Musings of a Composer

Apparently I am going in reverse now, from most recent to less recent...  So I can see that I also neglected to write about the lengthy process of preparing parts for Celebration of the Deep - yikes!  Proof-reading the notes and markings, and then trying to put little musical cues into the parts, so that each instrument might have some idea at the end of a long rest, just where their entrance was supposed to fit into what else is going on...  Maybe I get too wound up about this part because of coming from two backgrounds:  1) as a singer, it is typical to see all the other parts (in choral music) plus piano accompaniment, and as a violinist, in orchestra we play often ALL the time, so there are NO rests!  No doubt the other instruments get used to counting.  I know I watched a percussionist doing a two-handed counting scheme that made me think of an abacus when he had a VERY LONG break before his next entrance.  Good idea. As a performer in my st...

Well it was an exciting evening, a couple of weeks ago - I attended an early rehearsal of the orchestra and heard them play through my piece...  I enjoyed hearing the live instruments SO much!  Plus, finding out that the beginning motif in the strings that I was worried about - it sounds fine!  Although I guess the urge is to make tremolo sound sinister instead of playful waves, but it seems to WORK, and that is the main point. The horns were all together for the first time playing my piece, and again they sounded good.  Cayenna is having them move to the front of the orchestra like soloists do who are featured, which I hadn't imagined for some reason... maybe I think the instrument is not easy to carry so we shouldn't make them move.  But is is great to be able to see AND hear them play. Not all parts were represented, I'm not sure when the full personnel will be able to attend rehearsal - and I was musing how it must be tricky to be playing the piece, havi...