Pete's Percussion Podcast: Episode 475 - Liz Soflin

Pusch Ridge Christian Academy (AZ) Director of Percussion Activities and Tuscon-based Freelancer Liz Soflin stops by to talk about her PASIC50 performance of Stuart Saunders Smith’s “By Language Embellished, I…” (04:30), her career in Arizona and more about her freelancing and college teaching (15:30), growing up in Michigan, her beginnings in percussion, and getting involved and drama club and acting (26:35), her undergrad years at the University of Central Michigan and learning from Andrew Spencer (37:00), her masters years at UT-Knoxville and learning from a variety of teachers (46:40), going to the University of Arizona for her doctorate, learning from Norman Weinberg, and establishing her connections with Stuart Saunders Smith (55:40), and finishes with the Random Ass Questions, including segments about being a woman in the percussion field, the Tuscon Saguaros, the movies Jaws and Cats, a lot of great books, midwestern food, being a Karaoke DJ, and the Museum of Modern Art in NYC (01:10:40).

Finishing with a Rave on Lenny Wilkens’ 2000 book Unguarded: My Forty Years Surviving in the N.B.A. (01:40:40).

Liz Soflin Links:

Liz Soflin’s Black Swamp Percussion page

Liz Soflin’s Instagram page

Previous Podcast Guests mentioned:

Nathan Daughtrey in 2021

Andy Bliss in 2023

Norman Weinberg in 2017

Ivan Trevino in 2022

Other Links:

Stuart Saunders Smith

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

“Peeping Tom” - Dan Senn

Sierra Vista Symphony

The Curious Savage - John Patrick

Lady Windermere’s Fan - Oscar Wilde

Andrew Spencer

David Gillingham

Dave Hollinden

“Limerick Daydreams” - Nathan Daughtrey

“Chameleon Music” - Dan Welcher

“Crown of Thorns” - David Maslanka

“Niagara Falls” - Michael Daugherty

Nief-Norf

John Mackey

Morris Palter

Matthew Burtner

Threads - Paul Lansky

“Bloom” - Ivan Trevino

“Songs I-IX” - Stuard Saunders Smith

Call the Midwife trailer

“Three Winter Carols” - Stuart Saunders Smith

“The Authors” - Stuart Saunders Smith

“To the Earth” - Frederick Rzewski

Tucson Saguaros

Jaws (50th Anniversary) trailer

The Stand - Stephen King

The Running Man - Stephen King

The Running Man (1987) trailer

Creativity Inc. - Ed Catmull

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton

Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert

Writing Poetry from the Inside Out - Sandford Lyne

On Writing - Stephen King

“Separate Ways” - Journey

“Me and Bobby McGee” - Janis Joplin

Eugene Novotney

The Museum of Modern Art (NYC)

“The Starry Night” - Vincent van Gogh

Raves:

Unguarded - Lenny Wilkens (with Terry Pluto)