I just finished up a children’s CD with percussionist Cory Hills titled The Lost Bicycle. The album consists of several fun, original works for percussion and storytelling including The Lost Bicycle, Tikki Tikki Tembo, and The Turnip. For the project, I did all the artwork, layout and photography. For more information on the CD or to order yourself a copy, contact Cory at his website.

This poster is just one of many reasons for the slow blogging schedule these days. Sorry about that. Lots of work, but little time to show it!

This is a poster that I designed and illustrated for the University of Georgia Band Department. Several pieces on the concert are sea themed, so that definitely informed the design process.

This is a poster for the upcoming Lawrence Chamber Orchestra Young Artists Concert on Sunday, April 26th and 2:00 p.m. The concert will feature the very talented flutist JoAnn Doll performing the C.P.E. Bach Concerto in D Minor for Flute and Orchestra.

I was really excited to work on the artwork for the newest CD release from oboist Margaret Marco entitled Hidden Gems: Oboe Sonatas of the French Baroque. It’s a recording that fills a very specific niche in the recorded oboe repertoire, but it’s a great album and if you like baroque music, it’s a wonderful addition to any music collection.

From the liner notes:

It is possible that the works on this CD have not been performed for 400 years. This is the first professional recording of these charming, evocatively colorful and, until now, cloistered sonatas. Not published in modern editions, the original prints of these works reside in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris where hundreds of such works from the Baroque period remain inaccessible to most oboists.

You can listen to samples and pick up a copy of the album on iTunes or CDBaby.

If you’re interested in hearing some great classical music, mark your calendars for October 22nd. As you can see, it’ll be a Gnojek family affair and the pieces are all very cool including works by Copland, Messaien, Gordon Goodwin, and Debussey. I did a series of 3 posters for Brian which included a fun nighttime photo shoot.

Rather than have a bunch of columns or unnecessary information, I decided to try out a skinny design (440px!) to see how it works and I think it’ll be just what they’re needing. I also utilized some MooTools on the front page which are some cool javascripts that fail very elegantly if the viewer doesn’t have javascript running. Always important for accessible websites!

Check it out at www.kansasflutefestival.com!

In a bold effort to bring back the lost art of the mixtape, then there’s a new online service called Muxtape that allows you to create a music mix and share it easily with others online. It’s simple, easy to use and is even supposed to be iPhone friendly. Although it seems like there are certainly some legal issues here, it’s a neat way to learn about different music, so we’ll see how long it sticks around. The creator, Justin Oullette, is also a photographer with some pretty cool work.

You can check out a mix I made at designojek.muxtape.com and I’ll change it around from time to time.

UPDATE: They’ve added RSS feeds now, so you can keep track of any edits using your favorite feed reeder! Also, I’ve been trying out Google Reader for the past couple of months and I think I’m sold on it.

In 2005, my wife and I did a recital together where we each played a half-concert worth of music. In addition to some unaccompanied Piazzolla études, the big piece that I performed was a jazz improvisation with my father Vince Gnojek. I gathered together a series of 10 photographs which were a combination of my own photographs and some found images. All of them were abstract and had strong elements of texture and color. I projected them onto a large screen and we each stood on either side of it and, with the lights turned out, we performed an improvised piece of music that responded to the photography that we were looking at.

I’ve always been interested in the parallels between the visual and performing arts. In particular, I’ve found that jazz music shares a lot of similarities with art and design, not only in the final product, but in the process and language used to create it. So, I “composed” this piece as a way to start exploring this connection. Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian abstract painter, was also interested in the link between music and art and often gave his works musical titles. In homage to his improvisational paintings, I titled this piece Improvisation f2.8.

Below is the poster I designed for the recital which makes a little more sense when you watch the video!

This studio visit features the live music studio at Kansas Public Radio on the University of Kansas campus. This state of the art recording studio was built into the new KPR building when it was constructed in 2002-03. From the website:

Various acoustical elements were designed into the room to ensure a good sound such as adjustable curtains, floating floor, non parallel wall and ceilings, and insulation to isolate the studio from outside and interior noise. KPR hosts musical artists from around the world for special live performance recording sessions which are mastered by our own professional sound engineers.

Every recording I’ve heard come out of this studio sounds wonderful and it can accommodate a variety of groups from a solo piano to a large jazz group or a choir. I was able to stop in for a visit while the chamber group Allégresse was putting the finishing touches on their debut album which is coming out later this year.

