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.