I figured out why I wasn't able to come up with any music - I was trying to compose away from the piano. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea that I didn't need a keyboard in order to write music; I barely used the piano for some of the pieces I wrote last year. I guess the moral of this story is that what works for the goose doesn't necessarily work for the duck. Wait, it's supposed to be the female version.. what is a female duck.... oh well,
What works for the drake doesn't necessarily work for the gander.
The additional moral is that I am neither a duck nor a goose, so while they don't use a piano to compose, I should.
Also, the fact that I am writing for a piano ensemble means that I need to be conscious that this is going to be played on piano. Between yesterday and today, I've spent over 10 hours at the piano trying to come up with stuff. It is surprising how slow things are to make it from my head onto the keys and then into my head again to get it on the paper. I'm certain there must be something mentally wrong with me that is preventing the process from going as smooth as it seems that it should.
Anyway, I have the first half of the piece pretty much mapped out, unfortunately it is the second half that I have to have close to finished by tuesday/wednesday. Nevertheless, inspired by how I've been working lately, I am confident that I will be able to get everything together for my deadlines. The good thing is that this piece doesn't need to be finished completely until December, so this will really raise the bar for what the finished product will be.
Another observation, last time I wrote for strings, I had issues remembering and making tangible the concept of how the pitches lie on the strings, but for whatever reason, I seem to have developed that sense and even my fingers on the keyboard were tuning into what is and isn't possible. It must be subconscious as well; I wrote down a theme for the piano part and then looking at it on the page, I realized that it made really good use of the open strings on the violin - saving me much time in trying to find a way to rewrite it for the violin.
Now, school has officially gotten busy. Writing is underway and it's amazing how much of my time I can dedicate to that. Electroacoustic course is suddenly getting heavier in the workload. Besides just doing more, I need to also kick things up a notch in terms of using the tools better. We had a mini assignment and well, when there's only 2 students, it's obvious which student is the better or in my case, lesser. In terms of using the technology, it's a matter of going more often to the studio and spending more time. Once again, in order to benefit, I need to do a couple of significant, like 3+ hour sessions. I find myself getting frustrated/antsy after about 2, so I need to force myself through it.
Oooh, I sent a piece to a chamber ensemble for their call for works today. They are looking for an emerging composer, so basically a bunch of people send them a piece and they pick one or a few that they will tour around the country. I sent in Auskultu Bonvolu, but I read that last year they had over 140 applicants, so it's already looking not so promising. That currently puts me at 2 competitions that I'm waiting to hear back from. Nevertheless, I feel that I wrote a really strong cover letter, so I hope that wins it for me! haha
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