Three Events this Week:
- Wednesday, November 5, 12:30pm: “How Do You Write a Symphony?” Room C-1078 at Lakeland Community College: Open to the public. Just show up!
- Thursday, November 6, 6:30pm: Concert Preview, Willoughby Hills Public Library. Registration requested but not required at we247.org
- Sunday, November 9, 4pm: Lakeland Civic Orchestra presents “Sounding Together,” including the premiere of my Symphony in G, “Doxology.” Tickets at www.lakelandcc.edu/arts
Rehearsal Update
Monday night we had a strong run-through. The first movement is still our primary challenge, but the second and third movements are sounding especially good. The first movement is a beast to conduct as well as to play. At the end, it feels as though it’s a piece of its own. One problem in the finale may stem from my preference for large-beat-value meters: 3/2 and 6/4 aren’t especially tough, but their juxtaposition seems to be causing some confusion: likely nothing that another run-through and touching some spots won’t cure.
That said, the orchestra is playing well, and we had excellent attendance, resulting in a good rehearsal recording. I can’t contain my gratitude for the work and patience of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra.
Week of the Show Thoughts
How Do You Write a Symphony?
I spent some time Thursday and Friday getting my presentation together for my talk on Wednesday, “How Do You Write a Symphony?” This has meant doing a little archaeology in my sketches from 2019: I’ve chosen a slice of the second movement (mm. 80-102), and after some preamble, the talk will follow it through the process of going from the blank page to being ready for a public premiere. Digging back through the old papers and files about it has been enlightening as I can now watch the development from idea to sketch to draft to score, and now to sound.
I also think my approach to composition was fundamentally sound: of course, if it hadn’t worked, there wouldn’t be a symphony to premiere, but I think of the early attempts I made at composition in which I started with a blank sheet of large-format staff paper or a complete template in Sibelius, and I’m amazed at how far I’ve come. One should be learning and refining over the course of 35 years or so, but it’s interesting to look back at it.
My answer to the question of “How Do You Write a Symphony?” is in part that you learn to write a symphony by writing a symphony, but also by setting aside some hubris and recognizing that it is going to be a long, drawn-out, and fitful process that needs to be broken down into its individual tasks.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I’ve been driving Becky, and probably the kids, nuts with all this symphony stuff, and they’ve been very patient with me. It has been a distraction from home, and as much as I’ve tried to not let it be, from my regular work duties to a significant extent (although, once it became a piece that the Lakeland Civic Orchestra was performing, it became involved with my work duties, so maybe it’s my “other” work duties, like, you know, teaching classes).
This is what you deal with in a family, I guess. We all go through our times when we are distracted, but the family is there for us. Noah has been focused on his own music this fall–marching band, Jazz Impact, and a School of Rock concert at the end of September, but the last week or so has also been about shifting away from that to bowling. He’s also headed to Florida on Monday, to return on Saturday, with the school band and choir, visiting the ersatz world of a certain cartoon mouse. Melia has been managing the transition to middle school: she’s in the same building, but has to deal with the middle school structure and the middle school drama all the same.
Austin Kleon writes that an artist has to create for themselves, not their family or parents, or whatever, and this is not wrong, but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want my family to share in my joy, and I would be disappointed if they weren’t at this premiere. Will that make up for having to be around my obsession as we rehearsed this thing? That will depend on them.
To what extent should your loved ones share your passions? We’re beyond a world where my kids would become musicians because that was the family trade (although it still seems to happen among some of my colleagues, I’m happy for my kids to love music in their own way and find another field to make their vocation). Becky and the kids long ago tired of going to lots of concerts: they haven’t been to a Civic Orchestra concert in several years at this point, and I’m really fine with that. It took me a while to get here: I remember times being upset that Becky didn’t bring the kids to whatever thing I was doing, but as much as I fear the “hedonic treadmill,” as those things have happened more, I’m content to drive down on my own schedule and just worry about myself for an afternoon or evening. But for the big performances, where I’m just in the audience, it’s nice to be able to share it: bringing Melia to the Cleveland Chamber Symphony for Martian Dances or schlepping both kids to Cincinnati for Adoration was a privilege.
I haven’t played the MIDI or rehearsal recordings of the symphony for Becky or the kids, except for playing Becky the MIDI of the first draft of the first movement when we were on the road for a conference in 2019 (it’s fun to take her on a road trip!). I hope they like what they hear.
Cui soli gloria? Soli Deo gloria!
In all of this, I have had to try to focus on what I intended for this piece: in basing it on the Doxology, it is, at its core, a hymn of praise. The last couple of weeks have been about self-promotion and invitations and flyers and posters and slideshows–like the run-up to Christmas.
Like Christmas, I hope that in the moment, I can pause to remember the original purpose for this piece, and to rededicate it to the One who inspires it and makes it possible. Our concert is not a worship service, and we are not a Christian organization, but to leave this aspect unacknowledged would be to completely miss the point, and would be clothing myself in glory that belongs to God. This week, I will remember to add prayer to my preparations, and ask the God who inspired this work and to whom it ultimately sings to guide our performance and our thoughts and our actions.