#103 Iain Moyer- Arranger/Educator, The Boston Crusaders and Widener University!
This week we have Iain Moyer, who is the Director of Athletic Bands and Music Programs Recruiter at Widener University. As Director of Athletic Bands, he oversees all aspects of the Widener University Pep Band and Drumline, which performs at home football and basketball games, along with other university events. In his role as Music Programs Recruiter, he is responsible for recruiting high school students with a music background into Widener’s academic majors and placing them in one of the many Widener music ensembles. He is also the Front Ensemble Arranger for The Boston Crusaders. Previously, Iain has served on the Percussion Staff of The Cadets since 2007, where he served as Front Ensemble Arranger from 2009 through 2016.
Our fearless co-host (and Birthday boy) Marcos Torres along with (friends of the show) Marcos Lopez, Danny Torres and Congahead producer Javier Raez put together a video of some great grooves for your listening enjoyment.
Jeremy Bosch has a new single coming out on the 21st of December (2018) that Marcos (Torres), Marcos (Lopez), Danny Torres and Danielle Cruz all worked on. Stay tuned for that!
The show with not Marcos on percussion that he talks about going on right now is the Evolution of a Sonero by Flaco Navaja. Friends of the show, Gabo Lugo and Victor Pablo will be playing percussion.
Damon will be playing in Massachusetts for the 9th annual Christmas Jam. Friday the 21st at the Greasy Luck Brewpub in New Bedford and Saturday the 22nd at The Grog in Newburyport. You can see Damon’s future (public) dates at his website.
The official Discussions in Percussion Christmas Playlist, curated by Damon and Marcos! Feel free to download it and share it with friends. About 5 hours of Christmas classics you can listen to all day/night long!
This week’s iconic recording is “Me Gustan Las Navidades” by Gilberto Santa Rosa.
Yet another installment of great gift ideas for musicians and music lovers.
Music News for this week!
How to stop apps from tracking your location. How the song “Baby its Cold Outside” went from a parlor act to a problematic song. Modern Drummer’s readers poll is up, go there and vote for your favorite drummer/percussionist/educator.
Iain got his start on guitar and his father helped facilitate his growth on the instrument by introducing him to the Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival. In high school he played both percussion and guitar. He then attended the University of Massachusetts and studied with (friend of the show) Thom Hannum.
As Jazz Majors at Umass Amherst, both Iain and Damon studied with professor Jeff Holmes.
The bakery Damon worked at during his tenure at Umass was Sugar Jones.
Iain has a writing service called Moyer.mus(e) which offers services ranging from custom arrangements to completely original productions. All acoustic percussion and electronic parts will be included. Outdoors or indoors, marching or concert, we will maximum the front ensembles role in your next production. Every front ensemble has a unique set of performers, who possess different skill sets and abilities. Moyer.mus(e) arrangements are custom fit to your front ensembles needs/numbers and will represent the ability level of your performers.
Iain is also the director of athletic bands at Widener University and also music programs recruiter who helps bring new students to the music department.
Iain got his masters and doctorate at the University of Oklahoma and their music department.
Iain performed in the Star of Indiana Brass Theater (before Blast! was created), then the Crossmen for a couple of years (in 1997 and 1998). After his playing career in drum corps came to an end, he taught the Crossmen, then the Glassmen (after forming a partnership with friend of the show Colin McNutt), a decade at the Cadets (first working with Tom Aungst and Neil Larrivee before leading the program on their own) ending up at the Boston Crusaders.
A couple of the artists and the music that Iain has listened to recently are Max Richter and his recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Another artist would be Joachim Horsley and his Beethoven in Havana.
Iain really digs John Mayer as well as Pat Metheny being one iconic artist for him. The album Secret Story is one of his favorites.
Marcos would probably have the producer Kaytranada or the legend Quincy Jones as a dinner guest and Damon would probably have Questlove.
Some advice that Iain would give himself if he went back in time can be summed up as ‘less is more’. This goes for writing efficiently, teaching effectively and adapted to all facets of life.
In the Underrated/Overrated segment, Iain feels the vibraphone, and its use is underrated. Listen to 59.25 in the interview for more detail on this statement.
Iain uses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Yamaha instruments, Remo drumheads and Zildjian cymbals.
Iain’s favorite Christmas Carol is “White Christmas” performed by Bing Crosby from the movie ‘White Christmas’.
You can check out Iain this summer at the Boston Crusaders Drum Corps as well as on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.
