Its only every so often that i find myself with enough time to inform the cyber world about my endeavors, and so much has happened since i wrote on this blog last. It makes me very happy to announce that i am now the proud new owner of www.Matthew-Bronson.com ! It seems like forever ago that i decided i need to find a page to promote myself on and now its official! Excited to keep everyone up to date on everything i am doing via that site, as well as more personally here.
These past few months, actually this who past year has been an incredibly busy time in my life (What else is new). I made the decision that pursuing my masters in music performance was something that would not only be enjoyable for me, but could be incredibly beneficial to my career. As i continue to pursue higher education i find myself more and more inspired by the professors and teachers i have been exposed to at the college and university level. It is a new found ambition of mine to possibly one day find myself teaching and inspiring students at the university level. This all being said, i searched and searched for schools with TA opportunities, until i narrowed it down to ten schools. After i narrowed those ten down to five, i narrowed THAT down to three schools. Those three schools were Queens College (Flushing, NY), University of Minnesota Duluth (Duluth, MN) and Towson University (Towson, MD). All great programs with incredible teachers. Long story short, after a trip to Duluth, MN hanging out with their current grad students as well as Gene Koshinski and Tim Brosicious I decided UMD (University of Minnesota Duluth) was the best option financially as well as the best fit for me as a player. Currently i am scheduled to move into a house 1.4 miles away from UMD's campus where other students are living, as well as an English Mastiff named "Bacon."
In the meantime while preparing for the auditions i had for grad school, as well as student teaching and attending wednesday night seminars, doing the occasional gig, AND teaching the indoor program at Norwalk High School, I began frame drum and arabic percussion studies with an Incredible teacher named Shane Shanahan. He is truly an incredible player and teacher, and i look forward to pursuing studies in this area of percussion with Tim once i find myself in Minnesota. This summer in addition to my monthly lessons with Shane, i am studying Jazz drum set with a great local teacher named Ben Bilello.
So the whole wrench that got thrown into this mix was wether or not i could spend another summer marching with my beloved drum corps family, The Cadets2. For those of you that do not know, i truly was given a life changing experience last summer committing my time to an excellent group of people who participate in the Drum Corps Associates. I could go on and on about my experience, but what i will say is that deciding not to march because i made the decision to move to Minnesota in August is to date the hardest decision i have made in my life. It sounds dramatic, but you need to experience something like i did last summer to really understand the emotional attachment i created for the corps and everyone i shared that experience with.
I am looking forward to a new and exciting chapter in my life, and i cant wait to see what is in store for me at UMD and my new found goals and aspirations.
Best,
MB
