Travis Finch's Final Recital

[Travis Finch]

Hey there everybody,

The date is fast approching and I figured I'd put the word out there about my fourth year recital.

Where:
The Peacock Room
Trinity College of Music, London

Here's a map
(http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=Trinity+college+of+music+london&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=Trinity+College+Of+Music&hnear=Trinity+College+Of+Music&cid=0,0,8532569597728624971&ei=rHPoS5L6OMfo-Qa9uenZDw&ved=0CBYQnwIwAA&ll=51.484724,-0.007188&spn=0.005946,0.021136&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A)

When:
June 17th
5:15pm

The program is set as:

Scarlatti-Sonata in E minor (W/Emily O'Hara-guitar)
Masaji-Sakura
Kuwahara-Jongara
Angulo-De Aires Antiguos (W/Emily O'Hara-guitar)
Lessa-Pimenta na Pupila (W/Emily O'Hara-guitar and Nick Ball-percussion)

I will hopefully be able to get some good video and sound recordings to share. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you there. It's a beautiful campus and it should be a great evening of music.

Thanks,
Travis

[KristinEliza]

Good Luck! :mandosmiley:

I look forward seeing the videos (as I won't be able to make the trip to London from the States :) )

[vkioulaphides]

Give it your all, Travis!

Cheers,

Victor

[MandoNicity]

Looks like a great program! All good luck to you!

JR

[JEStanek]

I'll have to cheer you on from the Eastern USA. Best wishes and knock em dead!

Jamie

[Ali]

Well done for notifying everyone Travis.
It promises to be a really eclectic and interesting programme. The final piece is a modern Choro and Travis played it last week with Emily and Nick to Ricardo Sandoval at a masterclass. Ricardo really enjoyed it and complimented them all on it and the spirit they captured and then they played it again with Ricardo joining in.....very cool.....I was a very entertained bystander for once and really enjoyed the whole class but especially the choro.
Jongara is shaping up well....very good piece when approached musically and carefully...exactly what you're doing Travis!!
GO TRAVIS! :-)

[Alex Timmerman]

Good luck to you, Travis!

That's an exciting programme!

Cheers, Alex.

[MLT]

Travis,

Best to you on your upcoming (final) recital. I will also have to look forward to audio/video postings.

[Acquavella]

Hey Travis,

Good luck on the recital. Super exciting time. Just think....you will be all done when the last note is played. The only thing left is the trip to the pub right after. I was hoping to fly out to London to attend your recital. Unfortunately my own schedule doesn't allow enough time to fly to London and make the most of the trip. I'll have to catch you at your & Emily's next performance.....maybe debut USA appearance. Best wishes.

Chris....

[mandoisland]

Hi Travis!
Good Luck for your final recital! It would be rally nice to get videos!
Best wishes
Michael

[Dan Hoover]

good luck and have fun Travis..

[Bob A]

Gee, Travis, it sounds so . . . final. I'd like to hope we'd be hearing more from you someday. Still, congrats on the milestone performance. We shall watch your future career with considerable interest. And certainly hope for an opportunity to hear a recording of the performance.

[Travis Finch]

Hey everybody,

As I've gotten used to everyone around here calling their fourth year recitals their 'final' recital, the somewhat cryptic overtones of the tread title escaped me. :)

One more day, looking forward to seeing everyone who can make it and many thanks for the support of those who can't.

Videos hopefully to follow soon!

Travis

[Travis Finch]

Oh, and Chris...unfortunately the big release at the pub may have to wait for a day. I'm performing the Sprongl on Friday with Richard Balfour for his Masters recital! :mandosmiley:

[Ali]

Today is the day. I'm really excited as I know Travis has worked really hard. Now he needs to just go and enjoy himself!!
I'll be there!
Travis and I will both report back I'm sure!
Ali
:mandosmiley:

[vkioulaphides]

Nothing like the pressure of both you and your mentor posting on the same forum... ;-) Luckily, in my years, it was only behind closed doors (of the charming-yet-awsome Toscanini Studio, on the 6th floor of the Manhattan School of Music, overlooking Riverside Park) that such commentary was aired. Lessons would begin with a grin and a cry of "Go!" I would take a deep breath, sneak a peek at Arturo T's portrait staring me down from the wall, and put bow to string...

But young people nowadays are tougher, stronger, and better than we ever were. In short: go, Travis, GO!

