this is a composer's blog

this is a composer’s blog, so i guess i should be writing about composing. on the other hand, i'm a pretty lucky guy. it’s very important to write music and be able to have it played immediately in rehearsal. the feedback of the group (nonverbal and verbal) gives me confirmation on the level of success of the various sections. i always go into a reading with a general idea of what may not work and why, and i am usually surprised by other sections that come out better and/or worse than i predicted. every once in while a piece comes out almost whole, i would argue those are the special ones. they seem to be the pieces you like most. part of being any type of artist is the realization that we don’t do that all the time, if we are lucky we get to kick out a few good ones. i could talk about technique (and probably put you right to sleep), but (for me) the process of creating a piece of music encompasses the full range of emotions.

the initial step of choosing the elements the piece has/deals with is the hardest. (forest covington/the muse at sunset is dealing with this right now. kudos for being brave enough to muse on your innermost thoughts to the blogosphere). i end up having to create some boundaries the piece just to get me started; harmonic structure; form; instrumentation, gestures, logic games, counterpoint...

the next part is pure heaven.

once created my boundaries (it’s probably better to call this a musical universe, up is down, and left is right) i get to live there for a while and play with all the possibilities. break the rules, create new ones, change my mind, and admit I was too ambitious, surprise myself with some happy coincidences. it’s kind of like a musical version of sim city. as this process moves along the piece takes on a life of its own. there is a point where it’s not a creative venture anymore, but a practical one where i equip it for life on its own. what’s the best way to score it for my group? is that section really playable? should i really make the strings play in 5 flats to setup that great enharmonic relationship later in the piece? the practical composer (and voice of my mentor) voice rises from a slow burn to intense vertigo.

the last part rehearsing, performing and promoting. it’s what i spend 2/3 of my time doing. the overall composing/rehearsing promoting/performing process comes out to probably 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration and 10% pure joy. this weekend was one of those times that was all perspiration. more on that later..

other notes

fellow bloggers devin hurd and robert gable comment on my ginger or mary anne pop culture logic. i never said you had to answer either or. both make interesting and thoughtful points at hurdaudio and aworks.

my wife deb and i celebrated our 12^th wedding anniversary on saturday. i was happy to make it through the day without any pbe related projects or crisis. two years ago, i promised (won’t do that again) that there would be no distractions and ended up making phone calls to get a vibraphone sub on my way to dinner. thank goodness she loves me.

should have known that what started out as a relaxing sunday would quickly became a nightmare. there was a mix-up with my copyist and instead of leisurely binding the new vocal scores, i had 1 ½ hours to finish 3 hours of work, i frantically added the text to the new act 1 score, created a very rough draft and only had time to bring two barely readable copies so i could open the gallery before my vocalists got there (i was almost out of ink, note to self need to keep more on hand). the rest of the scores were loose, but had been properly proofread and were error free. the whole mess probably cost us about an extra 25 minutes in a 2 hour rehearsal. luckily there were no major errors and the new parts were useful enough to tell me that the act I changes were good. we are having an ensemble only rehearsal tomorrow night. i hope for that to be smoother, but we are having these biblical rainstorms...