Farewell, Composition Class

Ok, this is my final blog of the course and it's dedicated to allt he future students of this course. Here's some helpful hints, reactions, and comments on what has occured in composition class.

First things first:
ASAP at the beginning of semester locate/purchase a good notation program (mike cheers: 'sibelius! sibelius!'..poor student: but mike i'm poor...mike: 'torrent! torrent!'). Not only should you make certain such a program is in your possession, but you should familiarize yourself with it. Ask an expert to give you a little tutorial. Plug in your sightsinging melodies to play back to you as an icebreaker-anything to get well acquainted. This close partnership will yield bountiful fruit in your future projects. You see, if you don't procrastinate getting to know your notation program, procrastinating you composition assignments will be soo much easier and less painful!
I have personally experienced such pain and did none of what I have suggested above and therefore had great difficulty doing my score for the final project.

Blogging is a great way for the class to keep in touch and discuss things we can't get around to discussing in class. i think if i had my time back i would read more of my classmates blogs and leave comments. That would also make it easier to comment on people's pieces in class since you'd know the background of their piece or what challenges they are currently facing.

Don't chuck too many ideas in a piece. A fantastic piece only needs a few mediocre ideas. Be committed to ideas and be willing to explore and develop them.

If at all possible, try to get your scores done a day early and set a weekly time with performers to rehearse your piece before class. This makes a world of difference. a)people actually get to hear what you wrote in class b) a lot less time is wasted in class sight reading and repeating c0 when it comes to the concert time it's not a mad rush to learn and put together pieces.

I really enjoyed this course! Don't take all these comments too seriously. I sort of like the living on the edge-skirting distaster adrenaline one can get procrastinating composition assignments. Farewell!

You know composition is the best class ever when it has a rockin pizza party at the end like it did today. I really enjoyed this course way more than I expected to. I loved the discussion oriented classes where humour abounded and people were scurrying to get their stuff together to show people or perform a piece for someone. It's amazing to see how many different approaches there can be to composing, which the first project emphasized. Everyone had to work with an instrument and a piano and all the pieces were so unique. Creation is limitless! And I especially enjoyed, in the last project, having a little more creative freedom and being able to see the evolution of people's pieces, or, in some cases, death of old and resurrection of new pieces.

final concert!!!

Unforunately i had to sneak out of the concert Saturday night without hearing many people's pieces. I will, however, be securing a copy of the CD to listen to after the craziness of exams is over so i can hear the final results of everyone's hard work. I must say i was very proud of my performers who pulled together to pull of my piece. I realize that my writing rarely caters to the last-minute efforts required by our student composition concerts. In fact many sections would take quite a bit of rehearsal and repetition to coordinate so a big thank you to my performers for Saturday night and an even bigger thank you for Saturday afternoon when they really nailed the piece and made all my imagined images of the piece come to life. also, each performer helped me immenseley in the writing of the piece-first with improvising crashes for me to hear what I liked, then by helping me notate effects I wanted and giving suggestions for sections of the piece and idioms of their instruments. This project has proved to me the invaluable help of performers and the importance of such a relationship when composing. Thanks guys!!!
Special thank you's go to Andrew for showing up 12:30 every week for a month and half to lug percussion gear up to the classroom and subsequently performing for others in the class AND to philip for actually screaming into Jon's tuba. It made the course.