I'm scoping out some more local ensembles as candidates for score submissions. It never ceases to amaze me, the reactions from players when you approach them with contemporary compositions. They are nice about it and usually eager to try them out, but it's as if the thought never occured to them to play music by someone not dead for centuries.
Also, what is a "tresemble"? Interesting new term opted by a local chamber group.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The art of sleeping
What? It's not an art? It should be. Because I suck at it lately.
I've noticed something really went around the bend with me about a month ago. I got so into this flurry of compositions that I can't shut off the mental activity at night when I'm supposed to. Sleep is a good thing. The body, the mind, the soul needs it. So how do you get the prescribed dosage and still hold on to "it", whatever "it" is....that thing that keeps you writing and giddy at the thought of getting up before sunrise so you can power up the old laptop and keep working on the oboe part.
Maybe I'll try meditation again. Or maybe a stiff scotch after dinner? I dunno. La comedia no esta fini.
I've noticed something really went around the bend with me about a month ago. I got so into this flurry of compositions that I can't shut off the mental activity at night when I'm supposed to. Sleep is a good thing. The body, the mind, the soul needs it. So how do you get the prescribed dosage and still hold on to "it", whatever "it" is....that thing that keeps you writing and giddy at the thought of getting up before sunrise so you can power up the old laptop and keep working on the oboe part.
Maybe I'll try meditation again. Or maybe a stiff scotch after dinner? I dunno. La comedia no esta fini.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Score calls still riding the dinosaur
This is starting to irk me.
Score calls are a big part of a composer's game. You never know when you might be the winning submission, so you go for as many as you can (or can afford, as there is often a submission fee). Why is it that so few organizations posting score calls have not gotten into the internet age?
They still want you to snail mail a bunch of score pages, curriculae vitae, CD audio renderings and God knows what else. With a postmarked deadline. There might be a personal check for the submission fee, just waiting for someone to lift and alter to go cash for themselves, or just take your account number to do something nefarious with. It's a wasteful, slow process frought with possible disasters.
Everything necessary to take score submissions is available on the internet. You can receive scores as PDF docs in email. Ditto for mp3 sound realizations or live recordings. Don't want to take large mp3 files? There are hundreds of free audio storage sites online now, where artists can upload their mp3s for free, then supply the download URL in an email. What about submission fees? PayPal. Credit card option. On top of that, you have more options for utilizing the "anonymous" submission process using a blind jury. Deadlines? No problem. Every digital document has a time stamp and emails have a time arrival stamp.
There is no downside to this, that I can see. Score submission as it stands today is slow, iffy on destination, expensive and a huge waste of paper and other materials. I'm hoping we can slide off that dinosaur soon.
Score calls are a big part of a composer's game. You never know when you might be the winning submission, so you go for as many as you can (or can afford, as there is often a submission fee). Why is it that so few organizations posting score calls have not gotten into the internet age?
They still want you to snail mail a bunch of score pages, curriculae vitae, CD audio renderings and God knows what else. With a postmarked deadline. There might be a personal check for the submission fee, just waiting for someone to lift and alter to go cash for themselves, or just take your account number to do something nefarious with. It's a wasteful, slow process frought with possible disasters.
Everything necessary to take score submissions is available on the internet. You can receive scores as PDF docs in email. Ditto for mp3 sound realizations or live recordings. Don't want to take large mp3 files? There are hundreds of free audio storage sites online now, where artists can upload their mp3s for free, then supply the download URL in an email. What about submission fees? PayPal. Credit card option. On top of that, you have more options for utilizing the "anonymous" submission process using a blind jury. Deadlines? No problem. Every digital document has a time stamp and emails have a time arrival stamp.
There is no downside to this, that I can see. Score submission as it stands today is slow, iffy on destination, expensive and a huge waste of paper and other materials. I'm hoping we can slide off that dinosaur soon.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
First Stave
My name is Irminsul, and I will compose for food.
Wait, scratch that. Bad beginning.
My name is Irminsul, and I am a composer. I am nuts enough to call that my vocation, because that's exactly what it is. I do it during my waking hours, it keeps me up during my should-be sleeping hours. It's like a drill sargeant who walks in right when you start to nod off, and smacks the bottom of your feet with a canestick. For better or worse, that's my lot.
I also play the celtic harp, which is a convenient thing to soothe the stress that comes with the subtitle of this blog - that is, why in the hell someone would want to do this in the Post-Patron Age. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means trying to eek out living in an age where patrons for this sort of things are almost nowhere to be found. You see, centuries ago, if you were an artist of any sort you could seek the employ of any number of patrons, or people with enough resources to keep you eating and with a roof over your head, to offer the best of your creations in return for their support. Sounds crazy, I know, but it was an age where the creation of art and music was more of a humanity and less of a commodity. So there is the rub, and the motivation for this blog. A near daily follow up of what it's like to put little black dots on five lines, and still be able to keep the lights on.
Yesterday I actually saw a guy on the streetcorner holding up a cardboard box sign that said "Will Design Multi-station Computer Infrastructure For Food". So, how bad can this be?
Wait, scratch that. Bad beginning.
My name is Irminsul, and I am a composer. I am nuts enough to call that my vocation, because that's exactly what it is. I do it during my waking hours, it keeps me up during my should-be sleeping hours. It's like a drill sargeant who walks in right when you start to nod off, and smacks the bottom of your feet with a canestick. For better or worse, that's my lot.
I also play the celtic harp, which is a convenient thing to soothe the stress that comes with the subtitle of this blog - that is, why in the hell someone would want to do this in the Post-Patron Age. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means trying to eek out living in an age where patrons for this sort of things are almost nowhere to be found. You see, centuries ago, if you were an artist of any sort you could seek the employ of any number of patrons, or people with enough resources to keep you eating and with a roof over your head, to offer the best of your creations in return for their support. Sounds crazy, I know, but it was an age where the creation of art and music was more of a humanity and less of a commodity. So there is the rub, and the motivation for this blog. A near daily follow up of what it's like to put little black dots on five lines, and still be able to keep the lights on.
Yesterday I actually saw a guy on the streetcorner holding up a cardboard box sign that said "Will Design Multi-station Computer Infrastructure For Food". So, how bad can this be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)