Well it's been a week or two since my last posting! So here goes...

Since the last update, I've heard the MUN Wind Ensemble play through my piece! I was sort of wondering what the difference of hearing it on my computer to hearing a live performance/reading with actual instruments would sound like. Would it change EVERYTHING? Would it make my rethink things about the piece? Would my orchestration be good or bad? There were so many ifs.

Most of my questions were answered with only one hearing. It didn't change everything! It didn't cause me to question my compositional decisions, or feel embarrassed, which was great. In terms of my orchestrations, I'd say mostly it was decent, but somethings that may not have been balanced/ appropriate during reading were probably due to the piece being sight-read. There are a couple things that I may change, but mostly I'm happy with it. I LOVED some of the chords that I created! I was really glad for sticking with my original thought for harmonic qualities and progressions.

I really wanted this piece to be a little/twice as long. There were some sections that really could have gone on longer. So maybe I will expand it this summer for something to do.

I got a taste of hearing a large ensemble play something that I wrote, and more than anything it was a tease/ desire to continue writing pieces like this so I can keep getting these experiences and opportunities. I have only been composing since the beginning of the school year, and let me tell you, hearing an ensemble play something I created really makes me realize that this is something that I really want to be doing and glad that I'm doing theory and composition as my major.

I had a great time composing/arranging this term! I'm excited to get started on a new project(s) over the summer!

Finished!

Well well well....

It's been a little while since a post.
BUT EXCITING NEWS! I think I just finished my band piece! Hurraaaay!
I feel pretty good about it too! There are a few things that I need to fine tune, mostly orchestration issues, typical... but nothing too taxing! I'm pretty satisfied with the form. I think so anyway... when I hear the band play in on wednesday, I'll know for sure. Well I guess that will answer a lot of my questions and curiosities about this piece.
Since my last presentation, I had a sort of march like thing happening, which meant to lead into a new section/ climax (which it does, as it turns out). Last week I added a new melody that played right into my climax. Right after the high point, the texture slowly gets less and less, as does the dynamic and tension. Then there is a restatement of my opening material, only orchestrated mostly for woodwinds, instead of brass, and I finish it off with a direct restatement of the very opening percussion.

I feel pretty good about it all! I'll hopefully present tomorrow in class and hopefully everyone else will like it too. I wasn't able to present on thursday because I discovered Thursday morning that my car decided to have a flat tire, and I spent all morning at a garage.....-_-....

Thats it! Now on to printing parts for the reading!

So I'm presenting my band piece again tomorrow, and I've got a few more things added since last week. I've extended one section, and beginning to think of ways to build to the climax of the piece. I've been having some trouble lately being happy with what I'm coming up with. It's just not fitting quite the way I want it, or hear it to. Hopefully it'll clear up soon, I think I just need to get away from it for a while and re-focus. I'M THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT IT!
So hopefully people will give some helpful feedback to try and pry me out of the compositional ditch that I'm stuck in right now!

Since my last post I've really dug into the wind band tune. Last week I presented twice, which was nice. On tuesday it was impromptu because there was a lot of time left to the class and I had at least something to show. It wasn't much, since I wasn't prepared, but I had gotten a better idea of my piece done since my previous turn.
My main idea is still with a gradual build up to a climax, and then a gradual decay until the end. I'm working around an A flat lydian scale mostly, but not strictly. I am using a lot of major chords with added 2nds and 4ths, which creates a very neat dissonance.
I present tomorrow with a little more new material. I have a 2nd section started, and I want some feedback before I start to really dive in.
I have a pretty good overall structure in my head, which is comforting, since we don't have a whole lot of time left! yikes! I'm really enjoying composing for wind band, and hopefully be able to write some other pieces!
Well, I'll have a more up-to-date post shortly after tomorrows class.

I presented some ideas for my concert band piece today. It wasn't much, hardly anything really, but a general chord progression that I had come up with and the types of harmonies that I plan on using and focusing on.

I was to create a very calm and beautiful atmosphere that over time starts to build and build tension and texture. I sort of came up with an idea for a melody just now, and it seems like the start of something!

I've also been listening to a lot of wind band music lately to really try and get a better idea of the balances, blends and sounds that are typical, and what I want to create.

That's it! Hopefully more soon

Ok it's been a little while!

Work has been crazy lately, so here is an update on my compositional life.

I recently passed in my finished copies of my 3 piano pieces. After I presented my last piece to the class, I was given the suggestion that I should more-or-less can the second half of it, and really try to expand the first half. I did that, which required a little bit of crunch composition to get it finished, but what's a couple of missed hours of sleep anyway? I was pleased with what I produced, and liked what that ended up being instead of my original draft. I expanded on the chordal progression that I had introduced and elaborated on it more intensely, I also did this to the rhythms and pitch directions and orders. I also had to re-do the ending of my first piece, which took a little bit of thinking and time, since I had been away from it for a while. The end result was a better and more appropriate ending, and arriving back to the "home key area".

So that is the finished updates for my piano pieces!

Newfound Music blog

So this is a little late, but here it is!
It's my blog about the Newfound Music Festival

I attended Derek Charke's lecture "Presentation on his music" and I was really interested in a lot of the topics and examples that he presented. He went through some recordings of various things and sounds that he put together to create an accompaniment to a flute piece. Then he went through the pitch collections that he used to make up the pitch order and ways he varied them. After discussing why he chose them and letting us here some of the electronic samples, he played a recording the piece and it was really interesting to hear how it all fit and presented itself. He then talked about a piece that he composed based on native throat singing of Northern Canada. He showed us some innovative bowing techniques that he devised to emulate the unique sounds that a throat singer can create, for example; moving the bow in both clockwise and counter-clockwise motion; and vertical up and down bowing. He played a couple excerpts of the piece and it was amazing the sounds that the string quartet was able to produce. It sounded unreal!

I was able to only attend the Thursday night concert, and looking at some of the posts about the other shows, especially Saturday night, I'm sad I wasn't able to hear those. But the concert on Thursday was great nonetheless. My favorite pieces were the Toccatas by Crawley, Gustnadoes by Charke, and Gwan by Godin. They were all very different, but really interesting and entertaining. I loved everything in the concert, but these pieces really captured my attention and interest.

I really liked Newfound Music this year, as I do every year, and I really wish that we could have more of these during the course of the semester instead of just being an annual event. Playing in Jess' piece with the concert band was a real treat! I really liked her piece and it was just great to see a fellow students work get promoted and played with the dedication that it received (the wind ensemble did a wicked job!). Our piano concert before the show on Satruday was also a lot of fun. Everyone's pieces were exciting and different, which made for a great concert. It was short and sweet, and we got a great audience! What else could we have asked for? Notable things from past Newfound festivals include playing in Reiley's "In C" last year, which was a lot of fun and a rare experience! These festivals continue to provide top-notch presentations and world class music, which makes us very fortunate to receive and participate in. Personally, it is a great learning experience and continues to give me encouragement and inspiration. It really is too bad that we only get one a year, but hey, maybe that will change in the future!