Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Commission


One reason that I have not been blogging much lately, is that I have been commissioned to write a string orchestra piece for the Edmond Memorial High School Orchestra. My good friend David Koehn is the director up there, and he had the brilliant idea to write a grant for an original work so that the students could see what it is like to premier a new piece. The performance is only one aspect of the process. The rehearsals will be very collaborative, since I will almost certainly need to alter elements of the piece once I see how it does or doesn't work. I will be attending many rehearsals. I actually caught one last Wednesday, just to hear the orchestra play, and I was very impressed.

I hope the students enjoy this unique experience and find it interesting. I can only think of a few times that I have been a part of an orchestral premiere, and it was super interesting each time.

This piece will be a single movement, 5-8 minutes in length. I have decided to call it "Oklahoma Trails" an homage to the exhibit at the OKC Zoo of the same name. I am up to my neck in staff paper right now, and up to my brain in musical notation software. Rehearsals start in about a month, and the premiere will happen on the orchestra's Spring concert in May. I will keep you posted, and thanks for your interest!


Obviously I am very excited about it!

6 comments:

  1. Ooooh. That's awesome! Way to go! I definitely want to hear this thing!

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  2. This guy is humble. He was being commissioned to write music when he was in high school!

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  3. Steven, I just hope I have the chance to hear this some day. I love the title: "Oklahoma Trails." We are very excited for you.

    Barb

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  4. So-
    What's your compositional/orchestration process like for this? Manuscript paper and the ideas in your head? Synth and sequencer? Finale?

    Howzabout some details, my friend?

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  5. Thanks everyone! I will try to blog some updates on the process!

    Mike, It's definitely sketch on blank, white paper at first, followed by a more detailed sketch on manuscript paper.

    I did work out a main melodic idea a few months back first though...

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  6. Mike,

    BTW, I am really enjoying your food blog! Fantastic stuff.

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