Elusive Ideas

Sometimes I feel as if good ideas tend to evade me.  This is definitely how I felt this past week.  Last Sunday (3/21) and throughout the week I have tried to sketch ideas for the B section of Night Sky.  I did not like about 90 percent of these ideas.  Sure, some of them were good on their own, but most did not seem to fit the piece I have been working on.

I tool a step back and I thought about some of the element I wanted to include.  I made a list of those elements and I started a diagrammatic sketch of the B section.  A quick definition of a diagrammatic sketch is a sketch of a series of shapes, rhythms or even colors used to represent the music to be composed.  These sketches can take different forms, but one important element is that they are done away from staff paper and musical instruments.  I will take the time to provide examples and a better description in a future post.

This sketch has been a big help in formulating ideas for the B section.  I have been able to move ahead and workout the first half of this section.  Sometimes all it takes to get going again is to step back a moment and organize your thoughts.