In Honor of John Cage

Tension, release, but not release into a nice major chord, but a bursting forth f the built up energy.

Talk about magical wisdom. It's all about how we listen, what we listen for in a conversation. The other quote I grabbed from Ethan Iverson giving a great discussion of why competitions aren't great for art: especially a performance competition of Jazz.

Well it means quote 1 sticks into quote 2. If I listen to all the wrong parts of what I'm being told, it means I compromise the idea of quote 2- I write for a judge. If it gets me an award, then it's worth it." Listen to the part that says "Write the best music you can, get a nice recording, and send it out. So listen to the whole sentence, and work for your love of what you do.

• 8 premieres (yeah, that's right, i wrote one piece that wasn't a commission. go figure. 1 international paper presentation

"work must contain a song from "

I also performed on 4 more pieces during the course of the night. I've been going through the recordings, cleaning them up, etc. It's still pretty stressful hearing your music performed, whether for an audience of 5 or 500. 2 days after the performance, i worked on the recordings a bit. Nick Howell's solo on Hunter Long's "This Self-Imposed Abyss" sounded good to me then, but i was busy counting and playing backgrounds. We play a lot louder in concert and lose some of the dynamic contrast we worked hard on in rehearsal.

4. Some was a nervous, forward pushing energy; some was a relaxed, focused energy. Most performers strive for the focused energy, but something can be said for the nervous pushing energy. LOL. Over the past month or so, I've been slowly updating my website, CV, list of compositions, etc.

I've sat in my fair share of coffee shops. A pleasant conversation would ensue, then we'd part ways. Russell Kirsch.

The first is about the performers relationship to music, especially the process of learning a new piece. It's something I've hit on before (repeatedly, forcibly) in conversation- complex pieces are rewarding endeavors, and there is much to be gained by focusing on learning the piece. The next couple are about listening. Well done, Brian Ferneyhough.

"We need more audience for jazz, and the way to get that audience is not to play jazz correctly. Iverson also tosses in a little dig against competitions in the classical world, at least in sense that they don't work well.

• Kick-off Concert for ArtSounds

So far, I've done well with submitting.

"Only accepting pieces of 1-4 performers"

"No piece over 15 minutes will be accepted"

"Pieces under 10 minutes will be given preference"

Put stuff up as it comes in, even if you're busy.

• A piece "broadcast" as a part of an online edition of a literary magazine

• 5 commissions

• A commission and release by a record label

Took a very long train ride a couple days ago. First was meeting a man named Chris. Ligeti String Quartet 2, Ferneyhough String Quartets 2, 3, and 4. I've always disliked pieces starting with grand pauses. Pitch, rhythm, timbre/orchestration, energy. Man, does Ligeti nail nervous. the rhythm speeds up, the dynamic ebbs and flows, but never above quiet.

After writing two new pieces this summer, I've started up a third. The first two played with new (to me) pitch organization systems. Ferneyhough, Brian and Boros, James. Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 28, No.2 (Summer, 1990) p 6-50.

"works must be influenced by "

So, where's the creativity? Are composers meant to just create pieces for these performance opportunities? I just described a solid 3/4 of the submissions I've seen. Toss in spending a nice chunk of change just to submit, and, well...it's a little depressing.

I've submitted a piece that's mostly improv, and while the call doesn't say "no improvisation," that's one of the subtexts in many calls. And i've spent $30 so far.

If I do that well, I have a better chance of winning. Of course, if you're pushing for your own path, it's hard to find that competition.

I'm playing the game now. I'll keep playing the game, while doing my own thing outside of it (i've got 2 performances lined up in town).

Marvin Hamlisch was a different breed of masterclass presenter. Hamlisch wasn't afraid to state his opinion of a piece, drive right to the heart of the matter. Hamlisch's musical output was prodigious. He was decorated, worked as a pops conductor, and accomplished great things for musical theater. Hamlisch will be missed for his musical works and his conducting. Fare the well Marvin Hamlisch

Rhythm starts slow, speeds up, burst forth. Simplicity- a straight forward idea executed perfectly.

taking a day

So, i took a bit of a day today. meaning, i've done a lot of looking at music, made a couple small changes to a score, but didn't get into writing as much. It's probably bad form to take a day when i've only just begun this "everyday" idea, but, i needed it.

Last night, after posting, i kept writing. and talking to people online. and writing...and writing. And then it was 3 am. After getting past that initial hurdle, things fell into place.

Today, was workshop. I shall continue to refer to it as such, because i still dislike the terminology "group lesson." and, it opens up the idea that we can all talk. anyway, ours is small, 3 people, so we really each get about 40-45 minutes of time. I showed/played the first movement of "6 Pieces After Basho" or whatever i'm calling it today, and what i had fully done of the second movement, about 25 seconds. yeah yeah, i wrote and wrote and got 25 seconds. I write slowly. sue me.

After i finished, there was some light talk about how to write a graded piece- i told the other two guys that i was giving a presentation Feb. 28th on how to score for wind band and was going to include a hand-out that has a break down of graded literature...if i can find it- and then we moved to discuss the piece.

Everyone was surprised at how pretty it was. Considering what they heard was my opera- check out my FB page or my myspace to hear that- i could understand their momentary confusion. it's not that i can't write pretty things, i just don't particular agree with the language often times. I strive to write something pretty using the language I think is pretty- which happens to be not what a lot of other people consider pretty. lol.

After that, it was basically one comment. "the first movement felt a little disjunct at this one point. maybe hold a note over?" and i was like "AH! yeah, that'd perfect the piece. yep yep." and that was it. No "have you thought about this?" or "This part-writing here seems pretty weak..." or "When i was your age, alto saxes did things like this." ok, that last bit is over the top. lol. still...i dunno.

I always go into these things expecting to hear "Why in the name of heaven and hell is this person here?" i don't know why i expect this. I got in, after all. Still, it's somewhat nice and disconcerting to basically hear "Good work for your first week here." maybe it's because, really, it's a small showing, 25 seconds in a week. Or maybe, i'm actually pretty good at this composition thing. I'd still say they were humoring me. lol

Anyway, i'm going over my first movement briefly tonight and that's it. I was going to score out the rest of the passacaglia and move on, but i've been so tired all day. last night drained me, but i've reached the point where finishing the movement will be "easy" so i'll take the night to sleep.

And i made eggrolls. They are awesome. I should post that on my food photo journal on FB. sometimes, i forget things. and by sometimes, i mean all the time. and by things, i mean everything.

looks of an elephant, without the memory.

oh, watched "The Colour of Magic." Good movie adaption of the Terry Pratchett novel. yep yep