Cheers,

Victor

[Ali]

Well - what a corker! Travis played out of his skin! I knew he was good and we knew he'd really put the work in - but boy! did he deliver?! Brilliant. I was SO proud of him. The programme was very balanced and worked brilliantly - it was full of vitality, colour, texture, contrast, emotion, brilliant ensemble playing and had a lovely spirit and sense of fun in the right places - aside from a few minor slips, it was also almost flawless.
WELL DONE TRAVIS! Also a big thank you and well done to his long serving friend and guitarist Emily and her boyfriend, the brilliant percussionist Nick - they both helped Travis to achieve his goal and helped to create a lovely atmosphere on stage. Thanks you two!
YAY YAY!
:mandosmiley::grin::mandosmiley:

[JEStanek]

Now those are some accolades, people! Congratulations Travis. I'm looking forward to the videos.

Jamie

[Travis Finch]

Okay, I know I should be getting some rest because I have to turn around and play in a friend's Master's recital tomorrow (this?!?) morning but I just wanted to say thanks to all those that could make it to my recital this evening. You all created an atmosphere that felt like it was a recital rather than an 'assessment'. Go figure, the culmination of four years of study and instead of nerves, I just really wanted to play...huh.

As Ali rightfully pointed out, I really couldn't have done this without the help of my duo partner Emily, who snagged me up as soon as she saw the mando case on my back four years ago and we've been going strong since. Also, to her partner Nick, who not only hasn't minded me pulling her away for rehearsals that run late into the evening but also invested in and learned how to play the pandeiro recently (he is another Trinity College of Music alum, jazz drummer and percussion) and joined us on stage for a pretty smokin' little choro number to cap off the recital.

Lastly, I have to recognize Ali who has been the embodiment of all the things you might wish for in a teacher at music college. Insightful, helpful, challenging and never anything less than supportive. You rock, Ali!

I feel like I might be gushing a little bit here, but these people truly do deserve all the credit I can provide and then some.

Videos will be posted soon, I just have to cut them up and get them online...after my conducting and arranging assesments, that is...maybe sooner :)

Thanks for the support folks, what a wonderful community it is here.

Stay tuned!

Travis

[Ali]

Insightful, helpful, challenging and never anything less than supportive.
"Challenging" is a politically correct term for BULLYING! But I hope it was nice and useful bullying!!
Good luck at Richard's recital with Sprongl today. That's bit of a killer too.....hopefully you'll both play in the same spirit as yesterday. Good luck to Richard for his big day too.
Ali

[vkioulaphides]

At my previous office, visited as it was by all and sundry (students, faculty, administration, and what-not), each with his/her own peeve-du-jour, I had a most useful sign posted on the wall. It read:

We are refreshed and challenged by your unique perspective. Thank you.

We truly were ;-) So I am just as sure that your unique ~contribution~ to Travis' education was most, er... challenging. That, at least, is my own take on the compliment.

Cheers to you both,

Victor

[Acquavella]

"Challenging" is a politically correct term for BULLYING! But I hope it was nice and useful bullying!!

Very useful indeed. It's no problem anyways....We take it out on our students now. hahahaha. And so the cycle continues.

I second everything Travis said in his last post.

[Ali]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for all your messages of encouragement and luck to Travis - I know I can speak for him and say that he really appreciated them. All I can say on the challenging/bullying front is that you and Travis should be grateful that I didn't complete the cycle of teacher student etc..... Hugo's teaching methods were DEFINITELY on the Bullying side of Challenging! The faint praise I ever got from him was then immediately followed by "for a girl". Oh well...I guess it worked! Maybe Travis will keep up the recent mandolin trend at Trinity set by you and George for getting a medal and top honours to leave Trinity with.....we'll see......he certainly gave it his VERY best shot and you can't ask for more than that!
Ali :mandosmiley:

[vkioulaphides]

The faint praise I ever got from him was then immediately followed by "for a girl".

My late teacher gave his first recital (on violin) at age 8; his last public performance (on the bass) was at age 89. Glowing with his ever-generous smile, he reported to me that, on both occasions, the compliment he received most commonly was that he "he had played quite well for his age".

I therefore hereby propose some new legislation, namely that all addenda, secondary clauses, parenthetical phrases, and other such annoying suffixes to compliments be forever banned! ;-)

My unqualified compliments to all of you, currently or formerly at Trinity. Quite the beehive!

Cheers,

Victor

[Travis Finch]

Hello Everyone,

I've finally finished editing, cutting and posting online. Youtube seemed to be playing up and didn't like the length/format of some of my videos so I had to find a way around it. Apologies for the somewhat questionable visual quality of the videos, it was zoomed in from the back of a pretty big room. I did manage, however, to splice in the audio from the Zoom recorder you see at our feet onstage. It's the raw signal from the recorder, tempting as it was to pretty it up with computer wizardry and ju-ju. I think overall, it does provide a pretty clean and reasonably good audio feed though.

