After long debate, I think I may have found a title that suits that band piece somewhat appropriately. It took a lot of mixing and matching Gomez and my words but I kinda dig this:

“Shadow Rituals”

At least, it should work fine for the MBM competition.

Now then, time for midterms!

Linh and Loan and I had lunch at Olive Garden today. We’ve been having a craving for their salad for a long while. I had the cheese ravioli and they had the minestrone soup and salad combo. All in all, a very vegetarian meal (not that I am).

Later this afternoon, I began making the final changes to the new band piece whose title has been giving me a huge headache. Nothing seems to fit. Like I’ve said before, it’s a grade 4. Some might argue it’s a grade 5 (it’s not). There’s a couple of opportunities for it, though. In addition to the MBM competition, I will also be submitting this along with joyride for consideration in some concerto competition (I’m not sure of the details) ASU is holding. The winner will have his or her work performed by one of the groups here at Arizona State. That would be way cool. So, we’ll have to see what happens. And if you have suggestions for titles, post a comment!

So today was nice. Had class then hung out with a few friends in the library. Ryan Springler was highly disappointed upon reviewing a Schoenberg/Berg CD. He enjoyed the Berg very much but frowned on listening to Schoenberg.
Eric Weingartner, first Arizonan recipient of the Bands of America Revelli award and master baritone/euphonium player, also hung out.They soon left and Ryan Downey showed up for a bit. ‘Nough said.
I met up with Linh after math for a little lunch at Nhat.
It was actually really good but I could only eat so much.
We had pho (soup) and fried rice (some of the best fried rice I’ve had! And I don’t like fried rice!…Chinese fried rice anyway… but this stuff was gooood).
We ate our noodles and I headed back to ASU for a seminar with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, a group for whom the composition department will be writing quartets for. The worthy ones will be summoned for a read through with the group. I’m excited to start writing… and learning strings…

Okay… so the new title has been bothering me. Everyone else seems to agree that “Strange Grooves” is a more appropriate title. So Strange Grooves it is! I didn’t even know what eccentricities meant…

Big word. I know. Jon Gomez helped coming up with that one. Anyway, it’s definitely not a grade 3 work as I had hoped for but I would wager to bet that it would fall into the grade 4 category. Orchestrationally, there are numerous doublings. There aren’t many technically demanding runs or licks. Where the teaching comes in is its continously changing meter ranging from 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, and 6/4. While it is more than Ticheli does in his easier works, it’s still less than John Mackey. Tempo, too, plays a big part of the groove flying in at a whopping quarter note equals 182 (ideally). Since this work was originally intended for the Ticheli composition contest, Frank Ticheli was a major influence on how the piece unfolded. His style was a great consideration and model. His use of the minor 3rd also inspired this piece. Range of some instruments at certain points, though, is somewhat advanced. For instance, trumpets soar in the B/Bb range for the fanfare-like ending (the 1sts anyway). Clarinets do as well for their shrillest sound. Most of the other parts are fairly conservative. Eccentricities, therefore, may not exactly be well suited for a top highschool group nor a low one. This piece would seem to fit well with a midrange group introducing the concept and purpose of multiple meter changes, syncopation, and style while not being overbearing technically. I will post a MIDI within the next few days; I’m in the process of proofing the score as I type. Check back soon–Eccentricities will be available for purchase as soon as later October. Contact me for details.

PS. On a side note: Good luck to all those in the University High School Wind Ensemble who will be performing joyRiDE tonight in Florida among other prestigious works! I can’t wait to hear a recording~