Friday, November 9, 2007

What I've been doing this week

Wow, only a few minutes shy of one week between posts. This is no way to attract a dedicated readership to a new blog! Okay, here's my excuses:

I'm really busy! (I know everyone always is.) No, really, though.

Note: you can refresh your memory about these projects with my earlier post on current composition projects, below.

By Monday, I am scheduled to have the following three projects completed:

1.) Create electronic music for a two-minute student film trailer (at least one week overdue)

2.) Orchestrate the 4½- minute piano-vocal version of in memoriam Hibakusha (for recorded concert performance Nov 30)

3.) Orchestrate the two-minute "Fall Interlude" from my thesis musical The Eden Diaries for full orchestra (for a Nov 26 reading - my first original piece ever played by full orchestra)


This past week I finished two composing projects: 1) She Gestures, a 6-minute piano piece with a "gestural" texture (see my next post, Compositional Techniques #1, above), and 2) transcriptions of three Christmas pop tunes for a concert. Also, I sadly decided to officially postpone two other stalled projects (the organ solo piece Beauty, and Set 'Em Up for jazz band).

Gilgamesh is fun but not a priority yet. Sadly. 'Cause it's fun. :(

So, for you brave souls who made it to the end of this largely list-based rant about my busy life... here is a look forward to my upcoming (planned) posts:

1. Compositional Techniques #1: Part 1 in a series of posts describing my various approaches to music (that is, how, when, where, with what, and maybe why do I compose?)
2. [Insert Snappy, Clever Title Here]: Something insightful about the usefulness (or not) of applying genres or other labels to music, classical and not. Or something hip like that.
3. Samuel Barber Notebook #1: Part 1 in a series devoted to the works of Samuel Barber. I have decided to listen to all of Barber's 48 works before Spring semester (at least the ones I have free access to), and this series will offer my reactions as well as my own musical journey as I work through these pieces.

Peace.

1 comment:

  1. Wow! Quite a busy schedule. I can't believe how much composing you're doing these days! You used to struggle so much to get 30 seconds of a piece done back in college. Good for you!

    An aside on Samuel Barber. I was reading in the NY Times yesterday that he was one of the "activ-est" of gay activists in the queer arts scene before it was trendy. I didn't know he was gay--cool!

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