Recovery coming to a close...back to the books!

I guess it's about time for me to get back into the swing of things!

On my last day of class before my leave of absence, I was able to present my frst character piece. I went to class knowing there was a lot of work left to do and particulars to figure out, such as tempos, dynamics, etc. but I had the framework completed and ready to go. Big thanks go out to Jon and Dylan for their marvelous attempt at sight reading, which I know was not an easy task by any means.

I appreciated the feedback from my fellow composers. It was brought to my attention that a couple measures in the piano, were quite difficult and near impossible at the tempo I was originally considering. I knew I was expecting a lot from a performer with the particular part so in revisions I went back and re-edited the part to make it fit better under the hands. There were also a few questions about notation, and a suggestion to change time signatures in order to make the music more pleasing to the eye. I believe that through my revisions these issues were resolved in the best manner possible.

The live performance of this piece was very useful in deciding where I was going with the music and made it clear to me what needed to change. One main aspect that I decided to remove was the "blowing air through the instrument" which occured both at the beginning and at the end. From my own experience playing Horn I always enjoyed this extended technique, but on the Tuba it was very different. I realized that the only way I could get the sound I was invisioning would be if I used Horn instead of Tuba. I opted to just drop the concept and maintain the instrumentation as it was.

I have since completed this piece and I am very happy with the way it turned out.

-Jill