Author: Mark Snyder

The UMW Jazz group was featured at the Friends of the Rappahannock’s 22nd Annual Riverfest.  The group, led by Senior Lecturer Doug Gately on flute,  included Professor David Long on drums and Instructor Bruce Middle on guitar.  Recent Department of Music graduate Joanna Smith, bass and sophomore Music Major Judi Jackson on vocals.  The event raises funds to promote and maintain the water quality and scenic beauty of the Rappahannock River and its tributaries.

For more information:
http://riverfriends.org/Events/Riverfest2012/tabid/91/Default.aspx

Assistant Professor of Music Mark Snyder’s multimedia work Harvey for processed clarinet, electronics and video was performed in Kansas City by the newEar contemporary music ensemble on the opening concert for their 20th season.

The Kansas City Star wrote  “Mark Snyder’s Harvey conveys well his shock and incomprehension of the sheer, random brutality of the Harvey family murders in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia in 2005. It’s a tribute to the human capacity to wrestle meaning and even beauty from evil.”

Assistant Professor of Music Mark Snyder’s band Nature Boy Explorer is featured in the weekend section of the Free Lance Star.

“The attitude and sound of their songs can shift from ‘testosterone-fueled aggression to soft and delicate.’ And it’s this juxtaposition—the harp in the rock band, the students and the teacher, the atmospheric valleys between the rough-edged ridges of rock ‘n’ roll—that makes Nature Boy Explorer something worth exploring.”

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/weekender/2012/09/12/sounds-nature-boy-explorer/

The Free Lance Star also reviewed the EP.

“Overall, these four tracks give a great example of what Nature Boy Explorer is. It might still be difficult to understand the music, and even harder to explain it to a friend but it will be clearer. They’re definitely doing something different from most any other band, especially any band around Fredericksburg, and if anything, it’s worth giving the album a listen to be able to sing along at a live show, which is where Nature Boy Explorer really shines.”

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/therumble/2012/09/12/nature-boy-explorer-ep-review/

Assistant Professor of Music Mark Snyder’s CD release for Nature Boy Explorer will be held this Saturday, September 8 at 909 Saloon in Fredericksburg, Va . The EP contains four songs that were recorded from March to April of 2012. UMW students and alums, Becky Brown, Hunter Wooten, Paige Naylor, Katherine Preseren and Natasha Smoot performed on the CD as well.

Nature Boy Explorer makes music about love, lobotomies, death, dirty politicians and concrete deities with an energetic and emotional blend of rock/pop that puts on no airs.

The show starts at 8:30 and will also feature Paul Ivey and the Rubes from Richmond and The Crypts from Fredericksburg.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwTyHPsycQ[/youtube]

Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence David J. Long’s composition Homage to Normandy was performed on August 22, 2012  by the Prekmurska godba Bakovci in Slovenia.

Homage to Normandy is a tribute to all the soldiers who lost their lives during the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. The first movement, ‘Elegy: For All of the Fallen,’ is a beautifully powerful chorale that builds to a glorious climax before calming again. The second movement, ‘In Resolution: Toward the Final Victory,’ captures the brute force of the battle and drives all the way to the end in this fitting homage.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpMeaQM3Kc[/youtube]