David Maslanka: Music for Wind Ensemble (2021)

Rehearsing Alex and the Phantom Band and Saint Francis: Middle Tennessee State University (Oct 2016)

In October 2016, I (Matthew Maslanka) accompanied my father to Middle Tennessee State University where I photographed and recorded his masterclasses and rehearsals. This is his rehearsal on October 25. He helped produce his final CD during this visit.

Audio Recording (1:22:57)

(transcript below)

Reed Thomas
Good afternoon, everybody. So, the plan for next couple of days, we’re going to start with some sections of Alex and the Phantom Band, then we’re going to move on, once we’ve had the chance to dress and get ready, we’re going to move to St. Francis. And the second movement, first, then we are going do the first movement and during those times Dr. Maslanka is going to be working with you. Helping, so we can make sure that we produce the music in a way that is the best of our ability. (inaudible)

So we are very privileged to have him here to work with us this week. So if you will please welcome Dr. David Maslanka.

David Maslanka
Thank you, it’s an honor and will evolve as a pleasure as we get going together. My whole need in the music making is just that, that we make music together, as opposed to technical chunks of this and that. We’re going to make music all through the rest of our week together today. So I want to start, not take too much time with you now just to let you know who I am. And we’ll start with our friend, Alex here. This is a neat little […]

By Matthew Maslanka|2021-01-14T21:34:38+00:0014 January 2021|Alex and the Phantom Band, Composing, David Maslanka: Music for Wind Ensemble (2021), Featured, From the Maslanka Archive, Saint Francis|

Masterclass: Middle Tennessee State University (Oct 2016)

In October 2016, I (Matthew Maslanka) accompanied my father to Middle Tennessee State University where I photographed and recorded his masterclasses and rehearsals. This is his first masterclass, on October 24. He helped produce his final CD during this visit.

Audio Recording (1:05:22)

(transcript below)

David Maslanka
Thanks for that. Thanks for for being here.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about composing and to show you some things concerning Bach chorales. This has been a foundational thing for me for a long time.

A huge amount of things have happened in the 20th century and in our own time. The options that you have for technical things in music are extraordinary. You have to kind of not look at certain things in order to be able to focus on something that you might really want to do. And it might seem like a complete backward kind of motion to take something like the Bach chorales and make them a center of the life. And I’ll just tell you a bit about that.

I’ve written a lot of music. Now there’s something about I think about 150 opus numbers at this point, and still very alive and very much interested in writing.

But composing makes me nervous. And does that make any sense? Composing makes me nervous. Because I don’t know what’s going to happen. And I don’t know what’s supposed to happen. Right? I don’t start I can’t start with a pre plan of any kind. I simply have to open and trust […]

By Matthew Maslanka|2020-12-17T21:20:19+00:0017 December 2020|Composing, David Maslanka: Music for Wind Ensemble (2021), From the Maslanka Archive|

Liner Notes for David Maslanka’s Final CD

This is a portion of the liner notes for David Maslanka: Works For Wind Ensemble, his final CD. The disc will be released on January 8, 2021.

Sacred Spaces

By Matthew Maslanka

Dr Reed Thomas makes a mean paella. For as seriously as he takes it, I suppose he should, but it was still a revelation to eat. The secret, I’m told, is in the heat and timing. He had a simply enormous pan that cooked over a charcoal pit, low and slow. Adding the rice and stock up front, he gradually added the other elements – shrimp, saffron and asparagus, among a host of other delicious treats – at exactly the right intervals. After pulling the pan off the fire, while the paella cooled enough for us to eat, we gathered for some pictures — and then we dug in. The socarrat, the lovely toasty caramelised Valencia rice at the bottom of the pan, was delightfully crunchy, flavoured with not only the seafood stock, but also every one of the layers of goodness on top.

Dr Thomas also runs a hidden gem of a band programme an hour outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro punches well above its weight; the ensembles there show remarkable training and professionalism.

I started publishing the music of my father, David Maslanka, in 2012. I’m the guy who prepares the music for printing, gets it printed, distributed and sold; and manages the licensing. I also accompanied Dad around the […]

By Matthew Maslanka|2020-12-17T21:35:59+00:0017 December 2020|David Maslanka: Music for Wind Ensemble (2021), Featured|