Now that I'm at the end of term, I need to evaluate what I need to do during the month I have before rejoining the fray. There are two things that must happen before school begins in January:
1) I must create a lesson plan for my new theory class and composition seminar.
2) I must re-score the winds for Nørgård's Remembering Child for our March CME performance.
There are two things that I would also like to do:
1) Finish the piano concerto.
2) Finish setting my third symphony. It will take too long for this break, if I do the other things, but I should get started on it. I'm up to p. 69, and I probably have 50 to go. I'll need to use WinScore to do it, or start over in Sibelius, which I'd rather not do.
I also need to think of some new pieces. I have a bunch that are started, and a couple students clamoring for a song cycle. That's a possibility, but do they really know what they are getting in for? What I really need is someone to commission me, and give me a deadline. Money talks and deadlines get the job done.
Other considerations: I've been asked to conduct the performance of Paradisio in January, so I'll need to program in time to prepare the score.
Lot's to do, but what I really need to do is rest after a tough term.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Two down
Alright ... all the parts are finished for Paradisio, and I've uploaded the corrected score onto CreateSpace. It should be available for purchase in a week or two.
So what is next? I need to arrange Per Nørgård's Remembering Child for a smaller wind section for our performance in March. That's my December project. I may also spend a little time on finishing Chaos. We'll see how much time I have around typesetting work (lots), jury duty, and setting up my lesson plan for Diatonic Harmony II.
New pieces down the road? I don't know. I need to finish the piano concerto, and finish typesetting my third symphony. Songs? We'll see.
...and of course I haven't written any prose lately.
So what is next? I need to arrange Per Nørgård's Remembering Child for a smaller wind section for our performance in March. That's my December project. I may also spend a little time on finishing Chaos. We'll see how much time I have around typesetting work (lots), jury duty, and setting up my lesson plan for Diatonic Harmony II.
New pieces down the road? I don't know. I need to finish the piano concerto, and finish typesetting my third symphony. Songs? We'll see.
...and of course I haven't written any prose lately.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
One down, one to go
This past month has been wild for me. It started with a Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble concert in which we were performing part of my Visions Suite. The first and third movements are directed improvisations, and the second movement is No Free Lunch. We had some last minute personnel changes, and even a last minute rescoring of the cello part for alto sax and violin. We pulled it together and put on a good show.
Two days later, I played bass trombone in the premiere of Brent Michael David's Purchase of Manhattan. It has been so long since I've had a paying gig that I forgot about how good it feels to be handed that check. Of course, having the opportunity to play with pros again was even more satisfying.
Amongst that I had a set of parts that needed to be completed for a publisher, and final exams for my Eartraining students, which I still need to grade.
The big headache was delivering the parts for From Her Husband's Hand to the SU Orchestra for its Mar 2 premiere. I just finished them today, printed them out and updated the score, which will be available on Amazon very soon.
My final project for this month is finishing Paradisio. I've arranged the score and extracted the parts. All that is left is to clean up and proof them. They are due Monday as well, and the performance is on Jan 26.
Soon, I'll be able to relax.
Two days later, I played bass trombone in the premiere of Brent Michael David's Purchase of Manhattan. It has been so long since I've had a paying gig that I forgot about how good it feels to be handed that check. Of course, having the opportunity to play with pros again was even more satisfying.
Amongst that I had a set of parts that needed to be completed for a publisher, and final exams for my Eartraining students, which I still need to grade.
The big headache was delivering the parts for From Her Husband's Hand to the SU Orchestra for its Mar 2 premiere. I just finished them today, printed them out and updated the score, which will be available on Amazon very soon.
My final project for this month is finishing Paradisio. I've arranged the score and extracted the parts. All that is left is to clean up and proof them. They are due Monday as well, and the performance is on Jan 26.
Soon, I'll be able to relax.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Done
I decided to forego watching television tonight, since Jenny is away at a conference, and finished the first draft of Paradisio. I've changed a few things from the original - some dynamics and tempo markings - but it should sound pretty much the same (not that I've ever heard the original).
I just need to proof, then extract parts. Then I can get onto the sax concerto parts (around other work).
I just need to proof, then extract parts. Then I can get onto the sax concerto parts (around other work).
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Out the other side
I made it through my latest typesetting deadline, and took a break tonight to work on my Paradisio arrangement. I'm up to page 35 of 47, but I have the strings - at least their original parts - finished all the way to the end. I suspect they will stay mostly the same. I just have to decide where to allocate all the old winds, brass, and harp amongst the reduced corp of four instruments.
Until now much of it was easy, and there are still some easy parts to go in the last 12 pages, but it gets dense near the end (as well as pages 35-37), so it may slow down. I might try to finish it on Saturday, depending on my next typesetting deadline.
On this, I'm ahead of schedule, but I haven't started on the parts for From Her Husband's Hand, which are due on the same day: Dec 1. I'll need to start on them SOON.
Until now much of it was easy, and there are still some easy parts to go in the last 12 pages, but it gets dense near the end (as well as pages 35-37), so it may slow down. I might try to finish it on Saturday, depending on my next typesetting deadline.
On this, I'm ahead of schedule, but I haven't started on the parts for From Her Husband's Hand, which are due on the same day: Dec 1. I'll need to start on them SOON.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
More Chaos
As you know, I haven't had time to work on Chaos for a few months due to teaching commitments, other projects, and engraving jobs. I'm still thinking about it though, and one of the current gaps coalesced while I was in the shower this morning.
I used the sets for Chaos for an improvisation with the CME on Thursday. I was hoping that the gap between the first main section (and subsequent piano cadenza) would have some improvisatory material. At one point I described it as a collective improvisation, which I was afraid to write, but now I have pared it down to a solo violin and the solo piano, with possibly one other solo instrument above a string texture that will have loops of various lengths, so it doesn't noticeably repeat. There will also be some wind and brass inserts, much like I have used in Night Visions. I just need to find time to write it down and finish the last few bars of the written piano cadenza that leads into it.
Other than that, I have two partly composed sections near the end of the last movement that need to be completed and then the first draft will be finished.
I used the sets for Chaos for an improvisation with the CME on Thursday. I was hoping that the gap between the first main section (and subsequent piano cadenza) would have some improvisatory material. At one point I described it as a collective improvisation, which I was afraid to write, but now I have pared it down to a solo violin and the solo piano, with possibly one other solo instrument above a string texture that will have loops of various lengths, so it doesn't noticeably repeat. There will also be some wind and brass inserts, much like I have used in Night Visions. I just need to find time to write it down and finish the last few bars of the written piano cadenza that leads into it.
Other than that, I have two partly composed sections near the end of the last movement that need to be completed and then the first draft will be finished.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
CME News
We've had to make an adjustment to our CME program for Nov. 8. Instead of the Bill Brooks' Kitchen Sink, we are performing Small Talk, which is a more recent work, but this won't be a first performance. Since it is shorter, we have also added a piece that is related to the two planned improvisations, No Free Lunch. That means we will have 3 of the 5 movements/pieces of Visions Suite. (Remembering the Night Sky is the fourth, and the fifth is incomplete, but shares some material with No Free Lunch. It will include a large section originally intended for No Free Lunch, but was dropped because I was way over the commissioned length.
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