Recap

Ok, as promised, here is a recap of my activities this week:

On Monday and Wednesday, I took what was a sketched out melody and a rhythm, and fleshed out an entire piece (in rough draft manuscript form). The piece is a choral work based on a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay entitled Wild Swans. An entirely new work that will fit the requirements of the KUCS competition. Postmark deadline, February 1st.

This weekend, I'm wrestling with Finale (a music notation software program) and taking the music from pencil on staff paper to standard replicable form. Eric Whitacre has ranted many times about the evils of Finale, and more and more, I'm starting to agree with him; however, while Finale tends to sap the soul out of a piece of music (especially since I'm using Notepad!), it forces me to listen even deeper to the nuances of what I hear blaring inside my head and heart and get that down on the page.

I'm really excited for the day I can hire someone to do the engraving (the fancy word for putting music into a computer program and making it pretty).

I've also noticed during this week that I have been less verbally expressive, almost to the point of being un-Megan in my lack of exuberance. There is a huge part of me that is literally out to lunch, and I can't really find it unless I'm working on this piece. Composing is certainly proving to be the emotional rollercoaster I expected: despair, exhilartion, loneliness, oneness, confusion, hope. Often, the more I think/talk about composing, the harder it gets. Perhaps that's why I feel so quiet this week.

This piece also feels like cleaning out the creative plumbing, in a bigger and more expansive way than other times. I have no idea how it will turn out, but that's not my place to judge. I'm putting as much love into it as I can, and so be it.

I'm looking forward to finishing it for the contest, and then going home to be with my family to bask in their warmth and comfort, even if it is to grieve.

'til next time,
~megan