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Arise and Sing - This Sunday!

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This Sunday I will conduct "Arise and Sing" in two services at the Westminster First Congregational Church in Westminster, MA. Arise and Sing is a 30 second introit piece for SATB unaccompanied choir intended to herald the opening of an Easter service.  It is in the key of C and we will be dovetailing it with the opening hymn in the service - Christ the Lord is Risen Today. We tried this last year, and it was pretty cool.  The choir lands on a powerful C major chord at the end of Arise and Sing, and while the choir is holding the last chord (fff of course) the organ comes in like a bulldozer, starting the introduction to the hymn. It's powerful - trust me.  (Or better yet, come hear it on Sunday!)

Below is the King's College Choir singing Jesus Christ is Risen Today (same hymn as Christ the Lord is Risen Today).  We will be singing it out of our hymnal, but Ashley and I co-wrote a descant for the last verse!  Should be quite a morning! Happy Easter to all!

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Finding the Creative Groove

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This week I had sort of a mini revelation I would like to share: it seems that my most productive creative time is the afternoon.  Seems simple, I know.  But I feel like I have been trying to find this answer for years.  In the past, I have set aside time to compose at pretty much every time of day, and most of the time I am fairly productive, but I have never been able to identify a particular time of day that works best for me.  Some musicians prefer composing or practicing late at night, or first thing in the morning.  I have had some success at both of these times, but I would say only limited success.  I can't count on being productive at those times, and here is why: Early Morning: I'm still waking up, digesting some food, thinking about all the stuff I need to get done that day.  Even though people say your mind is generally pretty clear at the beginning of the day, I don't always feel that way. I need to sit down and get some tasks off my plate right away.

Evening: I'm tired - we have been through the entire day and whatever it holds.  I don't like to stay up too late, so my mind knows I don't have a long stretch of time to burrow into creativity.  Sometimes I can be successful with a short block of creative time, even 30 minutes, but more often I need a large chunk of time that I know I can dedicate to composing.  I may be productive in the first hour, but I don't feel really satisfied (in the groove) until a little more time has passed.  At night, my brain seems to be better and doing non-creative work.

Afternoon: Jackpot! I have had plenty of time to wake up, do email and knock off some generally non-creative tasks, and my energy level is pretty high.  I can plan out a large block of time, and I'm not tired like I will be at the end of the day.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure this out! But I'm excited to see how this continues to play out.  I wonder if this will change or if I have really found my ultimate creative time period? We shall see.

Nocturne IV Premiere Performances Coming Next Week

As I detailed in a post here, Nocturne IV is a new work commissioned by the University of Central Florida, scored for saxophone quartet and flute ensemble.  It is based on the fourth movement of my solo piano set, Nocturnes, and the work will be premiered at UCF on the following performances: Monday March 26th - 9:00pm University of Central Florida Woodwind Ensembles Concert Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

Saturday March 31st - 8:30am - 6:00pm University of Central Florida SaxFest Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

Best wishes for great performances with this unique ensemble!

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Life for a Work After the Premiere

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Yesterday I read an interesting article on the Chorus America website titled "What Happens After the Premiere" by Don Lee. The article brings up some interesting points, one of which is that many works are commissioned for a premiere performance and then fall off the map (at least for a certain amount of time).  He points out that there is a distinct marketing advantage for a group to present the premiere versus the 2nd or 3rd performance of a piece.  But, to be honest, I'm not sure the audience really thinks about this as much as the ensemble does.

The audience is there to hear great music, and they are there to be enriched regardless of whether that performance is the very first, or the 2nd, or the 100th.  As a composer, I am of course a huge proponent of commissioning and I think there are myriad benefits, but I am also a huge proponent of supporting pieces after they have been premiered.  Given all the work that goes into bringing a new piece to life, I think we need to be careful to not just premiere a work to pomp and circumstance and then forget about it.

In his article, Lee points to some good programs and partnerships that are striving to address this issue.  Composers certainly have some responsibility here and must do everything they can to ensure that the works have life beyond the premiere performance.

Polyphonic.org - WCMW Webinar on Monday!

On Monday March 19th at 8:00pm eastern, Ashley and I will present a webinar titled "Presenting Concerts in Your Local Community – Creative Ideas for Making Concerts Happen Anywhere."  The Webinar is part of the Polyphonic On Campus webinar series (view past webinars here). We will talk about the process of how we started the Westminster Chamber Music Workshop, and use it as a case study for thinking about how to make musical events happen in any community, large or small.  Hopefully it will be fun and interesting so if you are free, sign up! The webinar is free and the great thing about webinar technology is that you can participate from anywhere in the world! All you need is a computer and an internet connection.  See you Monday!

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Spirituals: A Lecture Recital

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Monday evening Ashley and I presented a lecture recital on Spirituals. We discussed and performed Go Down Moses, Deep River, and Wade in the Water.  We talked a bit about the history of the Spiritual, and tried to present the context of what was happening at the time of their development.  We also talked about possible deeper meanings within the works - of course on the surface Spirituals appear to be songs based on biblical stories, but it seems plausible that they also had meaning related to the underground railroad and the Slaves' journey for freedom.

We transcribed the Harry T. Burleigh arrangements (voice & piano) for saxophone and piano and had a great time working on these songs.  There is so much depth and beauty in these works, and so much to consider in terms of the texts, the music, and how they complement each other.  Hopefully I will have a video clip to post soon.  In the meantime, enjoy a recording of your favorite Spiritual today and be appreciative for these wonderful songs!

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Idea for a New Piece

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Sometimes I just improvise at the piano to come up with ideas that might turn into something.  Occasionally an idea sticks around, comes back to me several days later, and I'm not sure why (at the time).  But often times, ideas like that are the seeds for a new work.  This happened a few days ago - I came up with a simple little chord progression that sounded nice, but disregarded it and went back to work on something else. I didn't even write it down.  Then on Wednesday I was sitting at the piano and I found myself fiddling with this chord progression again. Now the ideas have been in my head almost non-stop for the past few days.  Even though it is in some ways distracting from a piece I'm trying to finish (Magnolia Star for wind ensemble), it's always exciting when this sort of inspiration happens, and I don't mind the distraction one bit. I think the ideas will work great for both an SATB choral piece and possibly a wind band transcription.  The essence of the idea is an 8 bar harmonic progression  in 3/4 time that would be repeated, each time adding a new layer of counterpoint, or a new voice, etc.  It will definitely start as a choral work, and I'm thinking the text might just be "Alleluia."  The idea reminds me in some ways of Mozart's Dona Nobis Pacem canon, which has a special place in my heart because it is sung community-sing style at the conclusion of the Eastman Holiday Sing each year in December.   Here is the 2010 performance directed by the great Mark Scatterday (even though you can't see him in the video):

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Goodnight, Goodnight for Band at Henderson State - April 18

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I'm happy to announce that on April 18th, Steve Knight will conduct the Henderson State University Symphony Band in a performance of Goodnight, Goodnight. Here are more details: Henderson State University Symphony Band Performance When: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:30 PM Where: Arkansas Hall Auditorium Webpage: here

Thank you to Steve Knight and Dr. Jesse Leyva for their support of my music, and best wishes for a great performance!

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Lauda Performance Tomorrow at Troy University

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Dr. Mark Walker, Director of Bands at Troy University in Troy, Alabama leads a performance tomorrow, March 6, of Lauda.  Lauda was also recently performed by Gary Green and the University of Miami Wind Ensemble on February 27, and the Bethel College Wind Ensemble at KMEA on February 23rd.  Best wishes to the Troy University Symphony Band for a great performance tomorrow!