Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Concert Band Piece

Even though it has been the toughest, most challenging and time consuming composition I have worked on, so far it has been the most rewarding. When approaching this composition I had a certain idea in mind that I wanted to be prominent through out the piece. This idea had to do with different textures that would constantly be coming out of one another. When one "choir" is pianissimo the other would be forte (and vice-verse). My first session with this piece I did exactly that, I had the brass and winds separated into different "choirs" and I achieved everything that I wanted. My second session didn't have the same intent and focus as my first session. I started writting with a groove in mind but really that was never my first intentions. Even though I knew this was not really fitting with my beginning material I felt as if I had to write this down on paper. I have never experienced that feeling of needing to write something down to get it down. When approaching composition I normally have a set plan in regards to form and what material I want to use where and how I am going to develop it. This has been a huge challenge for me with the material I have so far. It feels like I am writing with blinds over my eyes and I can't see an end and a destination point. Every session I have I have always been writting new material and I think this is obvious to see in my piece. It seems as if my piece is sectionalized and that the sections have nothing to do with one another. Everytime I approach my piece I need to make sure that what I write is coherent to the piece. This feeling of writting with blinds on is uncomfortable for me, wheather that is a good thing or a bad thing I don't know but I definitely want my piece to make sense.