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).
Friday, October 25, 2013
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.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Steel Paradise
I have a surprise performance coming up in January. It was a surprise to me as I hadn't written the piece yet, and it hadn't been discussed at all, except that the SNM had expressed interest in performing something of mine on their winter series.
As I have to deliver a score and parts by Dec. 1, I decided to arrange a piece of mine that has never been performed, Paradisio. I know I was going to arrange it for band, but this came up, and it seems that it can be reduced easily for the required forces: cl, str qt, pf, pc, and steel pan. I've never written for steel pan before, but the concert features a steel pan specialist, and it seemed to be appropriate to include him. Anyway, I'm about a quarter of the way through it, and it's going quickly when I have time to work on it.
New Notations Computer Services Ltd is finished now. I sent my final accounts in to my accountant, and except for paying their invoice and submitting my final VAT return, it is closed. It served me well over the years. The new US company is Notagraphia LLC, and I'm too busy with it to build more than a rudimentary website. That is, combined with teaching, composing, and typesetting, there is no free time. (I really do need to do some work on the house!)
Speaking of teaching, I'm now directing the Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and we will perform on our Nov. 8 concert the Stravinsky Octet, the first complete performance of Bill Brooks' The Kitchen Sink and The Water In It, as well as Pitch City by William Duckworth.
Also on the program will be two directed improvisations, for which I'm providing the framework. The first is called Night Visions, and will be based on a rearrangement of Pitch City that instead uses my rows. Over the top will be improvised material, using sets from those rows, as well as interpolated material from a "not-jazz" combo suite (Visions) that I began about 10 years ago. Rehearsals are going well.
The second improvisation is The Sky at Night, which uses the same sets accompanying the saxophone solo part from Remembering the Night Sky, which was originally supposed to be part of the Visions set. No Free Lunch is also part of that set, but it was originally supposed to be a much larger work. There is another "movement" that was never finished, since I was already 4 minutes over the commissioned length. I may finish it and revert the NFL material to the original ordering, and the re-insert it into Visions.
That would make the new Visions:
Night Visions: Improvisation I (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
No Free Lunch (fl, va, vc, pf, current version, possibly reordered?, 5')
The Sky at Night: Improvisation II (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
Remembering the Night Sky (as, pf, 18')
(untitled): Improvisation III ((fl, as, 2pf, pc, va, vc, probably based on unused NFL material, 12')
My original plan had a different instrumentation (as, tpt, tbn, pf, elect. bass, pc), but I'm not bothered about that. It's around the same length, and the instrumentation of the improvisations is flexible.
As I have to deliver a score and parts by Dec. 1, I decided to arrange a piece of mine that has never been performed, Paradisio. I know I was going to arrange it for band, but this came up, and it seems that it can be reduced easily for the required forces: cl, str qt, pf, pc, and steel pan. I've never written for steel pan before, but the concert features a steel pan specialist, and it seemed to be appropriate to include him. Anyway, I'm about a quarter of the way through it, and it's going quickly when I have time to work on it.
New Notations Computer Services Ltd is finished now. I sent my final accounts in to my accountant, and except for paying their invoice and submitting my final VAT return, it is closed. It served me well over the years. The new US company is Notagraphia LLC, and I'm too busy with it to build more than a rudimentary website. That is, combined with teaching, composing, and typesetting, there is no free time. (I really do need to do some work on the house!)
Speaking of teaching, I'm now directing the Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and we will perform on our Nov. 8 concert the Stravinsky Octet, the first complete performance of Bill Brooks' The Kitchen Sink and The Water In It, as well as Pitch City by William Duckworth.
Also on the program will be two directed improvisations, for which I'm providing the framework. The first is called Night Visions, and will be based on a rearrangement of Pitch City that instead uses my rows. Over the top will be improvised material, using sets from those rows, as well as interpolated material from a "not-jazz" combo suite (Visions) that I began about 10 years ago. Rehearsals are going well.
The second improvisation is The Sky at Night, which uses the same sets accompanying the saxophone solo part from Remembering the Night Sky, which was originally supposed to be part of the Visions set. No Free Lunch is also part of that set, but it was originally supposed to be a much larger work. There is another "movement" that was never finished, since I was already 4 minutes over the commissioned length. I may finish it and revert the NFL material to the original ordering, and the re-insert it into Visions.
