The Master's Hammer

Well, I've not been here much lately. I still haven't finished proofing Symphony No 2, as I've been rather busy. After the passing of Pierre Boulez, I decided to write an homage for him (the image above doesn't show the dedication). In fact, the Syracuse University Contemporary Music Ensemble was already planning to perform Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time on April 13, so we decided to dedicate the concert to Boulez, Messiaen's student. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to rent a Boulez work for the program, so instead, I put a call out to SU faculty to write short pieces in memory of Boulez that would complement the Quartet.

In addition to new pieces by Andrew Waggoner and Avram Finberg, I've composed The Master's Hammer, based on the row for Le Marteau sans Maître, divided into sets in my usual way, but also transformed to get a better variety of intervals in my sets.

That's what I've been working on when I'm not teaching, or typesetting, or writing grant proposals, or getting over a nasty cold.

Next up, I need to write my SNM commission for next March, an 18-minute piece for 8 instruments, probably featuring violin and cello as a quasi double concerto. I'll probably also spend a couple of days proofing my Symphony No. 2.

Should ...

As expected I've been procrastinating. While I've been waiting for proofs of Oyre's Garden and Chaos, I've fiddled around with my Symphony No. 2. It's needed a minor revision, and I also wanted to finally typeset it. Nobody wants to perform off hand-copied originals anymore. I had input about half the first movement into Sibelius at some point a few years ago, so I've spent the past week inputting the rest and making the amendments. I've also clarified some notation and fixed some wrong notes.

It's printing out now, and I'll take my time proofing it. Setting an 82 page score in a little over a week, is moving quite quickly, so I want to make certain everything is right.

So the current timeline is:

Chaos: proofs to arrive early next week, should go live shortly thereafter.

Oyre's Garden: proofs to arrive next week, there were some strange errors flagged up by Createspace, so I need to check it carefully.

Symphony No. 2: I will proof it sometime over the next 3 weeks, and then upload it. ETA, end of January. Although, Spring semester begins mid-month, and I have to prepare for that, as well as do a parts job by the middle of the month. I also have to prepare to conduct Remembering the Night Sky for the performance 31 Jan. 2016.

It's going to be a busy month.

Procrastination?

I've been getting my head together for finals week and grading. It's really just the finals, juries, and a few late entries into the homework assignments, so it isn't so bad. The test is ready except for the photocopying, and juries aren't until Wednesday.

I should start putting some effort into either my SNM commission for next year, or the wind ensemble piece I started this semester, a re-harmonization of Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. I've got all my materials ready. It's just a matter of some broad sketches and fleshing it out.

Should is the operative word.

Instead, I spent this weekend finally beginning to input and tweak my Symphony No. 2. There is a brief passage I want to fix near the beginning, but the rest will be mostly straight input as well as clarifying some dynamics. I'm about 3/4 into the first movement. (I had started a long time ago when I was trying out a new version of Sibelius.) My Euphonium Concerto is in the same state, although possibly further along, except it needs more extensive revision.

My Notagraphia website has been trailing a coming score to Oyre's Garden for a long time now, and that is what I spent today on. I've converted it from Finale to Sibelius and increased the staff size, so it doesn't need to be printed out on large format paper to be able to read it. There are some minor revisions, mostly making it look a little more like it sounds. Again, I've added and clarified some dynamics. All I have left to do is the front matter, and then I can upload it to Createspace. I'm trying to decide whether it needs new parts or whether I can easily adjust the Finale parts.

I'm also going to tweak the score to Chaos. I'm not happy with the accolades (the instrument names in the margin), so I'm going to improve them, add the front matter and post it - probably at the same time as Oyre's Garden. That's probably an afternoon of work between the two scores, so I should upload them by Christmas, and get to the new pieces.

Saying that, I have a typesetting job on its way, so that might eat into my composing time.

Remembering the Night Sky is now available on Createspace

Remembering the Night Sky (chamber version) is now available on Createspace. Parts are free, if you purchase the score and email me on the address inside the cover page. It will be available on Amazon within the next week.

