michaeldavisonline/newsevents

Zeitgeist performed my latest work on December 18, 2007. What a thrill! Once a year, they do a special
Tuesday Salon performance (sponsored by the American Composers Forum) where they call for scores and
select a few to perform. When I got "the letter", it started out like another rejection, but then I skipped down
and saw my piece listed among the selections - "Half of Two Plus Two". The only thing that bummed me out a
little was that they told me I wasn't going to have to talk. They lied. My piece was last, and I had plenty of
time to think about what I was going to say. But everyone else had all these eloquent and enlightening
stories about their inspiration and compositional techniques. I just got more and more nervous with each
one so when my turn came, all I could think of was, "uh, well, there was this tennis match, and, uh, well,
they were really going at it, and uh, ahem, that's when this idea popped into my head, heh heh". The ACF is
a very supportive community. They all laughed and thought it was great.

On September 28, 2007, I took my Flutes From Around the World presentation, out of the classroom and into
the community. As part of the Thursday Musical Community Concert Series, I went to The Kenwood (a
retirement home in Minneapolis) and shared the program with soprano, Lila Olson. The Kenwood is now one
of my favorite audiences. They asked so many questions that I went well over my time, but they didn't seem
to mind. Regrettably, my nose flute hadn't arrived in time for this performance (it's always fun to watch
people watching someone play an instrument with his nose). But afterward, a lady with a cane came up to
talk with me. I noticed there were holes in it (to adjust the length). A long, hollow tube with holes? You got it.
I tried to see if I could play it. Much to her delight, I got a sweet little four-note tune out of it, so I went and
bought one for myself and now it's part of the show.

On February 25th of this year, The Bird Song was performed on the MacPhail Faculty concert series, "The
1128 LaSalle Series" (I suppose they're going to have to rename it now that they've moved into their
amazing new home). But nothing beats hearing your music performed by musicians of this caliber.
Andrea Leap sang the song from memory and I think that's the first time anyone's ever memorized
something I've written before. And she was amazing. I learned that she was not only a professional opera
singer, but also has a great deal of experience in musical theater and singing in clubs and restaurants.
Paula Gudmundson nailed the flute part, making it sound way easier than it is and of course, I still wish I
could have written the piano part as well as Timothy De Prey played it. Unfortunately, it was not well
attended - probably because of the weather. I had to drive to Minneapolis in the middle of a snowstorm and
passed at least 7 ditched cars on the side of the road. Nothing could have kept me from that concert,
though. Too bad it didn't get recorded. It would have been great on YouTube.