Bethel High School Commission
I’m officially neck-deep (and it seems like I’m about to drown) in this new commission for Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington. The piece is due at the end of this month, and while everything is going according to schedule and I’m excited for the musical material, I’m realizing that I have developed a bittersweet relationship with my amazing EastWest orchestral samples that I use for Sibelius playback.
I think, mostly, I have a pretty terrible “inner ear” and unlike a lot of composers, I don’t exactly “hear music in my head.” (Seriously. What’s going on up there anyway?) For me, composing is kind of like chiseling away at a big, gray brick of concrete. I usually only know what color I want to paint it and how sharp I want the edges, but I typically have no idea when I start whether it’s going to look like Mount Rushmore or a bowl of fruit. So I just chisel and I chisel and I chisel and I eventually say to myself, “My, that is starting to look like a ______. That’s pretty cool!” It’s only after a lot of pre-production chiseling that I discover what it is that I’m actually chiseling.
My electronic samples help guide me in this journey. However, as other “computer-composers” will attest, these “samples” are often so perfect that they can often be misleading. For example, my last few pieces, especially Instinctive Travels, have been incredibly French Horn heavy. Typically (and especially for high school horn players), I try and keep the horns below a written high G. But my samples are just so awesome that, although I often keep them below that suggested upper limit, I still write lead Horn lines, undoubled, at double and triple forte. Basically, it seems that I want the Hollywood Studio Symphony horns to sit in with whatever junior high, high school, or college band is playing my music, no matter how hard the piece is. I can’t help it; I just love the sound of a powerful Texas All-State sized section of F’ing F Horns.
To the two lone French Horn players at Bethel High School: don’t be scared. Just know that you probably have some of the coolest riffs in this new piece (though you might not have an embouchure when you’re done…).
September 13th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
I know what you mean, between college work and my composition things are getting pretty stressful around here. My deadline’s in November and I’m too excited to explain that once I get this done my high school’s Wind Ensemble is gonna rehearse it several times. If they actually have enough time to premier it during the spring it’s gonna be amazing. And don’t worry about the inner ear problem, I understand cause I also find it difficult to imagine every sound and the entire thing playing perfectly in my head so I just take it bit by bit. You think of a title yet for this new work? =P
October 23rd, 2010 at 3:37 pm
I used to be one of those lone Horn players. I graduated from Bethel in 2007 and played with Daniel since Jr. High. I know what you mean about wanting the horns from the Hollywood Studio Symphony. In my junior year, Daniel’s senior year, I was the only horn player and man did we play some pieces that needed more horns than just me. We played Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana for band contest and I remember Mr. Wetherington had Daniel and the other Alto Sax player play the horn cues with me during the important Horn parts.
Now, I am playing with the Pacific Lutheran University Concert Band as a community member where last year we had ten horn players. Pretty cool when you can play pieces that are “horn heavy”and actually have the personnel to play it.
I set a goal when I was at BHS to audition for the Hollywood Studio Symphony. Every movie I watch, I end up paying more attention to the music than the actual movie.
Thanks for your amazing musical skills and dedication for creating this piece for Daniel and Bethel High School. I know everyone appreciates your talent. And maybe I can even get a chance to play it soon!