Daily Doses ... (part 2)
These are some of the things I love most about writing a serious and involved piece of music.
1) I wake up very early (usually 6am) no matter what time I go to bed (generally 2am) with themes that have been playing in my head all night (these themes are always in the key of the section I'm working on and even though I don't have perfect pitch, I always wake up singing in the exact key of the previous evening).
2) When I get into the writing of the initial sketch, my mind won't leave me alone and I feel it working on the "problems" of a particular section as the day pass.
3) I get to reference melodic and rhythmic themes, diverse styles of music, snatches of conversations, personalities of people I know or I have known, feelings of experiences I have had, techniques from other art forms, high and low minded personal aspirations, and all in the context of some malleable musical form.
One thing I've learned through the years of writing extended compositions that also applies to living: don't let the form you have chosen interfere with the music as it reveals itself. Take the music as it comes and change the form.
Today I'm working on the last movement. It is very fast and is evocative of a conversation that becomes an argument and goes back to a conversation. Fugal in character not in form, the principal themes converse by cosigning, counter-stating, and imitating each other.
We'll check ya.
Wynton