Category Archives: Only Air

Posts about “Only Air” for soprano and orchestra

What a Difference…

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

After a frankly hellish few months at the day job (everyone agrees), I was finally able to take a few days away from the office to, y’know, get some writing done.

With a whopping FOUR commissions on my plate, all of which need to be done by March 10, I was wildly behind on getting things done, and desperately needed some uninterrupted writing time. Or, at least, minimally interrupted. Ok. A few hours strung together here and there that didn’t take place after I’d been sitting behind a desk for eight hours, to which this weekend was both perfectly and horribly suited. Perfectly because it was already a long weekend, and appending two days to it would be ideal; horribly because I knew that Saturday would be devoted to preparation for a concert I performed on, and I had tickets to see Powder Her Face on Sunday – both of which would absolutely involve carousing afterward.

So, I took Friday and today off, and have spent a significant amount of time either at the piano or in front of the computer.

On Friday and Saturday, I did the latest round of revisions to Only Air so that it’s ready to show to the last in a short series of mentors who I want feedback from. So far, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and blissfully constructive.

Here is a jpeg of page 1 of the score (yes, I know that there are a still a few engraving errors):

Yesterday afternoon I finished my choral setting of They Lie at Rest, from a longer poetic work by Christina Rossetti. As always, it was exciting to put a double bar on a new piece. When I sat down at the piano yesterday, I had the final two stanzas of the poem to set, and they flowed out with a minimum of fuss. I also learned that there’s no singing allowed at the memorial the choir had expected to perform it at, so they’ll just do it elsewhere on the same trip.

Here are the cover and first page:

And today I’ve sketched out all but 5 1/2 lines of Voices, the companion piece to When Music Sounds.

A snippet of sketches:

If only every day were like today!

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Matter-of-Fact

Friday, February 8, 2013

“Matter-of-fact” may, in fact, be my favorite score indication. “Clangorous” being a close second.


(Only Air (2011-2013))


(“Permanently” from at least a moment (2009))

Similar markings work, too:


(“inevitable” from echoes (2008))


(“Kenneth’s Death” from echoes (2008))

It may be my reserved, Midwestern upbringing. Or it may be that I prefer to let the text and music carry themselves, without the singer “getting in the way”. I also tend not to choose texts that imply histrionics. Subtle emotion seems to be my thing, musically. Understatement.

There’s nothing particularly earth shattering about this idea. It’s something I’ve known about myself and my music for a long time, but thinking about Only Air brings up the idea again for me.

I almost felt you
shudder this morning
as I dreamed of death

I can’t imagine this line – or anything from the poem, save four of the last lines – being recited or sung in any manner other than completely straight-forward. There’s obvious, deep, gut-wrenching emotion behind the poem, but it carries itself so simply, so beautifully that any to attempt to “interpret” it or put any additional “feeling” into it would cripple the words.

Similarly, “Kenneth’s Death” from echoes can’t be anything other than unsentimental. It is, of course, an incredibly sentimental song, but if I ever heard a singer put anything more than a sort of sad humor behind the words “He’s dead,” I might barf. (Or at least roll my eyes so hard that I get a peek at my brain.)

Sometimes the most complex of emotions can only be expressed through utter simplicity.

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Playing Catch-Up

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Only Air
The orchestration to Only Air continues apace. I’m starting in on the third interlude this evening, which will be the most challenging one since it does require a bit of actual composition as well – my sketches, which are usually either detailed roadmaps or vague groupings of disembodied noteheads, are particularly vague here, bordering on impressionistic. “The clarinet soloist does these things in this order, and the orchestra kind of does…other…stuff…with these pitches. Maybe a few others.” Thanks, Dennis, for being so helpful!

