Author: Dale

PBSQ3, 3/8/10

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Today was such a glorious day that I came home from school, changed straight into my kilt, and headed to the labyrinth to soak up the sun. I also sketched out the end of the “Heartfelt” theme and the beginning of the finale.

Here’s what I got:

PBSQ3 (Dialog): score [pdf], sound [mp3]

Finale is not playing the molto rallentandos like I want, and yet it keeps playing the accelerando at m.79 all the way into m.82, making it sound like the bassoon is ripping out 32nd notes. I like the way it sounds, but I need to mess with the notation to get it to do that. Anyway, the last little sigh of the bassoon should be imagined as very slow and defeated.

From the little fragment at the end, I think you can tell where it’s heading. I should be able to wind it up tomorrow night.

Question: I played with actually writing out the dialog in the score; sometimes musicians can be obtuse. What do you think?

PBSQ3, 3/7/10

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All right! This movement is going to be fun, fun, fun, fun to write and fun to play.

All I’ve added this morning so far is the next strings bit of the “dialog,” but it was so clear as to how this is going to work that I had to share immediately:

PBSQ3 (Dialog): score [pdf], sound [mp3]

12:00, Lunch break. And I think you’ll enjoy the piece so far. I was completely unable to suppress my tendency to wit, and now I’m just reveling in it.

PBSQ3 (Dialog): score [pdf], sound [mp3]

1:40, Added a little more Tango. I think we need one more exasperating exchange, and then I’ve got the ending all worked out, except for the actual part where it stops, of course. I think you’ll like it. But first, some sun in the labyrinth, I think.

4:45, Lots of sunning and holding cats’ tummies to the sun. Eventually, though, I gave up the sun and came inside. I pressed forward and have reached this point:

PBSQ3 (Dialog): score [pdf], sound [mp3]

This is a pretty wonderful piece, I think. It makes me laugh: poor little bassoon can’t catch a break. No matter what he does, the strings turn it into something pretty. What to do?, to quote Mr. Honea. First I have to wind up this theme, and then we can begin our grand finale. And it is grand, I can assure you.

Another thought: I like the way it begins innocently enough, a pleasing yet serious contrast with the Threnody, but it has a game to play with the listener from the very start.

PBSQ3, 3/6/10

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And on we go! For the moment I’m calling this final movement “Dialog,” for lack of a better, more music-related term.

Here are the opening measures [mp3]. As usual, this is a sketch, and I penciled it all in just to get an idea if the concept would work. I think it will.

Labyrinth, 3/6/10

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I went to clean off the center today — I like to keep it pretty — and this is what I found:

Ha! A raccoon! This explains a lot: overturned pots, knocked over doodads, etc. I wondered how possums were making it around to every single clay pot and bumping into them all. Now we know. It was a creature with more manual dexterity and a lot more curiosity.

In other news, I went over to talk to the nice man who is renovating the house behind us. He is quite amenable to the idea of putting motion sensors on his security lights so that they don’t light up my back yard every night. Huzzah!

PBSQ2, 3/6/10

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When you’re writing a piece that is supposed to “sag to a stop,” it should hardly come as a surprise when it just does that of its own accord.

I’m going to post what I’ve got, but what I’m doing now is taking it out to the labyrinth and listening to it for about thirty minutes, doing my whole gestalt thing, listening for where it’s incomplete or incorrect. Then I’ll come back in a fix it, if I need to. It will be interesting to see what changes occur.

As of 10:00 am:

Threnody: score [pdf] sound [mp3]

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11:00ish: (with 30 minutes devoted to making and delivering coffee for the Wadsworth gang) Yep, I know what I need to do.

12:45: Lunch break, in the labyrinth. More listening, more fixing.

2:45: I think I’m done. Comment away.

Threnody: score [pdf] sound [mp3]

Labyrinth, 3/5/10

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For some reason, once upon a time, someone left a little pile of extremely strong magnets in my media center. They’ve been sitting on my desk for over a year now, and the other day I had a scathingly brilliant idea.

You may recall that I’ve been puzzling over the eastpoint of the labyrinth, the element of which is Air. The problem is that the other elements admit of lowkey stations: a pile of rocks, a candle, a basin of water. But Air seems to need something that floats at least a little, and therefore must be far enough above the ground to catch the wind.

I keep thinking “flags,” but the idea of tracking fabric filmy enough to float and then leaving it to the mercy of the elements, getting stained and dirty and generally icky, was distasteful. I have a set of Tibetan prayer flags made of art tissue that arrived as a “free gift” from some alternative store I trafficked with, and I thought about those.

But then I was cleaning off my desk at school and came across these magnets. It occurred suddenly to me that I could combine all these concepts and solve the problem: get tissue paper (which floats and is expendable), cut it into flags, and attach it to the rebar now standing next to the eastpoint entrance with the magnets. Presto! Easy to do, easy to undo, and attractive to the eye.

Videlicet:

Now I can play with the concept: cutting different shapes, using rice glue to create longer pennons, different colors for different moods. The sky’s the limit, pun intended.

In other news, this morning I was looking out the den window onto the labyrinth and decided I would pave over (paving stones) the firepit area in a large circle. It would be practical in terms of fire safety, and the circle would be quite beautiful next to the labyrinth.

PBSQ2, 3/4/10

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I’m working, I’m working.

I’ve decided to go with #1, and I’ve renamed it “Threnody,” because that’s what it sounds like. More later.

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10:16 pm: Here’s what I have going on. I have four motifs I’m working with:

  1. the quasi-“Alberti bass” figure that the bassoon opens with
  2. the quarter/half/quarter figure first heard echoing down the first and second violins
  3. the dotted quarter followed by descending eighths, first heard in the viola
  4. the dotted quarter followed by eighth notes grinding to a halt

There’s also the grace note attacks that keep popping up.

Anyway, I’m playing with combining those motifs in various mixes, often ending up with two instruments dwindling to nothing, only to have the wheel (of life?) given another spin. Eventually, however, the whole thing will just sag to a complete stop.

In the sound file, the last thing you hear is the first violin rousing itself to a bit of bravura. It doesn’t work yet, so don’t bother to comment. I’ll have to keep playing with the line until it makes sense.

More tomorrow.

PBSQ2(threnody): score [pdf] sound [mp3]

Just wow.

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Go ahead, read this. I’ll wait.

So, if I’m reading this gentleman’s post correctly, the American Family Association is all down with a) stoning a whale, and b) the manager of SeaWorld alongside him.

My only takeaway from this is that I hope that the crew who continually quotes Leviticus to keep the rest of us from eating shrimp realizes where the trajectory of their logic takes them, and us, if we’re not diligent in our exposure and ridicule of them.

PBSQ, 3/3/10

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Here we go with the Pieces for Bassoon & String Quartet. So far, my plan is to have three movements. The first is I. Waltz, which some of you may recall from this past summer. I really like this piece.

The second movement will be a Rhapsody of some kind. More in a moment.

For the third movement, I am seriously thinking I want to take the “clouds” sequence from “Phoenix” and turn that into a quasi-rondo: have the strings launch into this intense, even romantic passage, repeat it, embellish it, make it impossible to keep up with. Relegate the bassoon to some deformed, crabby crawlings around either at the bottom of it range or at its top.

For the Rhapsody, I was delighted to find that I had started two sketches for this. So you get to help me choose which one to work on in the next eight days. Make sure you listen to the first movement first to get a feel for the overall work.

  • Rhapsody #1: score [pdf] sound [mp3]
  • Rhapsody #2: score [pdf] sound [mp3]
  • Rhapsody: #3: start over

What’s your pleasure?

More musings

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I’m ready for it to be warm. No, really ready. Really.

I’m ready to unclog and untangle my herb garden. Some of the plants are making a valiant effort to put forth, thank you, parsley, chives, and oregano. I would thank rosemary, but it never goes away. The sage is too old; I need to replace it.

Cilantro usually reseeds itself, but I haven’t seen any shoots. It’s probably been TOO COLD for it to do its usual year-round thing.

It is about time to try to put out lettuce. But first I have to find a day that’s warm enough for me to be out there to unclog and untangle the place.

However, here’s the good news: this year I will be here all summer to maintain it and to enjoy the fruit of my labors. In the past, I’ve planted a lovely garden and get to use it for maybe four weeks before decamping to Valdosta. When I get back, whatever has survived without me is overgrown with grass.

But not this summer. This summer I can cook every day with fresh herbs. I can rescue plants that are failing, or rip them out and get new ones in the ground. I can try potted herbs, since they have to be watered every day and I’ll be here to do that, and probably will be lo0king for something to do after the first three days of leisure.

Yet another reason to get busy and get the bassoon/quartet piece done, so I can actually free up some time.

Technically, though, I can wait until weekend after next to start digging and weeding. At that point, the bassoon/quartet piece will already be in the mail, and I don’t have another competition for which I will have to write a new piece, at least if I decide to bag the a cappella Italian children’s choir piece, which I think I am.