A lot has happened in the last two weeks, not the least of which was a fabulous lesson with the one-and-only David Braid. I was so thankful that he would give me his time and share his knowledge with me, which was invaluable and has been an immense help with this project. He kind of insinuated that there is no such thing as “writer’s block” and so long as one has the understanding of technique and process, the music will come - and he’s absolutely correct. What he taught me has since left me with zero speed bumps - I almost can’t keep up with what needs to get down on the page. Whether it’s good or not is another thing. Putting down music is one thing, orchestrating it is another. Remembering for whom I am writing it, I am struggling between issues of tone weight, colour and making sure everyone’s part is interesting. With this, there is a lot of experimentation, re-listening and revision (and a lot of second guessing, too!). I am excited that this project has exposed a fairly wide gap in my learning and understanding, it is that of orchestration, but, to be fair, I haven’t written for wind ensemble before.
I am so often amazed at composition workshops and lessons at the names of composers that arise over the course of an hour. Even though almost all the lessons/workshops I’ve attend have been ‘jazz’-based, the list of composers is so eclectic and my time with Mr. Braid was no exception: Chet Baker, Mozart, Henry Mancini, Stravinsky, Michael Colgrass, Bob Mintzer, Kenny Werner, and Hazrat Inayat Khan among others.
As far as the piece itself goes, I have completed the first introduction (Incantation), the introduction, the AAB of the “Head” movement and the AA of the “Heart” movement. With 6 weeks until the due date, things are starting to take shape - enough that I get to my favourite part of the process where I can print off a working score, sit at the table with a cup of coffee and start marking it up. Then I go to the computer and start punching in all the highlighted bits and pencil markings and grinding that out until the first printed score becomes irrelevant and then I can print off a second draft and so on and so forth. As the time of writing this blog post (2:40PM) I am aiming to take a break and then come back later this afternoon to start putting the pieces in place for the “Hand” movement.
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