Entry 15. DONE.

Well, it certainly took me long enough to get this bugger finished. I think all it took was getting my mind off other negative things- like what else I have due, the conducting exam tomorrow, my recital on friday, etc. etc. etc. Not that these things are negative- I'm just stressed and worried, and I think that took away from my ability to concentrate on composing this piece.

It's more or less exactly what I wrote in my last blog entry- klezmer mixed with indie folk/pop. Two strange genres for concert band...I think it would have been interesting to hear it played live, but I missed that opportunity and had I pushed myself to finish it in time for the MUN Wind Ensemble reading, I wouldn't have what I have now. It's actually a big surprise, seeing where it went- I had originally planned on having a klezmer dance suite which turned into klezmer music mixed with jazz, which turned into klezmer music mixed with indie pop/folk. And to think I'd been writing a symphony first. Ouf. Craziness.

But it's done. All the markings, dynamics and whatnot too. I'll probably go over it a few times tonight just to make sure I haven't left anything out, but does it ever feel good to be able to say that it's done!

Entry 14. Try- just a little bit harder

I'm giving the band piece another shot, seeing as I think it deserves another one. I've done a lot of redirecting in it, guess, moving stuff around so that it flows better. I've moved it back into its original form, with the rubato opening followed by the quick, dance-like section with the percussion, and I've done my best to develop that into something fairly big before bringing it down for a kind of B section (if you don't count the introductory rubato section). Here's the form, more or less.

RUBATO OPENING

A: Main theme, in Klezmer music-style, using the tonalities and rhythms which are idiomatic of this genre with the exception that it switches to 4/4 time every three bars. It's in a harmonic minorish/gypsey mode type...Thing...Yeah, I was never good at theory.

B: The texture comes waaaay down to pretty much just clarinets and flute, then it expands to involve french horn kind of doubling what the clarinets have goin' on, and then the sax section comes in with long notes to make more harmonic back up and help to build it. Meanwhile, the melody goes from flute to oboe to trumpet and back again, and then the trumpets double the clarinets and the brass comes in on uhm...Well t's in 6/8 time, so the brass comes in on beat 4 and holds until beat 6. There's a bit of timpani and the glock mirrors the melody later on. It sounds kind of like an indie pop/folk song, which I like- I was advised that it's cool to write a piece in a certain style, but take it where we don't expect. I think going from Klezmer to Indie pop/folk is a pretty big- but really likeable- jump.

A: back to the main Klezmer style, but maybe with a bit of the B section poking through if I can fit the two together.

I really like the B section. It has some of the flippy rhythm things that klezmer music has, so I'm trying to tie it to the first section a bit so t's not too surprising, but I would really like for people to REALLY notice the change in style- I think A flows into B well, despite the fact that they're such different styles of music and it goes from that harmonic monir/gypsey thing to go to a major mode. Yep, I'm going with tonal music on this one, as much as I love atonal music writing, but I think it'd be a good idea to revisit tonality and explore it while keeping in mind the freedom I can have with it. You can make some pretty neat tonal stuff if you step outside of I IV V I.