50.

According to money.cnn.com, Longmont is ranked 50 in the top 100 places to live. It appears that we get 300 days of sunshine. But I must say that this rain we have been getting is a nice change. It shows all these stats from amount of leisure activities to amount spent on vacation to the low temperature in January. It was very interesting to see all this and compare other top cities. Also, Ft. Collins is ranked in the number 2 spot. Go Colorado?!


Come Pick Me Up by Ryan Adams

C-Minor.

New piano piece up on the space in C-minor. It is an improvisation and I felt like recording something with new effects. I was in a creative mood this evening and wanted to mess around with the piano, so, enjoy? I even printed out some staff paper and started to write another piece with some possible melody ideas. We shall see where it heads.

Un Nuovo Mese.

One more month exactly till classes start up at Whitworth. I'm actually excited to get focused and start school. Due to the high enrollment rate at school, there was no room for me to live on campus, so they asked me to find a place off campus. Thankfully Katie Petitt was able to put a good word in for me to the house she is in for the summer. I'll be living in a seven person house one block away from school. It will be really convenient because I won't have a car and that my skateboard will only go so far. I also think that the music building is really close by, which will be extremely beneficial because it will basically be my second home while at school. It will be interesting adjusting to Whitworth's standards and seeing in full what is expected of me. I have to prepare 30 minutes of memorized music this spring for my Junior recital. So I'm sure that four hours of practicing a day will be expected, but I'm excited and ready to dive into more repertoire. I'm also going to take a look at the theatre department and see what they are all about. I would like to get more experience on stage and it will help with the performance aspect of the piano. It seems that being away from home and the busyness of work, I'll have more of a focus to write more music and lyrics this fall. My mind has been in so many places the summer with the whole transferring process and with work. It has been extremely difficult to focus on music that I want to create but lack the motivation to compose. All I have left to say is that I am ready for this new place. I honestly can't wait.



Goods (All In Your Head) by Mates Of State

Musicals.

It seems as if 'West Side Story' and 'Rent' gave birth to a child, it would be called 'In The Heights'. Of course it is no Leonard Bernstein, but the music is pretty awesome. The composer and writer also plays a lead role in the show. I'm not sure why I have grown to like the music, but the technicalities of the salsa genre have me always guessing of what tempo and key changes are about to occur. This show won numerous awards at the Tony's including best musical.



Next up is 'Spring Awakening' based off of a play by Frank Wedekind. I listened to the full soundtrack for the first time today while at work and enjoyed every track. Different style of music too. The setting is in 1891 Germany at a boarding school and the music that is portrayed would be like nothing ever heard in that time period. I'm still researching this show, but it won best musical at the Tony's last year. The cast is mostly young too, so it is nice to have fresh faces out there. The last song in the medley is edited to be suitable for CBS.



I have been into musicals a lot lately. It would be amazing to write such a masterpiece that tells a story in a very creative way. Of course you could do that on a basic album with a band or as a solo artist, but it seems that I have been drawn to this way through musicals of presenting a story. We'll see where it heads.

Voices.

Today is Saturday. I decided for record a choirish a' capellaish type on song. It sounds... interesting. Take a listen if you really want to. It is found on myspace under the second track entitled 'Sleep'. Different for sure, but it always fun to experiment.

UPDATE: Took the song off to make room for other stuff. Let me know if you want to hear it.

Dear Sterling College,

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for letting me grow in the short time I have been there. Thank you for all the wonderful people I have met. Thank you for letting me get away with stealing Sputnik. Thank you for the life long friends that I have been blessed with. Thank you for the opportunities to discover myself and the world around me. Thank you for letting me let go to what I have called home for the past two years. I know it will be difficult not heading east on the 70 this fall, but the only reason that I would stay is because of the people. You must know that if I returned to you, I would be the only returning music major. You must know that the music department is in transition and it will eventually rebuild itself, but I don't want to be in a place where it is not letting me grow. I need something stable. I need something challenging. I need support of other music majors and the support of professors. After all, I am in college and I would like to learn. This place that will meet my needs is much further away from you, actually, 1,525 miles away. The town of Sterling, Kansas was a great experience, but I feel like the city of Spokane, Washington will help me discover myself. No hard feelings Sterling, but it will be easier for me to grow musically in a place with just about half a million people instead of a few thousand. I hope you understand. There might never be a chance for me to walk on your campus again, but don't worry, you will not be forgotten. Just give understanding to all the people that I have met there and hopefully they will be able to support me in this decision. It will be difficult, but you can't just go to a school because of the people. There needs to be more. I believe I have found more. It just involves a different equation. Thank you Sterling College, but now it is time for me to attend Whitworth University.

Best wishes,

Travis Wicklund

Sleep.

A melody of silence is all I can offer
A song that speaks of peace
Once night time comes, it is ready to see
The silence with our own ears

We yearn
To sing

The darkness floats among a reverie
Dreaming is time to feel the sound
While we gently sleep in silence
Keep us still

We yearn
To sing

Slip away into this orchestration we have created
Every tone is the exact way it should be
This masterpiece is all in our heads
Let us continue to sleep in silence

We need
To sing

(to be free)