Tag: piano concerto

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It was bound to happen. After finishing Act I (all the notes are in Finale – still have to do text, dynamics, articulation, etc., but all the notes are in) and basking in the glow of John Clodfelter and Mei-Chuan Lin’s exceptional performance of the Concerto for Piano and Wind Band (the performance and my pre-concert talk are viewable here), I ran headlong into writer’s block.

Last week I turned 49 and wrote almost nothing. I don’t know if it was the usual “just finished something big” letdown or Seasonal Affective Disorder – we got 10 inches of snow on my birthday and below-zero temperatures right after – but oof, last week was a waste. I need to remind myself it’s OK. This is not a sprint. Still, I ended up doing a lot of soul-searching, and I wonder if I need to not be a music professor for a while beyond this sabbatical. This is an ongoing debate.

But!

That first act? 40 minutes. 1113 measures. And it is good. As a composer, I’m at the top of my game. It feels cohesive, it feels suitably theatrical, the music and libretto are never at cross-purposes. Just like with the snow, I’m digging out of the writer’s block this week. I’m starting Act III, scene 2 (the final scene, with the possible exception of an epilogue). My librettist Dave, after a brief health scare (he is doing much better), is cranking away on Act II.

“But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight/Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight” – Bruce Cockburn

I choose to kick at the darkness.

WF

PS – Слава Україні! Героям слава!

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This morning’s low was a whopping -28 degrees Fahrenheit. Not gonna lie to you, Marge – very happy to have multiple cats and a fireplace.

In other news, while most of my performances have been cancelled due to the pandemic, Jason Ladd premiered my piece Thibodaux Breakdown for solo tuba (one of five miniatures I wrote for the Georgia Runoff Commissioning Project) on February 2 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA. Also, I will be presenting this weekend (Feb. 19) at the South Central Society for Music Theory‘s virtual conference. My topic is “Looking at Music Theory through the Overton Window,” and it might ruffle some feathers. (I hope it does.)

I have a couple of big projects afoot as well. I’ve completed a concerto for piano and wind band in two-piano score and will be putting together a consortium to fund the orchestration. I am currently working on a trombone quartet, and then I will be writing a thing for alto trombone, soprano saxophone, and chamber ensemble based on a poem by Emily Vieweg. After that, well, I’ve got a super-secret project about another super-secret project, and I think you’re gonna dig it.

How’s everyone holding up during this?

WF