I do want to thank Simon for taking a peek at my camera from the back and correcting my haphazard placement and doing some zooming in and out on the fly. As intersting as it would have been to watch Emily play a duet with my friend Brian's head, the angle of the shot was better after Simon moved the camera. :)

So, first up is the Scarlatti, Sonata in E Minor-K. 81
I. Grave
II. Allegro
III. Grave
IV. Allegro

[Travis Finch]

Nawata Masaji-Sakura

[Travis Finch]

Yasuo Kuwahara-Jongara

[Travis Finch]

Eduardo Angulo-De Aires Antiguos

[Travis Finch]

Rodrigo Lessa-Pimenta na Pupila

[Travis Finch]

Hmmm...the Angulo was longer than ten minutes so I can't get it up on Youtube and the Myspace embed seems to be having some issues. Attempting a workaround...stay tuned.

[Margriet]

Bravo!
This is beautiful !
English is not my native language and I joined the forum recently, so first, when you opened the thread,I did not understand where it was all about and I did not know you. Now I see, it is someting of a final exam of your study ? Is this right?

I enjoy your playing a lot and I will listen it more times, just because of that. There is a thread here with solo concerts on youtube: why don't put yours ? More than worthy!

Go on.................please,

Margriet

[Travis Finch]

Thank you very much, Margriet. Yes, it was the final exam 'recital' for my BMus degree at Trinity College of Music. (Although I still have a couple more exams to take in the coming weeks...:) )

Good suggestion about cross-posting, I had forgotten about that!

Travis

[haggis]

Thank you so much Travis for posting these videos. It's really great being able to see and hear you perform your Final Exam pieces. Tremendous playing. Good luck for your last two exams!

[Travis Finch]

Thanks for the kind words, haggis. (That has to be one of the strangest sentences I have ever written.)

[JEStanek]

Travis, Thanks for posting these. The sound quality is really good. I can really hear how well you did. Bravo - impressive and inspiring.

Jamie

[Acquavella]

Nice one, mate. Everything sounds great. Your vids definitely turned out better than mine did. The person that shot my video enjoyed the zoom feature a bit too much. lol. Congrats on completing your final recital. Let the beer flow and the laughs be plenty.

[Alex Timmerman]

Bravo Travis. And congratulations to you, your co-operating musicians and your teacher!

Best greetings, Alex :)~o).

[Travis Finch]

Thanks again for the kind words, everyone!

Chris-believe me, when all was said and done...the beer did indeed flow;)

[vkioulaphides]

It sure beats, "Flow, mine tears..." ;-)

BEAUTIFUL playing, Travis. Bravo! And, yes, the recorded sound quality is also truly extraordinarily good. In fact, everything was a delight: the playing, the programming, your partners-in-crime ;-) Keep it up! I look forward to following, and vicariously enjoying whatever path(s) your career takes you on.

Cheers,

Victor

[Dan Hoover]

thank's for sharing this with us Travis,beautiful playing....that was something very special...cheers..

[bobby bill]

From your namesake county deep in the heart of Texas (that would be Travis County): Well done! I am a former harpsichord major (just another plucked instrument) and a big Scarlatti fan. The rendition of the Scarlatti number was great. The lack of comment on the other pieces is because I haven't stolen the time to do it yet. But I will. Thanks for sharing.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Nicely done Travis, I really enjoyed your performances -- thank you for posting.

[Tavy]

Very very nicely done Travis, let's hope this isn't really your final recital but that there are many more to come ! :)

[Travis Finch]

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to throw in a little update on this thread. First off, thanks to everyone for their kind words and support. Can't say enough about the quality of folks on this forum.

The reults for students finishing their BMus degrees just came in and I'm happy to say that I was able to keep up the Trinity Mandolin faculty tradition and pull out a degree with 'first class honours'. I must admit that while I was very happy with my performance at Trinity both musically and academically, the mark came as a very happy surprise. Thanks again to all who helped me out and offered encouragement, especially you Ali...couldn't have done it without your open-minded support and guidance.

As an added bonus, I just got back here in London from a visit back home to the west coast of the States a day ago and this has definetly helped with the jet-lag! :)

[Ali]

YAY YAY YAY!
WELL DONE - every inch deserved.
Wahey!:mandosmiley:

[Onesound]

Excellent, Travis. Thanks for posting the vidoes for those of us who couldn't be there!

[haggis]

Well done Travis - it's really great that you have maintained the Trinity Mandolin First Class Honours tradition. Brilliant.

What would be particularly interesting, for me at least, would be to see how your musical career path develops. Any chance of giving us the occasional update from time to time?

[Acquavella]

Nice work Travis! Well done!