That would make the new Visions:
Night Visions: Improvisation I (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
No Free Lunch (fl, va, vc, pf, current version, possibly reordered?, 5')
The Sky at Night: Improvisation II (fl, as, 2pf, pc, 10')
Remembering the Night Sky (as, pf, 18')
(untitled): Improvisation III ((fl, as, 2pf, pc, va, vc, probably based on unused NFL material, 12')
My original plan had a different instrumentation (as, tpt, tbn, pf, elect. bass, pc), but I'm not bothered about that. It's around the same length, and the instrumentation of the improvisations is flexible.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Silence
It's been a while since I last posted. The reason? I'm busy. Since my return from the UK ... really since just before I left for the UK, I've been buried under typesetting work. My new company that is forming as we speak (hopefully) and finally has a name, which I will announce as soon as it is finalized by my attorney. Many of you may have voted for it on my Facebook page, so it won't be a mystery to you.
I've sorted out a few of my computer problems, but not completely. I've replaced my clean, but limited, Creative X-Fi with a Xonar DG, which is a nice inexpensive ASIO sound card. Unfortunately, it isn't well shielded, so my hard disk activity bleeds into the output. That isn't as bad as it was on my onboard chip, but it is annoying anyway. If I decide to do any recording, I may have to build another PC that will tolerate my X-Fi card and more than 4 GB of RAM.
My latest problem is that my Score computer has died. While I was away, there was a power surge, and while my main PC was protected, it seems my Score one was not. Now I have everything plugged in through my UPS, so there shouldn't be any further problems. I'll receive a new power supply on Friday, which should fix the problem.
Hence, there has been no work on my Piano Concerto, nor the parts for my sax concerto.
It appears that I'll be conducting/directing the SU Contemporary Music Ensemble this year, so I'm thinking about reviving my work on Night Vision, which is a directed improvisation. I like the idea of having one improvisation on each concert, so I would like to start with something that is a little more codified than what they used to do at York, which was supposedly completely free, but unfortunately didn't really satisfy musically.
Please do attend my Cazenovia Counterpoint concert on 20 July if you can.
I've sorted out a few of my computer problems, but not completely. I've replaced my clean, but limited, Creative X-Fi with a Xonar DG, which is a nice inexpensive ASIO sound card. Unfortunately, it isn't well shielded, so my hard disk activity bleeds into the output. That isn't as bad as it was on my onboard chip, but it is annoying anyway. If I decide to do any recording, I may have to build another PC that will tolerate my X-Fi card and more than 4 GB of RAM.
My latest problem is that my Score computer has died. While I was away, there was a power surge, and while my main PC was protected, it seems my Score one was not. Now I have everything plugged in through my UPS, so there shouldn't be any further problems. I'll receive a new power supply on Friday, which should fix the problem.
Hence, there has been no work on my Piano Concerto, nor the parts for my sax concerto.
It appears that I'll be conducting/directing the SU Contemporary Music Ensemble this year, so I'm thinking about reviving my work on Night Vision, which is a directed improvisation. I like the idea of having one improvisation on each concert, so I would like to start with something that is a little more codified than what they used to do at York, which was supposedly completely free, but unfortunately didn't really satisfy musically.
Please do attend my Cazenovia Counterpoint concert on 20 July if you can.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Cazenovia Counterpoint concert
Family Arts Day: Bells & Bees
Saturday, July 20, 5:00 PM
Stone Quarry Art Park,
Stone Quarry Rd.,
Cazenovia
Tickets: $15 regular, $12 seniors/students, free for ages 18 and under (available at the door or email tickets@societyfornewmusic.org to reserve) Concert of music by regional composers and Syracuse natives Edward Ruchalski Bell Song, Douglas Quin A Lotta Night Music, Sean O'Loughlin Origins, Stephen Ferre Stimmen, Diane Jones Iago (2nd performance) and Open Space (premiere this version).
www.societyfornewmusic.org
Saturday, July 20, 5:00 PM
Stone Quarry Art Park,
Stone Quarry Rd.,
Cazenovia
Tickets: $15 regular, $12 seniors/students, free for ages 18 and under (available at the door or email tickets@societyfornewmusic.org to reserve) Concert of music by regional composers and Syracuse natives Edward Ruchalski Bell Song, Douglas Quin A Lotta Night Music, Sean O'Loughlin Origins, Stephen Ferre Stimmen, Diane Jones Iago (2nd performance) and Open Space (premiere this version).
www.societyfornewmusic.org
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