2010 in review

Looking back at this past year I have come to see it as a year of transition.  I decided to compose more music for high school and junior high concert bands.  Rather than just composer the music and hope that someone will perform it I contacted people I know who direct concert bands and asked if they are interested in me composing a piece for their band.  I also felt that contacting the conductors was important because it gives me a goal and a timeline in which to compose this piece.  The plan is for me to compose four or five pieces and then create a mailer to try to market these pieces.  Of course I will still compose more wind ensemble pieces.

This past year I completed two pieces.  The most recent piece is Night Sky for concert band.  This is the first in the series I have listed above.  This piece is composed for Adam Noel and Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Concert Band.  Night Sky was a big undertaking for me as it had been quite awhile since I have composed for a large ensemble.

The other piece I completed was Book 1 of Ètude Scéniques for solo trumpet.  These ètudes started off as exercises designed to retrain me to compose in a more tonal style.  I needed to do this in preparation for composing Night Sky.  My typical compositional style would likely have not been appropriate for this age group.

There are also two pieces that I am currently composing.  The first is my next wind ensemble piece Time in Memoriam.  I am writing this piece for Lee Morrison and New World School for the Arts High School Wind Ensemble.  I have recently begun work on the second half of this piece.  The other piece is my second collaboration with photographer Micheal Vickers, Trackings No. 2.  So far I have composed three of the six planned movements: numbers 1, 2 and 4.  The third movement is currently in progress.

In 2010 I received only one performance (that I know of), but it was worth it.  My piano piece 4-5 was beautifully performed by Stacey Barelos at the 8th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music.  I composed this piece in 2002 and it finally received its premiere performance in 2010.

There are a few non-compositional projects that I have started or continued in 2010 that I am proud of.  First is this blog.  This has been a great outlet for me to organize my thoughts and keep myself accountable.  I have also revamped and kept current the New Music Forum website.  In November I started a new blog focusing on an area of research in which I am interested: Color Music.  Through this blog I hope to define color music and further my research.

2010 was a challenging year for me on so many levels.  However, I do see this past year as a transitory year for me.  I have made a lot of decisions as to my direction and I have been able to keep up with multiple projects while working full time.  I am looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings.

Choosing a Direction

Normally beginning a new composition is an exciting time for me.  After choosing the ensemble I am faced with a myriad of possibilities for style, sound world, texture, duration, form, etc.  This time, however, I am faced with a little trepidation.  The ensemble for which I will be composing this piece is a middle school band.  Now I have no problem with this ensemble.  It is just that the techniques I can employ become limited.  It is through no fault of their own.  Most of the students have only been playing their instruments for a couple of years.

Another aspect of this piece that causes some intimidation is that I am friends with the director of the band. I tend to put a little more pressure on myself in this type of situation.  I am sure it will not cause me problems.  It is just something I think about.  After all, I want to make sure that I start off with strong material.

As I was working on Études Scéniques there was a phrase in the fifth piece Shaded Path that seemed very familiar to me.  At the time I used it because it lends itself well to that étude.  I have decided that I am going to use and develop this phrase in the band piece.  To me this phrase is not an opening phrase, but it will likely be the phrase with which I begin my sketch.

I still cannot place the familiarity of this line.  I am unsure if it is my own music or someone else's.  Maybe I will figure it out in time, or maybe it is not important.  Either way this is the material with which I shall start working.

Preliminary Exercises Completed

This week I completed Book 1, Part 1 of Études Scéniques.  I began these études as a way for me to work on simplifying my musical language.  I do feel as if this "experiment" was successful.  To clarify I only consider this an experiment because it is not something I normally do.  I have composed 5 études in this first set.  The overall duration of this set is around nine minutes.  I still have not settled on an instrument for these études.  However, I do not think that a particular instrument is that important.  On my keyboard I was using clarinet sounds and I have considered trying to play through these on trumpet.

This first set is a series of simple études.  I will continue adding to the études as I begin new works or need to work out some issues in current projects.  The titles of these études are:

1. Cool Breeze Blows
2. Evening's Dawn
3. Sun-Drenched Fields
4. Rolling Hills
5. Shaded Path

Études Scéniques

I wanted to take the time to describe the idea behind Études Scéniques.  The thought of working on a junior high school band piece is somewhat intimidating.  I am used to composing more complex pieces for college level or higher performers.  Theoretically I could just jump in and start composing the piece by working on a few melodies and ideas until I found something that I like.  However, I realize that it has been a while since I have composed melodic music; much longer since composing tonal music.

At this point I do not feel comfortable starting work on such a piece without some preparation.  I figured that the best and easiest way to work on melodic writing is to compose for a solo instrument other than piano.  Currently I an working with the mindset that these études are for trumpet.  However, I am open to other instruments.  I guess I am thinking trumpet because I can play that instrument (albeit not very well) and it would be fun to learn these pieces.

This current set of études will consist of 5-6 pieces.  Each étude is designed to depict a specific scenic image (hence the title).  I have been thinking about the long-range scope of the études.  I am toying with the idea that I will continue to expand this series of études when beginning a new project.  In a way I am thinking of it as being similar to Bartok's Mikrokosmos in how each piece gradually increases in difficulty and technique.  No matter how this series grows, I think that this could be a good way for me to explore some ideas for the piece prior to composing.