At this point in time, I don't have a release date for the saxophone and piano version, since it is too short for Createspace publication. I'm considering publishing it with a bonus of Mirage, for solo alto saxophone. That will get me up to the minimum page threshold.

Chaos, for piano and orchestra should go live by the end of the month. I need to come up with some interesting artwork for it.

New arrangement

I've been quiet here, but I've been busy.

Firstly, I think Chaos is just about ready to upload to Createspace, and ultimately Amazon. I've edited the harp part, but I may have one more look through the score before finalizing it.

In the meantime, I've finish an arrangement of Remembering Child for a performance in Syracuse at the end of January (http://www.societyfornewmusic.org/concerts.cfm), and I'm expecting proofs in the mail in the next few days to approve. I'll post an announcement. This the first score with my own digital artwork, and I'm hoping it looks good. I'm not sure about the scaling of the jpeg. I may have to go back to one of their stock images. Someday, I hope I'll be able to supply real artwork for my covers.

I've also set the original version with piano, but it's too few pages to publish on Createspace. It's only 16 pages and the minimum is 24. Front matter takes it up to 18, but that is still 6 pages short. I could publish my sax quartet with it as a bonus, or possibly Mirage, which I haven't typeset yet, but it is only a couple of pages long. It's a solo alto piece with loads of multiphonics, key clicks, and pops. I might consult on it first. Some of the multiphonics are awkward, and I might try to find some notes with smoother fingerings approaching and leaving them.

There are two more works on the horizon. Firstly, I have another piece to write for the Society for New Music - for next season. Also, I've been sketching a wind ensemble piece based on Bach's harmonization and my reharmonization of Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. I'll give more details on that later.

That Saxophone Quartet ...

... is officially finished - for real, this time. 

A long time ago (in a far away land) Paul Bro asked me to write a quartet for the Chicago Saxophone Quartet. I never got a confirmation from him that they would perform it if I wrote it, nor was there any talk of a commission fee. At some point, I got some ideas and wrote them down. There was enough for a whole movement there, but I never got around to assembling it.

Several years ago, when I was teaching students how to use Sibelius, I gave each member of the class a page to typeset as an exercise in expanded techniques - all but the last page for some reason - either that or the person assigned the last page never turned in the assignment. About a year later, I appended the files together and considered it finished, but I didn't think I liked it enough to try to peddle for performances.

Lately, I have been reorganizing my manuscripts, and ran across it. I figured I had a little time to play with it, and decided to clean it up. I'm not sure I really like the beginning - I need to hear it - it's a style I was exploring in the mid-90s, but I've decided that I do like most of it.

It's not easy. Part of it is very fast (possibly too fast) and there are a number of quarter tones.

It's also too short to publish on CreateSpace - and not close enough to pad it with blank pages. I'm not sure what to do with it yet - add a title page and performance notes to get it up to 14 pages, and then put a 10 sample pages of From Her Husband's Hand and Inner Sanctum? I could put a few pages of Remembering the Night Sky in, too, but that isn't published yet, and I'm thinking of revising it first.

If anyone is interested in playing it, just send me an email.

The New Sibelius

I don't get it. The new Sibelius doesn't really have any significant new features. Yes, there is annotation and being able to write with a pen (on a Surface Pro), but for those who have a mega setup and huge (non-touchscreen) monitor, that's nothing.

You can pay $89 for the upgrade for a perpetual license now. And then another $89 next year, and the following year for "free" upgrades and support. Sounds like $267 to me. I've been using Sibelius since version 1. I don't need support. If they are promising multiple annual upgrades, that's different - and by upgrades, I don't mean maintenance fixes. I don't like the subscription model.

Have they stopped developing Sibelius? Sounds like it. I can think of a lot of things they could fix, but it doesn't sound like they have made any changes in the notation direction.

Until I see a compelling reason to buy it, I guess I'm sticking with 7.5.