Looking back at this past semester, I think I have come a long way in how I think about composing music. In September, I hadn't composed much of anything at all, so all of this has been a new and unfamiliar world. When we were assigned the first project, I honestly had no idea how to go about any of it, especially since it was supposed to be atonal with no tonal inflections or ANYTHING. It was like jumping in uncomfortable water. I started a couple of ideas that eventually went nowhere, but finally settled on an idea of a programmatic piece about creation, life, and destruction. It soon started to become more natural and the ideas seemed to come to me more often and it was easier to put my ideas onto music.
The second project but me into even more unknown waters. I had no idea how to set a poem to music or write for a vocalist. This, and the added instruments, really put more pressure on me, but I started out with a solid idea for the music, and was able to start writing effectively right away. I wanted to write a piece with a fast tempo, which was fine and dandy, but I soon realized that in order to write a piece that is supposed to be 3-5 minutes, you must write a lot more music then, say, a slow piece with the same time limit. So I found myself spending many hours in the wee morning trying to write page after page. It only turned out to be 17 pages, but that seemed like a lot for a schmuck like me who is so new to this composing thing. In the end, I was able to write some pretty amusing and interesting moments, and I was very pleased with the end result.
I now understand why we were bound by the world of atonality for these two projects. Had we been given the option of using standard tonality, I think that most of us would have ended up taking that road. But by limiting yourself just to tonality, which all of us should understand, and are quite comfortable with, we would not have given our self the opportunity to experiment with atonality. So by forcing ourselves to use only atonality we, or at least I, have now developed a new opinion, or appreciation to writing in that style, and I will continue to do so, which I probably would not had I not done it for these two projects.
I've really become a much more confident and inspired composer and now have even more drive and ambition to continue experimenting down that road. (I know that sounds corny)
I also think that everyone in the class has improved a lot as well! It's crazy to see how they've grown and developed with their compositions, and it's only been one semester!
I had a lot of fun this semester! A lot of work, definitely my busiest course, but the most satisfying.

So I passed in my composition yesterday, and I gotta say, I was very pleased with the way it all turned out in the end. I didn't have to spend half as much time editing this score as compared to the last piece. While I was composing this current piece, I made articulation and phrase markings as I went, and I didn't have to spend as much time determining where things were going to go. I am very happy with the performance, and I am also happy about my editing. I tried to be as specific as I could be with my directions and markings, so I think my ideas and thoughts are clear and easy to understand.

OK! Since my last post I've completed my composition and presented it in class. For some reason I didn't really get very much feed back on the last two times I presented in class, which sucks, cause I would have liked to have heard more constructive comments and suggestions. Maybe it was because I was usually always the last one to present, and people were just antsy to get out of class. Maybe not. But whatever comments I did get were helpful, so thanks for that!

Tonight was the concert and I think it went over very very well. I feel very happy and complete with the composition. I put in a lot.....A LOT of work to get this done in time. There were many all nighters at the music building until almost dawn and very little hours of sleep some nights, but it seems to have been worth it.
I went with the "circus" theme, with a lot of unequal and unexpected time changes. I put in a few different characters, each portraying a slightly different type of circus music, and most times different instruments presenting them. My vocal line for the most part followed no pattern whatsoever to give it a more absurd and risky feel.

I want to thank my performers for an amazing job, and I really couldn't have done it without them! All of them are just as, and probably more, busy as I am at this time of the semester, but they really pulled through for me, and I'm really appreciative of that.
The concert itself went over very well too! It was no where near as long as the last concert. I believe that it was only an hour and a half tonight, which is just right and pretty amazing for a concert with as much music and stage changes as we had. We also had a fantastic audience show up, and that really adds to the excitement and showmanship of a performance.

All in all, I'm very happy with the way my piece turned out. I now look forward to all of the editing and final copy work I have to do now...yay...
Great job everyone! I could really hear a big step forward in everyone's writing!

Last friday I presented some ideas I had thought of for my vocal piece. It involves the use of a couple atonal chords with a tonal one in the middle and the rhythm is a confused waltz like feel. It seemed to go over fairly well with everyone, so that's good to hear! So far this week I've set some of the lyrics to it, and it seems to be going along nicely, but not quick enough! Concert is soooooo soon! I plan on completing it this weekend so that I can give it to my performers to practice and schedule some rehearsals. I'm trying to think of a new section but right now I'm drawing a blank, hopefully tomorrow the class will give me some good ideas.
Back to composing!

