Back to the Basics

So, here we are again.

I anticipated this project over the summer, so I had already been thinking about it, but didn't make it much beyond early conceptualisation, for a variety of reasons. Now that it's come time to actually write the music, I find my feet surprisingly cold.

I settled on the character of two of the pieces early on, and already decided on certain passages and overall shape. Now comes my least favourite part of composition: notation. Beyond being frustrated when I'm having difficulty notating unusual rhythms or passages that make way more sense in my head, I still feel like the paper is a huge block between myself and the finished product. I know there is no easy way around this, and I've at least gotten better at quickly writing thoughts out by hand before having to fight with notation software. Still, there are some times when I would rather keep a lot of ideas in my head, at the risk of forgetting it later--until I actually forget it.

Of course, I still struggle with actually getting the music out of my head, too. Too often I can visualise (auralise?) music with an idea of the shape/notes/structure, but am unaware of the actual pitches/values/etc. and many hours have been spent at the piano trying to make it sound like what only I can hear, only to leave it in frustration.

I digress. My selections are being composed for piano and viola--a sadly underused and under appreciated instrument. As well as taking advantage of its rich lower register, I plan to exploit its potential for high notes (both through harmonics and regular pitches). Its capability for sustain will also feature prominently in one piece.

I'm actually "close" to finishing one. I have the major sections of it either written down or mentally logged, and a lot of the rest of it can be borrowed from these sections. I just need to force myself to sit down and organise my thoughts with the music and try to make friends with the manuscript paper.