So yes, I'm offically finished, and it feels great!
I have to decide on who I want to study with next year for Composition. My current prof told me I should put some thought into who I want to study under... he wanted me to feel free to chose from any of the three options. I had been planning on just continuing with him, mostly because I don't know what to look for in a composition teacher. Today I'm going to talk with one of the other profs and see what I think.
I had a meeting yesterday with a a musician who has a prominent position in the Dance world. I had booked the meeting a month ago, as part of my plan to get to know more about my options for working as a musician in dance. He outlined what I would need to do if I wanted to be a rehearsal pianist for a ballet company, the list was something like this:
Tchaikowsky: learn all the major ballets, learn prokofieff'z Romeo and Julliet, find another pianist to work on Petrushka and Right of Spring with, have a handful of piano concertos which you'll be able to play at the drop of a hat, any ballet that you know the name of... you should learn... and your sightreading skills should be equal to your normal playing skills.
Keep in mind that Swan Lake alone is about 200 pages in the reduced piano score.
He told me that it would be at least a 2-3 year venture to get prepared for that, but when I did... it would be impressive to go to any company and say that you could provide them with those services.
I voiced to him that it wasn't that appealing to me. It's not that I don't want to put in that hard work... but we were able to distinguish that, while he loved being an interpreter, I desire to be a creator. He was a little frustrated at the vaguety with which I speak... mostly because I wasn't specific with what I want to do..
He tried to get me to narrow down what I desire: I want to collaborate with modern dancers in a creative manner.
his response was that it sounds like I'm interested in composition.
Why is it that we often need to hear someone else say something about us before we realise it for ourselves?!?
I think, I've realised that i want to be a composer. Being a pianist will always give me the sense of direct collaboration with dancers.. and a practical hand at music always, but I don't think I'd ever be satisfied with interpreting music. Even in a ballet class, I will choose to inprovise music over playing off a sheet, anytime.
For the longest time, I've felt that improvising is somethign that anyone can do, and it shouldn't be a special skill that i have, wondering why other people don't do it. I think now that I originally (when I was a little tyke) would improvise because I had a creative spark and needed to explore that. There is no doubt that it has been improvising which has led me to look into composition, so maybe I do have an inherent compositional disposition.
ANyway, the big reason why I was hesitant about the program at Simon Fraser is that I wasn't sure if I was ready to basically stop being a pianist(ie stop taking lessons as a focus), but I think that I will be.
The ballet, yesterday, lent me a giant book with all the contact info of every school, company, choreographer, musician and composer in Cda, Usa, Internationally.. who put an advertisement in this book... it's huge! I'm going to go through it and find some contatacts and start asking questions.
theres enough rambling for one day.... off we go