So I've recently presented most of the rhythms for my poem that I'm going to set to music. I'm setting "Constantly Risking Absurdity" and I think that my rhythms for the most part are going good. As for my instrumentation, I'm between piano, cello, and violin or tuba trombone and trumpet. Since the poem compares the risks of being a poet to a tightrope walker I want to give a "circus-ie" feel, with unstable rhythms and motion to portray an unbalanced feeling of walking on a wire.
Those are my ideas so far, I present some music on friday and we'll see how that goes!

So the concert is over and done with! And I think that it was a huge success for everyone! It was really great to hear everybody's completed pieces in the Cook Hall. Although it was a very long concert, I think that we did all that we could have done to save time and make it run as smoothly as possible! There were no long delays or holdups, which was surprising given the number of performers!
I was very happy with my composition and performance, and really appreciated the hard work from my accompanist. She was great! I would like to get my hands on a recording, so that I can really hear what it sounded like, but overall I think that it went off wonderfully! Especially my third movement, which had the trombone playing into the piano. I was happy with the effects given off by the trombone and piano and thought that it portrayed exactly what I intended.
Now it's onto the second project. I think I'll do the text setting choice, and I'm not 100% what text I'm going to use yet. The past couple days I've been cooped up in my bed trying to fight off a cold, so I've been asleep rather than researching. But now I can hopefully get down to brass tax.
That's all for now!

I presented my 3rd movement last friday, and the performance didn't sound anything like it should have. The piano in the classroom sucks big time for my purpose because it's only an upright. But I think everyone got the gist of what I wanted to present. I was rather happy with most of it, and got very good comments, which I will incorporate when I edit it! Mostly it was that I need to write more things that have the trombone and piano playing together, and expanding on a motive that I have.
Currently, I am re-re editing my movements and taking all of the suggestions and trying to work them into the pieces! I'm re-organizing a lot of my material in my first movement. I discovered that a good way to make it flow better and keep the momentum going was to just put the same things in a different order. I'm also putting in more chords to give the piece a faster harmonic flow. Things look good right now! Can't wait for the concert! Should be fun!

I had a tough time getting my ideas for the 3rd movement down on paper. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and pretty much how I had to do it, but sitting down transferring it from my mind was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to create a character that began with a feeling of total destruction and havoc and then give the piece a very baron and lifeless atmosphere. I wanted to have the piano mostly picking and swiping the strings with fingers on the strings to give it a ghostly and haunting feeling and have the trombone always play into the piano to give it a resonating and echoy sound. The two instruments are meant to be soloists and have their own roles, being "lost and wandering".

My 2nd movement was a slow process, in determining which ideas were appropriate and which were not. But I was finally able to narrow down and put together a rough sketch of it! I wanted to give it a heroic character to portray the lives and roles of life during the time of the dinorsaurs, and I'm pretty sure there had some heroic moments. I presented it to the class and were able to give me some good feedback on it and ways to improve! It was very dense and too much going on at the one time, while the piano part was very redundant and boring. I gave it a lighter feel and provided the piano accompaniment with interesting rhythms and a more supportive and also a solipsistic role. The next time I performed it, it went over much better and I was able to achieve more of what I originally wanted.

Last Friday I presented my second draft of the 1st movement. It went over much, MUCH, better than the first. I was able to convey one character throughout and effectively achieve what my goal was. I'm currently still in the process of writing the second movement. I've discovered that what I had originally thought of the 2nd is just not going to work with my idea, which is causing me to get stuck in a compositional ditch. I've dug my way out though! While working out some awesome-o counterpoint for my assignment for the other class I was able to doodle out a main idea for the 2nd! HUZZAH! If it weren't for theory, counterpoint and conducting taking up my time now (and those meddling kids) I'd be working it out right now, but alas, too much to get done in one night.

So last Friday I presented my first draft of the 1st movement of the character piece. I had too many different sections and needed focus on creating a single idea and character.
I began to think of a stronger structure and organization of the entire piece to be able be more specific. So with some ideas, I began to re-create and redo the first movement. I have a good idea for the opening, and a clear middle/end, but I'm still wondering how to connect the two. Hopefully inspiration will come hastily! I've had a chord progression and rhythmic figure for my second movement for a while now, so that should come together nicely.

Number 1

Today I changed around my chords and added some completely new ones. I took into mind some of the suggestions and comments from class; mostly my chords just sounding dissonant all the time and no relief from the tension. So I've made some nice sounding ones and such. Getting underway on the character pieces now and finalizing some ideas.