances lately...trash cats, steel drum band, and family steel drum band.

played my round of golf the other day and scored a 53 (9 holes).. almost every hole was a dbl or trpl bogie. an upgrade for a slouch like me.

new arrangements

I have alomost finished 2 new arrangements: trini 2 d bone and

new arrangements

I have alomost finished 2 new arrangements: trini 2 d bone and burger boogie. they will be available soon in my downloads section.

Songs from Tropical Shores

Finally got all the Tropical Shores songs done and soon they will all be in the folder, ready to download. also now working on an arrangment of "trini 2 d bone" for a group in sedona, AZ. will post score soon.
Still working on teh "copacabana" tune but got side tracked on some other things for the school band.

hoping to shoot another video soon on a subject to be decided later.

d minor video

Finally got time to post a new video dealing with the d minor scale over the tune "reggae blues"
The download is available at tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcentral it is in the tsp folder.
You are welcome to download and try the tunes.

Got three or four more new tunes done and they are available at www.tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcentral I believe they are in the tsp folder, help yourself.

I have also added a Poll to the sight on the right hand side. Please tell me your instrument if you like...more questions later on, keep checking.

More videos

I am planning on shooting a couple of videos this weekend. I will probably do one on improving and maybe another one on a topic that someone might suggest (again, a blantant hint for help).

I have also been working on a concert band piece called "legacy" for my high school concert band. It is very time consuming but having the band play the tune and actually appear to enjoy it (although maybe they were sucking up for a good greade)...it a thrill to say the least.

Great weather the last couple of days. Golfed 9 holes today. Driving still weak, but the short game is seeing some improvement...which i believe is from hours (and I DO mean hours of watching the golf channel). still a lousy player but i am excited to play more this summer.

rags to riches

It seems that Haven High school is without a golf coach and the administration has spoken to me about serving as the coach. "Sponsor" is a better term for me as a golfer of only 6 months and very limiting experience on a golf course. I have though discovered thar our tv has the golf channel and i was not aware of it. BUT NOW...i watch it constantly and try to pick up tips. Our school also teams up with another small school to form the team and their coach is very good. Met him today.
so, maybe just "van driver" would be most appropriate for me. but it comes with a $2400 additional pay. i figure it this way...any day where a guy can teach music, steel drum, guitar, AND get paid to play golf is a good day.

on the steel drum front, i have not been able to get my busy son to put all the new tunes in the zip file...but he will soon.

My full band original piece called "legacy" is mostly done, but needs many proofing and such. The hs band will have their first of many readings of the piece tommorrow.

more tunes

There are now about 5 new tunes on the TSP zip file. mango mambo, party of 7, reggae blues,
island on my mind, and early at the market. hopefully they are available for download. if you have questions let me know. this is address for the downloads
http://tropicalshores.net/downloads/steeldrumcentral/
i plan to have all ten done by next weekend.

No school on monday, BUT i have to do an inservice. i would much rather just teach school becuase the inservices rarely have anything to do with music...

ALMOST warm enough for golf today, but maybe wednesday....(65 degress?)

back into it

Back into school now (2nd week)..Seems like this time of year moves particularly quick for me with a lot of differnet projects coming due... trying to start kids on solos and ensembles. Lots of composing and rerecording also. right now I am redoing a book called "songs from tropical shores" which has 10 original tunes on it. however, like the other book i recently redid, it is not currently avaiable in "play along version" where the melody is deleted on the second track.

Soo, i am working on those. they will be available as i get them finished at tropicalshores.net/downloads . the songs will be in a zip file called "TSP" and i will add them as i get them done and as my son can put them in the file for me. 3 are currently done.

i am also working on a full steel drum band arrangement of "copacabana" since it iseems to work well for steel drums.

I will start on a video next week after i consider what topic to discuss.. several viewers have commented that the videos are very helpful so i will keep them coming when i can.

pans on ice

We are performing for a Wichita Thunder hockey game tonight, it is the first gig of the year. apparently we are performing in honor of the mascot's birthday, which will have a tropical night theme.

I am working on a play along to "Shaker song" by spyro gyra circa 1980. it is a great little tune that i have known for years. kind of a challenge to play up to tempo but it should be fun...wwill post the downloadable file when i get done.

also still working on a collection of classical pan solos for people to play. like pan and piano for instance. got 3 done. jaimie is helping me write some.

gotta go for now...break a puck?

comments?