The Squirrels Ran Away

         
So I started working on the idea that I had at lunch yesterday when I got home last night. After about ten minutes I came to the conclusion that 99 percent of it was crap. So into the round filing cabinet it went. This resulted in me working on Impression No. 5 for the rest of the night. I am very happy where I am with this piece I hope I will be able to get a mix of it done by the end of the weekend. But as you know squirrels are tricky bastards; who knows what they are planning.
               

Squirrels Everywhere I Look

               

So I am in the process of finishing working on Impression No. 5 with the hope that I can mix it over the weekend. But. As I am sitting here eating my lunch I got an idea for another large project and spent half of my lunch starting to sketch it out. Only God knows if I will get back on track with Impression No. 5 or spend the next weeks working on my new idea for a new piece (lets not even mention that I still have the Ballet to work on).

No Squirrels Last Night

     
Impression No. 4.  Fourth in a plan set of five.

Impression No. 4: MP3

Impression No. 4:  Score and MP3

So Many Squirrels

               

I spent most of Friday night working and revising Impression No. 5 and I now feel that it is at least 95 percent done; just need a few more listen through and we should be ready to start mixing. Impression No. 4 is waiting for its final mix down and I should had finished it this weekend, but I did not. After working most of Friday night on polishing No. 5 I spent the rest of weekend distracted by squirrels and got nothing more done. Maybe tonight.
                     

Impressions of Squirrels

 

I continued with writing Impression No. 5 last night.  I would say that I am now about 90 percent done with it.  All of the notes are down on the page, it is now a mater of cleaning up the notation, working on the small things, like dynamic marks.  Still need to finish mixing Impression No. 4.  Squirrel!

                  

More Squirrels!

         
In my last update I stated that I had been putting off mixing of my piece Impression No. 4 for some time now. One of the reasons was because I had no idea for Impression No. 5. (The Impression series was originally conceived as a set of seven pieces, but was trimmed to five by the time I finished Impression No. 1.) So I knew I would be writing an Impression to finish the set off, I just did not know what form it would take.


I truly expected to work on and quite possibly finish mixing Impression No. 4 last night, but as I listen to the first four impressions at lunch on Wednesday Impression No. 5 bloomed full born in my head. So instead of working on the mix for Impression No. 4, I spent most of the night working on Impression No. 5.



Who knows what will distract me tonight!  

Too Many Squirrels

       
I finished writing Impression No. 4 back in early November of 2014, but I have put off mixing it for the since then. Last weekend after doing a little sketching of some ideas for the new ballet on Friday night I spent the rest of the weekend setting and mixing Impression No. 4. I am currently listening to two different mixes I did before I do the final mix. With some luck and no squirrels I should have something for people to listen to by the end of the weekend, if not sooner.
               

• Impression No. 1
• Impression No. 2
• Impression No. 3
• Impression No. 4: Coming soon

                    

Ballet Progress

         
I started on my fifth version of scene 1 on Saturday and is coming along very well. It will be the one I will use and is currently about 90 percent done. Even when plowing through the first scene I did continue to think about other scenes; the one scene I am most worried about is scene 11, but I think I have a idea for it now that I need to explore.
           

Ballet Progress

    

Well the first scene is giving me fits. I have written drafts for three different versions of the opening scene and I am not happy with any of them. I am now working through a fourth version in my head that will hopefully work. My granddaughter has returned from her Christmas/New Years trip to Japan and Singapore, so I do not know how much time I will have each day to work on the ballet; I guess we will see how little sleep I need.
                           

Ballet Update:

   

The Music is coming along fine. The music for second and third scenes are both about 98 percent done, with just final editing and polishing to do. I have written two drafts of the first scene, but have started sketching out a completely new third version of the first scene last night. I have made notes on several other scenes, but have not yet put a note on the paper for them.

The current working instrumentation is:

• A string nontet (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cells, and bass)
• A double reeds nontet (3 oboes, English Horn, 4 bassoon, Contra-bassoon)
• Percussion (both pitched and un-pitched, several players)
• Flute (maybe doubling on Piccolo and Alto).