University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Percussion Professor Alex Wier stops by to talk about his job at UWM, Present Music, Chamber Music Playing, and the culture of the arts in Milwaukee (03:10), growing up in St. Louis and Phoenix, his musical beginnings, marching band, and playing video games (24:50), attending the University of Arizona for undergrad (38:35), going to Northwestern University (IL) for his master’s and taking a break from school after the degree (49:40), getting his doctorate from Arizona State (01:04:45), and settles in for the Random Ass Questions, including segments on developing young percussionists, cooking for children, great movies, TV shows, and books, his varied sports fandoms, and unusual performance experiences (01:14:45).

Finishing with a Rave on the best of the 2026 Winter Olympics (01:39:15).

Alex Wier Links:

Alex Wier’s website

Alex Wier’s University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee page

Present Music

Previous Podcast Guests mentioned:

Norman Weinberg in 2017

She-e Wu in 2025

Andy Miller in 2026

Steve Hemphill in 2020

Jeff Hewitt in 2021

Josh Armstrong in 2018

Mike Sammons in 2022

Other Links:

“Threads” - Paul Lansky

“Timber” - Michael Gordon

JB Smith

Simone Mancuso

“Radio Rewrite” - Steve Reich

Jack Forbes

Gary Cook

James Ross

Mike Vercelli

Jonathan Latta

Wes Hawkins

“Six Japanese Gardens” - Kaija Saariaho

“Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra” - Alvin Lucier

“Dressur” - Mauricio Kagel

Interstellar trailer

Inception trailer

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift trailer

Eagle Eye trailer

Kurt Vonnegut

Packers-Bears 2025 Wild Card

Arrested Development Season 1

I’m Making a Giant Salad

Severance Season 1

Raves:

USA-Canada Gold Medal Women’s Hockey Game 2026

USA-Canada Gold Medal Men’s Hockey Game 2026

Alysa Liu’s Gold Medal Free Skate