Relating to my January composing report, I rediscovered this gem from the LA Phil while looking up notes on Joan Tower’s Violin Concerto:
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Composing Report: January 2016
As part of my PhD studies, I’ve wanted to develop professional work habits. I needed a composing system that would eliminate my excuses for not working and would cushion me against life’s curveballs.
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English Horn Sonata Consortium
Boston-based oboist Jeralee Johnson and I invite you to join us to create a substantial work for English horn and piano. Interested performers on alto saxophone, cello and other instruments are also welcome.
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At the end of my time at Brevard, I (along with the other composers) got to have a reading session with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. The orchestra played the first two minutes of my new violin concerto that premieres December 7 at BYU. Jared Starr will be playing the solo part this December, but […]
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Just went to the rehearsal of my setting of that Lindsay poem. It worked out great. I haven’t gotten as much of a rush from hearing my music since the first piece I had performed in middle school. Great work, Jason and Bolton in performing! If on the stray chance, you happen to be passing […]
Continue readingMore TagAttitudes, Thought Processes, and Their Resultant Ideas
I was partially surprised by how surprised I was by this realization. I’d taken Intro to English Language. I’m aware of the hypothesis that how we talk about things shapes what we talk about. Yet up until this point, I had never thought of compositional process as having such a strong effect on compositional thought. But I suppose as Admiral Kirk said, “Well, now you have something new to think about.”
Continue readingMore TagWonderful songs, but born to die!
For our first project at Brevard, all thirteen of us composers have to write songs on the same text. This year’s text comes from Vachel Lindsay, otherwise famous for writing the lyrics for Charles Ives’s song “General William Booth Enters Heaven.” The poem we’re setting is entitled “In Praise of Songs That Die”: Ah, they […]
Continue readingMore TagCountdown to San Francisco: 5 days
Nine days and four rehearsals later, A Field Guide to Natural History is coming together.
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4 teachers, 8 months, 19 movements, 20 minutes, 31 pages, and 43 alternate titles later, my Barlow commission has finally entered rehearsal.
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Ever wanted to be a composer? Well, this little gem of an animation makes it easy…
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