Twenty days from now, I'm giving my Boston classical music debut! Not that I haven't played in public at all since I got here, of course, but this will be my first official, non-church service, concert performance. Yikes!
Just to make life extra-interesting, I'm going to do a program of my own music. So I've been collecting all the solo piano music I've got, going all the way back to when I was a wide-eyed master's student.
Boy, was I emo! ;)
The snapshot above is from a piece called Ordinary Wishes. I took a fragment of melody from the Gershwin song, "But Not for Me," as a starting point, and then proceeded to do terrible things to it with a fork. It's a technique I still love to use; there are so many tunes that I have very strong associations attached to, and it's both fun and cathartic to weave my own musical ideas around them. By the time I'm done, the original melody I started with is transformed to the point where it might all but unrecognizable to a listener, which I realize is somewhat... self-indulgent? Obscure? Well, hey, that's those crazy modern artistes for ya! ;)
I mean, look at all those accidentals (flats, sharps and natural signs) in that music! It's positively artery-clogging! My ears hurt just from looking at it, let alone playing it! ;)
While playing through this older piece, I was struck by how my compositional preferences have evolved and simplified over time. When you're in grad school, you have something to prove (at least in my experience). The KISS aphorism ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") is not terribly popular inside the high and mighty walls of the Ivory Tower.
Fortunately, there is abundant, joyful life beyond those walls! I am now in the process of streamlining this piece, making it clearer, less turgid, and, IMHO, prettier. And I can do that, cuz it's mine! :D
Here are a couple of fragments from more recent pieces, which reflect my leaner approach:
Ah, look at all that lovely open space!
What's that, a key signature? Blasphemy!! ;)
I'm very happy to find that I still like the music I wrote way back when, but it's also really nice to be free of the pointy-headed academic constraints I labored under as a student. The thing I love about composing is, the world is my sonic toy box, and as the saying goes, it's never too late to have a happy childhood! :)
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From watercarrier4diogenes:
Here's a cascade worthy of our funniest writers. It starts with LeftHandedMan's Movement Conservatism comment.
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In Meteor Blades' rules & civility diary, taylormattd makes a beautiful and heartfelt comment.
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I share sarahnity's sentiment about Meteor Blades.
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From yours truly, virgomusic:
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17) Do GBCW comments by Mike S — 115
18) Should have seen Anderson 360 by theone718 — 106
19) Dear labr in vain... by kalmoth — 106
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21) May the South never rise again! by aaraujo — 97
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26) While they scream about the left. by GenXangster — 87
27) Thank you... by grannyhelen — 87
28) You, sir, are a saint by sarahnity — 83
29) I have had a conversation ... by Meteor Blades — 78
30) Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words by Olympia — 77