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).

Haiku of the day

         

The squirrels in my head

running and jumping around

what was I doing?

Ballet Idea

I had the following idea for a ballet.

If you have time can you take a look at the following outline that I have created for a possible ballet. any feed back is welcome, good or bad.

Ballet – Outline – Title?

Scene 1: Curtain rises
  on a barren and desolate landscape, the full moon slowly rises over the distant barren mountains.

Scene 2: A group of grotesque demons enter and begin a wild a chaotic dance.

Scene 3: A young and nubile girl is doing water ablutions in an oasis in the barren land. Small strange and grotesque (reptilian?) creatures stand a watch over her as she does her ritual cleaning.

Scene 4: The small creatures begin to cavort and dance as the girl meditates (with her eyes closed) under the small waterfall that feeds the oasis.

Scene 5: Something startles the creatures and they scurry about before hiding behind various rocks that surround the oasis. The Girl remains undisturbed in her meditation, her eyes remain closed.

Scene 6: Enter the demons with their chaotic dance; at first they do not see the girl. Their dance comes to a sudden stop when they she her sitting under the waterfall.

Scene 7: They begin their chaotic dance against before rushing towards to girl to seize her. But they are unable to reach her as some invisible barrier shocks and burns them when they get too close; her eyes remain closed, her expression is one of peace and calm.

Scene 8: Frustrated the demons storm off. The girl opens her eyes and comes out of her mediation. Standing she beings to stretch and warm up (Katas ? [形]) as if preparing for something. Her small grotesque creature companions begin to do the same.

Scene 9: The demons return; they mock and taunt the Girl and the small creatures but do not approach them, the girl stands still immune to their taunts. The demons stop their taunting and scurry to one side their eyes downcast, as if they where afraid.

Scene 10: A large demon, “king” of the demons enters and approaches the girl. The takes up a defensive stance as if she is expecting to be attacked. The large demon is startled by the invisible barrier surrounding the grils that shocks and burns him, but it only a minor hindrance and he pushes through the barrier and attacks the girl.

Scene 11: As the girl and the large demon engage in combat, the small creatures and the other demons also begin fighting each other. Many of the small creatures and demons are seriously wounded or killed. The girl and the large demon inflict serious wounds on each other. Seriously (mortally wounded?) the girl lands one last blow on the large demon that destroys him; banishing him from the world. The few remaining demons flee in terror leaving their wounded and dieing comrades behind.

Scene 12: With her remaining strength the girl attends to her wounded companions; the small creatures. Pouring her power into them she heals all of them, even restoring ones that seem to have been killed. With her healing of the last creature she lays down right side, her head propped up by a smooth stone and apparently falls asleep.

Scene 13: The small creatures form a circle around the girl wait for her to awake. But it soon become clear that she will not awake. So the small creatures slowly begin to pile stones around and on top of her making a rough burial mound.

Scene 14: After the mound is finished, the creatures leave one by one. The full moon now sets in the distance west and the sky is filled with stars.

===   END   ===