The new KPR building itself is really beautiful. It’s all brick and stone with slate shingles and is nested away from the street on the edge of campus. There is a sensory garden outside as well.

Slate Shingles

Vines growing up the side of the building which are, admittedly, more attractive in the summertime.

Going inside the studio, this is the main recording booth. Even at my age, I had to resist the temptation to start turning dials!

Jason Slote is the master of this domain and is the production manager and main recording engineer for Kansas Public Radios. He is a great guy and really hard worker who makes everyone who walks in the studio sound amazing!

Flute, oboe and piano were on the schedule for the day, so the studio was set up in a trio configuration.

After a bit, Allégresse was all set to start warming up and checking sound levels. The recording process is very tedious and exhausting and their sessions for this CD typically ran around 4-6 hours at a time. There is definitely a period of adjustment when you start recording because having a microphone right in front of you can be a pretty stressful. Listening to these women play, you’d hardly know it!

It’s amazing how much difference the slightest mic adjustment can make. Jason has great ears and really knows a lot about the equipment.

As I mentioned before, the studio is set up as a state of the art facility. Engineering a recording is a true art form since each mic serves a different role in creating the overall sound on the recording. These are just a few of the mics that were set up.

One of the true treasures of the studio is their brand new Steinway grand piano! It arrived at KPR in early January 2008 and sounds amazing! This instrument will give the studio a lot more flexibility and, from what I heard in the booth, will give the new Allégresse CD a real richness and highlight Ellen’s incredible playing.

A special thanks to Jason Slote, Allégresse, and Kansas Public Radios for letting me come and sit in on the session. Keep your eyes out for Allégresse’s new CD in mid 2008 and if you’d like to hear any of the live on-air recordings that have been done, visit the KPR Live Studio page.

Kathy Pryor, Arts Administrator
Ted Johnson, Arts Advocate
Janeal Krehbiel, Musical Arts
Vince Gnojek, Performing Arts
KT Walsh, Visual Arts
Joyce Schild, Arts Volunteer
Linda Frost, Arts Volunteer
Barb Wasson, Exceptional Artistic Achievement

I’d especially like to congratulate my dad, Vince Gnojek for winning in the performing arts category! I could tell at the awards reception that he was deeply touched and honored to be on stage with everyone. He is truly one of the finest musicians I know and I’m extremely happy that all of his hard work has been recognized! Also, thanks to Kip Haaheim for his kind introduction.

A memorable moment at the awards ceremony was KT Walsh’s speech who asked everyone to take a pledge to the arts which was a humorous way remind people that there is an instinctual need for creativity in our lives and we need to recongnize it on a daily basis. She also gave out several bags of found items that the audience will take and create street art with for display downtown on Nov. 24th.

You can read more about each of the winners here online.

It reminded me of a very strong memory I have of the first (and only) time I’ve played in an orchestra. In 2006, I played tenor saxophone in the Kansas City symphony for their annual pops concert under the direction of Erich Kunzel. Since saxophonists rarely ever play in symphonies, I jumped at the chance and I was really glad that I did.

What you don’t realize when you listen to an orchestral recording or even sitting in the audience of a live concert, is how amazing the sound of a professional string section is. It is a warm, rich sound that has an amazing energy to it. Since it is made up strictly of vibrating wood and strings, that energy is transfered into the air and you can almost feel it on your skin. When all of the instruments are playing, every overtone is present and so you feel consumed by the sound from all sides. You just cannot experience this the same way unless you’re sitting within the orchestra. It’s like the difference between hearing the wind through a tree in the yard across the street (beautiful sound) and sitting right in the center of an ancient forest as the leaves flutter all around you (beautiful experience).

There is also an impressive visual element to it all. First, the bows of the violins and violas all move in total unison so that it seems like you’re watching waves in an ocean move up and down. When you look at the musicians, you can’t help but notice the sea of deep browns, reds and oranges of the wooden instruments which only intensifies the rich sound that comes from within them. The musicians all breathe together with each phrase and so you feel the energy of melody as well as hear it. It’s really like being inside of a breathing creature.

I’m sure experienced orchestral players are used to this feeling, but I came from a musical world of big bands, jazz combos and small chamber music groups (which are amazing in their own right), so it was totally new to me. I can only imagine what it would feel like to play a piece like Mahler’s 2nd Symphony or the 1812 Overture. It would make you leave your individual self behind for a while and become part of a greater whole. A “whole” with the sole purpose of creating music.

Here are a of couple shots with more on their website: