Category: music

Creating something every day for 365 days: the music

Cello sonata. Again.

Posted on by Dale

I’ve been not composing. At first it was the backwash of the first movement, that ‘turning of the tide’ I’ve written about before. Then it was the hectic time we call ‘GHP interviews.’ Now it’s ‘being sick doesn’t help and I can’t remember the great music I dreamed under the influence of medication.’

Still, I’ve marked it on my calendar to get back to work tomorrow night on the second movement, and today I decided that the eftest thing to do is to write the last eight measures, since I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to say there. Then I can work my way backward to the beginning.

Also, since I have about four minutes in the first movement, and the last movement is likely to be that long, I can plan for the middle movement to be about three. Since it’s going to be an adagio, something slow, that eight measures could be a pretty good chunk to be going on with.

Yep, that’s my plan, all right.

Excelsior.

Posted on by Dale

I opened two new files last night, one labeled “ii. adagio,” and the other, of course, “ii. adagio ideas.” I threw some notes at the screen, but nothing definitive emerged.

This is the second movement of the cello sonata. I’ve already started the third, of course, but I’m pretty sure I need to look at bridging the headlong rush at the end of the Moderato to the gentle, flowing relief of the Andante.

I know what I want: the piano providing some kind of transparent, crystalline structure through which the cello wanders like a ghost, ending in the sludge at the lowest register, grinding to a halt. I keep thinking that the cello’s harmonics are the sound I need, but Finale doesn’t play them back so I’d be flying blind as it were.

Still, I’ve begun.

Cello Sonata No. 1: I. Moderato

Posted on by Dale

I think the first movement of the Cello Sonata No. 1 is finished.

I. Moderato score [pdf] | mp3

Comments? Suggestions? I’m going to let it percolate for a few days before sending it to Stephen.

update, 1/19/11: There was one measure that was really bugging me. If you listened to this yesterday, it probably bugged you, too. I have fixed it. This movement is now finished. Now let’s find out what its dedicatee thinks about it.

I’m working here…

Posted on by Dale

And lo! on the fourth day of enforced vacation, I finally turn to the cello sonata.

I’m forcing myself to be happy with the development as it stands. I have stitched it to the recapitulation and rounded that off to head into a coda. So now all I have to do is plaster over the joint leading into the recap, and to figure out how to stick the lead-in to the recap onto the end as a coda. Simple enough.

First, however, lunch. Then errands, during which I’ll listen obsessively to what I’ve got in the van. I’ll report back here later.

update: At the end of the day, I had finished off the joint and gotten the coda where I wanted it. I have a very solid idea of what to do to finish the whole thing up. I should have it done by Monday.

Proposed Efforts 2011, Part 2

Posted on by Dale

Continuing my 2001 Proposed Efforts:

Create the new age album Stars on Snow

This has been on my back burner for probably 20 years. I actually played around with it back in the day when I was still on a Mac SE/30 and the music program I had actually printed to a dot matrix printer. The title track I have managed to bring with me through the years as I progressed from one system to another. It was originally written for handbells, but proved too difficult for the players I had available. I converted it into a new age piece, adding string pads and a descant. It’s never been scored, just resides as a direct MIDI compilation.

However, it’s very pretty, and I think this year I want to take the time to write some more miniature, purely attractive pieces to go with it. I have one from the old concept folder, called “Air Pudding,” which I think still works, although it relied for its effectiveness (as did most of the pieces) on sounds that I manipulated on my old Ensoniq VFX keyboard.

In fact, I will probably find myself using those sounds (which I have as VST sounds around here somewhere) within GarageBand rather than Finale, i.e., playing around with sounds, melodies, and harmonies directly rather than “composing” on virtual paper, and creating interesting new instruments with which to orchestrate. I remember the key instrument on “Air Pudding” was something I called SqelchFlute and involved a basic sound called Duct Tape. Imagine a flute sound that started with tearing a piece of duct tape. (Marc, I may require your assistance in getting up to speed with these technologies; I haven’t done any of it since everything went virtual.)

I have a few other pieces I could use already: “Ginny’s Valentine“, and “Bring a Torch“, also originally for handbells and soprano. Both would be re-orchestrated. (Sharp observers will recognize “Ginny’s Valentine” as the cheesy paean to love at the end of the penguin opera, extended and lyricized.)

In the back of my head, I imagine myself producing the next Deep Breakfast. If I keep in mind that the goal is to please and delight, then I might just do it.

Create the westpoint sculpture

For about two years now, I have had in mind a focal point for the western point of the labyrinth. I’m going to make myself construct this thing this year. I am. I will.

2011 Proposed Efforts, part 1

Posted on by Dale

Let’s talk about my Proposed Efforts for 2011. Some of them are rollovers from 2010. A couple are new.

First, the list:

  • finish the cello sonata
  • write a good short story
  • play with the 24-Hour Challenge again
  • continue painting
  • create my new age album, Stars on Snow
  • create the westpoint sculpture

Since I have today and tomorrow before 2011 actually begins, I’ll break this up into a couple of posts. More blogging for me, more reading for you.

Finish the cello sonata

This is a new goal, but actually it’s cheating. Of course I’m going to finish the cello sonata. However, what I’ve written so far does not satisfy me. In the first movement, the two themes are good, but my approach to the development is more strophic than I think is appropriate. I want to double back and really break those two themes up into their basic elements and use those to play with the listener’s perceptions. As for the third movement, I really like the first part, but that “stopping for a pretty interlude” thing is threatening to become a crutch. Why do I keep doing that?

All of this, especially idea of reworking of the development in the first movement, is making my stomach hurt.

Write a good short story

A carryover. Nothing to be said until I actually start working on it. Sharp observers may have noted that I did not rollover my goal from last year of starting A Perfect Life. I’m going to leave that one to the universe. If it happens, it happens. First I have to clean off my desk.

Play with the 24-Hour Challenge again

Another rollover, but a worthy one. After I finish the cello sonata I have no more projects (other than the new age album), so it will be fun to do this again. Last time, I actually came up with a great deal of usable material; it will be like storing up nuts for the winter.

Continue painting

Of course. It’s more like “pick up my brushes again,” but still.

To be continued…

Task avoidance

Posted on by Dale

I went back and listened to my output for 2010 last night, and one piece stood out for its stubborn opacity. That would be, of course, the SATB a capella piece Phoenix, set to a stubbornly opaque text by Marc Honea. Of course.

Here it is in its piano version: Phoenix

There’s something to it, after all. I listened to it twice to make sure. I’m thinking I should arrange that for orchestra, just cut out the human voice altogether. It would certainly keep me from finishing the cello sonata. It would give me some practice in orchestration as well.

Variations on ‘Resignation’

Posted on by Dale

After weeks of listening to it obsessively, and running it past at least one strings teacher of my acquaintance, I have tonight submitted Variations on ‘Resignation’ to my contact at the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra in Scotland.

My stomach hurts. I have no idea whether they’ll actually like it, or , more likely , they will find parts of it too challenging to play. If that’s the case, I just go back to the drawing board and take it down a notch. Somehow.

I’m supposed (I think) to write a second piece for them, and that will be Rondo Mobile, the sketch of which you can hear here. I’m thinking I want to make it a rowdy, PDQ-Bach-esque piece, musicologically-speaking-wise. In the sketch, you can already hear the theme falling apart and restarting. I want to make more of that idea, with the sections getting crankier as things go wrong, lots of finger-pointing, ending up with a full-scale riot which the conductor has to silence with a coach’s whistle.

I have been remiss in my blogging for the last month. I promise to make it up to you. I have several posts in the works even as we speak, and after tomorrow , school’s out! , I will have time to churn these out to the delectation of readers everywhere.

I have a post on my Lichtenbergian goals, both a look back at this past year and a look forward; a rant on school funding and running schools “like a business”; a rant on why I oppose the legalization of alcohol; a serious rant about U.S. drug policy; and a strange little meditation on better living through sound effects.

See you then!

Done!

Posted on by Dale

If only it were for a ducat…

It is finished, my first piece for the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra. Again, it’s called—for the moment—Resignation, and it’s based on the hymn tune commonly known as “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” in most hymnals.

It’s short; I could probably swing one more variation, probably a triplet thing, if I had to.

What you hear in the mp3 is pretty much the way it’s supposed to sound, although the first phrase is played by a solo violin instead of the whole section. Otherwise, there’s not a lot to say about it. I think it’s very pretty.

Resignation: score [pdf, letter] [pdf, A4] | mp3 [3:39]

Back to the cello sonata. ::sigh::

Surprise! Progress!

Posted on by Dale

Off in the mountains, and I decided to ignore the cello sonata for the week. Instead, I thought I’d take a peek at the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra piece, which in fact is due in three months, two days, and 21 hours. More or less.

Of the five sketches I sent them, they picked the arrangement of the hymn tune Resignation, an early American tune best known as “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.” I haven’t really looked at it since then, mid-June. The Preludes (No Fugues) and the cello sonata have taken my time since then.

Anyway, I pulled it up this morning and have doubled its length today. Very nice, although it’s a piece of cake to write. I joked that if they were paying me, I’d be stealing.

Here it is so far. I think probably I’m going to break up the melody and do a little development thing, then do a final triumphal statement. It’s supposed to be short.

Wouldn’t it be nice to finish this by the Lichtenbergian Annual Meeting?

Resignation: mp3