Doug Spata's Olympic Dream

The Olympics begin this week and it's always an exciting time for the world. I love watching the opening and closing ceremonies and the Parade of Nations, though I don't have a specific sport that I follow. The first Olympics I was aware of was the 1984 games in Los Angeles and I remember that for a long time all anyone could talk about was the U.S. gymnastics team.

TV coverage does a good job of highlighting the dramatic stories that drive the competitors and led the athletes to the games. They all have that "Olympic dream," to achieve at the highest level in front of the whole world.

Even though I'm not an athlete, I have an Olympic dream of my own: it would be an epic thrill to hear one of my compositions used in during Olympic competition. I'm not talking about the opening and closing ceremonies – that's way too much to ask. But it would be amazing to hear one of my pieces accompany a gymnastics floor exercise, a synchronized swimming routine, or, at the Winter Olympics, figure skating or ice dancing.

As a kid, I especially enjoyed hearing the music used in the gymnastic competitions because it's so full of color, energy, and emotion. I think some of my pieces would be suitable. Need something with a dark energy? Try Avatar, Elementals, or Storm Trail. Something more rhythmic and angular? There's Agincourt. Need a bright explosion of sound? Quicksilver or Star of Valor. For something more lyrical, have a listen to A Hero's Welcome. And if you need something fun and sassy, I recommend Violet's Tango, Samba Del Sol, Lemon Twist, or Mambo Incognito. Of course, Gauntlet is good for any occasion.

Professional recordings of all these and more are available at alfred-music.com.

So if you're an Olympic-level gymnast, synchronized swimmer, figure skater, or ice dancer... you're probably training really hard and don't have time for music classes, so you've never heard of me. But if you're someone who knows an Olympic-level athlete, maybe suggest one of my pieces and help make my dream come true!

 

Gargoyles Tutorial Videos

Another great teacher has posted tutorial videos on You Tube!  She goes by the name QuietMusic, and I'm not sure where she's from, but please to enjoy and play along with her videos for Gargoyles:

Violin I

Violin II

Viola

'Cello

Bass

Nice job!  These are great - thank you for posting them, anonymous teacher! I hope your administrators, students, and their parents appreciate your dedication.

You can find more tutorial videos for North Pole Workshop and Lemon Twist here.

 

Lemon Twist Tutorials

I was on YouTube recently and came across these great play-along tutorial videos for Lemon Twist. There's not a lot of info about who this wonderful teacher is, but she's providing these videos for her students in the Middletown Middle School Orchestra.

Violin I

Violin II

Viola

'Cello

Sorry, Bass players, looks like you're on your own because there's no Bass video in this series.  But anyway, great job to this wonderful orchestra teacher for her dedication to her students.  I hope the orchestra, their parents, and your administrators appreciate all your efforts!

 

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 2)

As I mentioned in Part 1, my foreign sales make up just a tiny percentage of my annual total. But it's still interesting to see what sells. Here are my top five foreign sales of scores with parts in 2011:

1. Sneaking Suspicion
2. Gargoyles & Star of Valor (tie)
3. Quicksilver
4. Avatar, Gauntlet, Hot Potato, Porcupine Pantomime (all tied)
5. Lemon Twist and Storm Trail (tie)

The new ones are popular and some of the old favorites made the list, but a lot of these entries are surprises. Sneaking Suspicion seems to be a breakaway hit overseas.

Alfred Publishing also sells scores alone, without the parts. You'd need extra scores to give the judges at contests, so the best-sellers on this list are the ones that are popular at contest season:

1. Gautlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Crusader

No surprises here. Except maybe for Mariposas - I suppose that explains its resurgence in the score-and-parts list.

Again, if you bought anything of mine in the past year, thanks very much!

YouTube Concert

I thought I'd assemble a little YouTube concert from some recent videos of my music. Up first is the Crews Middle School 7th Grade orchestra playing Lemon Twist:

Nice job!  Very precise playing, a good laid-back tempo, and I like those sharp uniforms! Up next is the String Orchestra of the Community Music School at Webster University in St. Louis playing A Postcard From Tuscany.

A good sense of style on this one and it's good to see young players take their time with a more lyrical piece.  Next is the Monarch 7th and 8th Grade Orchestra, appropriately playing Las Mariposas Exoticas:

This is one of those pieces with interlocking parts, where the whole orchestra works as one and I think they did a pretty good job of keeping it together.  They also did a nice job giving the piece the "lightness" it requires.  Let's finish with a classic.  Here's the Wilson Middle School Orchestra playing Gauntlet:

Nicely done!  Bravi to all the orchestras!

New Performances: International Edition

The vast majority of my published music is sold in the US, but a small percentage of my total sales comes from international buyers. Not all countries have American-style school music programs, so the demand for student-level string orchestra music is much lower.  Occasionally, though, I hear about performances of my music outside the US.  Here are two I stumbled across recently.

First up, we journey to the mysterious land of kangaroos and Vegemite: Australia.  Here's the Sydney Youth Orchestra performing Lemon Twist:

Wasn't that great?  You can really tell how much those young musicians really enjoyed playing it.  Watching the Violin II's and Violas bopping along to the rhythm makes my heart swell.  That's what it's all about

Up next is the Orquesta de Cuerdas de Grado in Córdoba. That's Córdoba SPAIN, y'all.  I've heard of performances in Australia and Canada, but this is the first time I've heard of a performance of my music in Europe.  I'm a little awed.  They do a great job with Gargoyles:

Professor D. Gabriel A. leads a fantastic orchestra and it looks like he has a well-balanced program there at the Córdoba Professional Conservatory of Music.  Good tempo, great sense of style.

At this point I should remind readers that I'm available as guest conductor, so if anyone in Europe wants to fly me out and pay my expenses to visit their program, please drop me a line.