My web stats show consistent traffic on my site, even though my posting has been so sporadic; thanks for visiting, and I’m sorry for my delinquency! Some updates:
- Dissertation is moving along… I have choral parts 90% written, and it’s almost half orchestrated. The Lord has helped me carry on despite being weary of it, sometimes terrified of it, and sometimes doubting whether I’m really writing anything great or not. (Ha! And you thought composers were utterly self-confident!) Overall length is going to come in at about 35 minutes, despite my attempts to keep it shorter; it just wrote itself that way, and there wasn’t much I could do.
- Next week is the long-awaited Carnegie Hall premiere of “Arise, Shine!” I’m headed to hear one more rehearsal in Kansas City next week before heading to NYC to hear the rehearsals there, and then the performance on Sunday Feb 11. I anticipate blogging live from the Big Apple while there, so my blog should get a little more interesting!
- Beyond dissertation writing, I’m looking forward to the April premiere of Three Nocturnes in Arizona, and the June premiere of You Are The Music in Michigan.
- Currently there are four commissions simmering: The KU piece with Silvestri, a large piece for chorus and band for BJU’s 2008 Commencement Concert, and anthems for a couple churches (identity withheld to prevent spoiling any surprises!). I need to write a communion piano book for Soundforth sometime pretty soon, too…
- From what I hear, the band version of A Basque Lullaby is being performed on All-State Christian School concerts in a couple states this spring- I’m glad for the piece to be gaining more exposure!
- For what it’s worth, I love teaching post-tonal theory. Much more than tonal theory. I’m having a ball.
Anthony Silvestri posted recently on his blog about our collaboration and linked my blog. Thought I’d return the favor, although I’m thinking he’s probably sending a lot more hits my way than I’ll send his way!
Here’s the link for his blog. The post about our collaboration is “Recent Collaborations with Composers”….yeah, just above the one entitled “Grammy Nomination”…
http://www.myspace.com/charlesanthonysilvestri
Went to Shawnee Mission this morning to hear the Choraliers rehearse Arise Shine…They gave me a very warm reception (Whew- no one threw rotten tomatoes or anything!), and we had a really nice time of question-and-answer, and discussing the piece. The piece itself is coming along nicely…looking forward to hearing it with the combined student/alumni choir, hearing further progress on some aspects, and hearing the orchestra with it. They’re a great bunch of kids, with a conductor who blends passion for music and musicians alike- it’s my privilege to be working with them.
Besides, every time I visit Tracy, he buys me Chipotle…I need to visit more often!
My final semester at KU begins in two days…
Anthony Silvestri sent me the preliminary draft of his poem for our KU-commissioned choral piece, today…
It’s absolutely gorgeous.
I’m really blessed to be doing this!
It’s hard to believe the spring semester will be beginning soon! We have a jam-packed 5 months. Here’s the lineup:
- January: Work on dissertation (story of my life); attend some rehearsals of Arise Shine at Shawnee Mission; begin teaching Post-Tonal Music (Theory IV) at KU; continue Greenville house-hunting activities long-distance…and many other smaller details. Also, the K4T songbook and five choral pieces from Hinshaw should all be released…
- February: Work on dissertation really seriously; trip to Carnegie Hall for Arise Shine premiere; try to keep my Post-Tonal class afloat…
- March: Work frantically and feverishly on dissertation; trip to Greenville to house-hunt; try to keep my Post-Tonal class alive; also, my first anthem published with Chorister’s Guild should be released…
- April: Work night and day on the final details of dissertation; defend dissertation the first or second week of April; trip to Arizona for the premiere of Three Nocturnes (and a quick side-trip to the Grand Canyon!); start packing; work on long-distance closing, Lord willing, on a house in Greenville; possibly travel to western Kansas for a couple piano concerts; try to keep my Post-Tonal class on life support…
- May: Work on dissertation…Oh no- wait- that should be done! What will I do with myself? Pack, pack, pack; finish teaching my Post-Tonal class; eat at India Palace one last time before leaving Lawrence; attend (Lord willing) my hooding ceremony; move to Greenville at the end of the month and settle in for a week before…
- June: Trip to Michigan for premiere of You Are The Music, and release of my Christmas cantata from Soundforth.
The rest of the summer should be filled with settling in to our new home, lesson planning for my return to BJU teaching in the fall, and hopefully writing a couple commissions that I’ll write more about later…:-)
That’s the major stuff, at least; I’m just teasing about the slow demise of my Post-Tonal class- I’m really looking forward to teaching it. I’m just going to have to work hard since I haven’t taught it before, I want to do a really good job, and I’m going to be missing several classes.
Having written this schedule out, I think I’d best go write some music!
