First Post

Hello everybody,

I thought it would be a good idea to have a blog to keep my friends and family updated on my musical endeavors. So, here it is!

To sum up in a nutshell how I got to where I am now, here is a timeline:

1995: I started playing the piano with Linda Mazich (now Dr. Mazich-Govel) and loved it. Throughout my elementary and middle school (and early high school) life I performed in recitals, competitions, etc. My dream was to be a concert pianist.
1999: I started playing the saxophone and quickly excelled.
2003-2007: Throughout high school I had much success with saxophone, performing in honor groups at the local, regional, state, and even national level. At the same time, piano faded away as I got burned out and found I enjoyed playing an instrument that naturally lead to social interaction rather than isolation.
2007-2008: I attended NYU for gender studies, had a blast in NYC, discovered I was empty without music and wasn't that serious about college, and came home.
2008-2010: I tried out being a saxophone major at Long Beach City College, since I'd had so much success with it in high school, and studied with Roger Przytulski. I'm graduating in May with an A.A. in music, and just put on a saxophone recital in January to culminate my experience here. I've also assisted with the theory classes, lead sectionals at different schools, etc.

However, I discovered through my intense work as a saxophone major that though I progressed rapidly at first with the saxophone, it never became a passion - it's always been a chore to work with. Early last summer I began taking piano lessons again, and suddenly all of that passion was re-awakened and I realized that this is what has been missing from my life all this time. I love to play, I love to practice, I love everything about it. And so, I decided to audition on the piano to transfer and pursue my Bachelor's degree in performance.

I just finished all of my auditions a week ago, and am waiting to hear back this month or sometime in April.

So, I will be updating this from time to time, be sure to check in and see what I'm up to musically! I have a few things coming up, so this blog will never be latent for too long!

I will end this post with some saxophone stuff.

This is a duet I did last May with Andy Kreysa, a fabulous percussionist who is also transferring to a university from LBCC this semester.  It's in two parts.

And, lastly, here is the link to my sophomore saxophone recital (my last hurrah as a classical saxophone major). I couldn't embed it because the HTML was being wonky, but here is the link to the recorded live stream:

Tasha's Sophomore Recital

It's about an hour long. Here is the program:

Tableaux de Provence - Paule Maurice (1910-1967)
I. Farandoulo di chatouno (Farandole of young women)
II. Cansoun per ma mio (Song for my love/mother)
III. La boumiano (The Bohemian woman)
IV. Dis alyscamps l’amo souspire (A Sigh of the soul for the Alyscamps)
V. Lou cabridan (The Bumblebee)


Sonata, Op. 19 for Eb Alto Saxophone - Paul Creston (1906-1985)
I. With Vigor
II. With Tranquility
III. With Gaiety


Sonata for Soprano Saxophone and Piano, Op. 37 (Alpine) - Lawson Lunde (1935- )
I. Allegro moderato
II. Presto


Then the encore piece was Aria by Eugene Bozza, with Jewel, who did the first half of the concert (her link should be in the bottom right).