Back to Basics

I am going through a time where I feel unmotivated to compose.  It is not that I do now want to or I have nothing of value to work on; rather, I have been very busy and I cannot seem to make the time.  When I think about the piece I am working on and the time frame in which it needs to be done, I start to feel pressure.  It is pressure I am putting on myself.

Composing a wind ensemble piece is a daunting task.  I know it is something that I can do.  Lately I have been focused on the big picture.  I want to finish Time in Memoriam by the end of the year.  My goal is to send off the score and parts to Lee Morrison by December 15th.  This gives me a little less than three months.  It is a tight schedule considering that it will take about two to three weeks of editing to polish the score, extract the parts and polish the parts.  I am not going to bother creating a timeline for completion as I keep getting burned by the goals I set.

It is time for me to get back to basics.  This means that I need to set aside at least sixty minutes each day to compose.  I want to get back into to the habit of composing, even if it is only a little bit each day.  This will allow me to focus more on the task at hand and not get overwhelmed by the whole project.  My best work comes when I am focused on my craft.  I will set goals for myself for that day or that week, but I will not set long-range goals other than the deadline of December 15th.  The pressure I would put on myself would be unnecessary.