My intention was originally to put together the piano/vocal score first, but I realized quickly that it’s just not going to happen like that. The orchestration wants to happen first so that I can reduce it. Even though I wrote the piece at the piano, and my sketches are vaguely pianistic, it just wants to be an orchestra piece first. And who am I to argue? In practical terms, this way allows me to work out durations and timings with sustaining instruments before I REALLY get the decay of the piano in my head.

They Lie at Rest
This weekend, I also started a new short piece for mixed choir, “They Lie at Rest”. Something about the text has clearly spoken to my composer brain since I sat down with it for the first time yesterday and composed the first third of the piece in one fell swoop. This seems to be a theme with me and choral music lately – “When Music Sounds” started the exact same way!

Recent Events
I recently had the pleasure of singing several roles in a reading of Roger Zahab’s new opera A Christmas Carol. I was originally slated to sing Young Scrooge, First Portly Gentleman, and Bob Cratchit, but also added Scrooge’s nephew Fred for the second performance due to a baritone emergency.

And let me tell you: this is my kind of performing. Both performances were unstaged readings – literally readings – by a small ensemble and a group of singers, many of whom had never met until the day of the first “performance”. Magically, in the first performance of the 2-hour work, we only had to stop and restart about three times! And I know that I wasn’t the only one who had only had time to look at the music for the first time the night before!

Afterward, I realized that this was the real-life version of that dream that we all have about showing up to a performance on the first night without ever having rehearsed or having been told you were even cast, yet blundering through anyway. But with pants. I was a little taken aback after I mentioned to a few of the other performers and they replied, “Aw man, I know! I hate that nightmare!” B…but who said anything about a nightmare…?

Coming Up
This February I’ll be in an ensemble performing several works by composer Karen Siegel, which I’m very much looking forward to! The concert, for anyone available, will be February 16 at the Tenri Cultural Center on W 13th St at 8:00pm.

Also, my piece “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” from Elegy will be sung at a paperless reading of choral music hosted by the Monmouth County chapter of the American Guild of Organists on February 10!

Looking Forward
Due to a number of factors, including an increased work load at the day job, 2012 was a slow year for some of my non-composing/non-singing endeavors.

Consequently, I put a temporary moratorium on adding new works and new composers to the NewMusicShelf, which I’m just now beginning to lift as I prepare for the day job to go back to normal in a few weeks. My sole priority with the site has been to monitor sales and make sure that everyone gets paid when they should (mission accomplished!). And after I sift through my backlog of emails, and process all of the new scores, I’ll start accepting new submissions again, as well as seeking out new composers to join the site’s roster.

The day job also severely impacted my ability to update the Composer’s Guide toward the end of the year. But rest assured: I have a half dozen articles in draft form, and will start posting them all soon, along with a ton more new content! I’m very much looking forward to finishing the competitions mini-series!

There are also a few more projects that I’ve got lined up for this year that I’ll announce as they come closer to fruition.

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Double Bar!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

After about a year and a half of on-again-off-again composing, I finally put a double bar on Only Air yesterday afternoon!

As with most of my works, the ending was informally finalized ages ago (that is, definitely decided upon but not written down), so it’s been a labor of filling in the blanks. While I’m very much a start-to-finish type of composer, I frequently skip over a transition or bit of text that’s giving me some sort of problem in favor of making progress, because I find that a) banging my head against the wall over a few seconds of music just isn’t healthy, and b) the solution usually presents itself down the road, when I can take a later bit of music and “introduce” the material in that skipped transition. Très élégant !

I’m definitely feeling the crunch now. The premiere is in April, and I’m finally ready to orchestrate and make the piano/vocal score.

I’m not terribly worried about the orchestration because I decided long ago that my goal is to orchestrate it in such a way that a mediocre orchestra will sound great – i.e., standard, come-to-Jesus style orchestration. Interlocking winds. Lots of strings. Standard doublings. I’d like the piece to have a long shelf life, and that becomes less and less possible as the orchestration becomes showier and more complicated. Plus, I like to think that I don’t have the Young Composer Chip on the Shoulder when it comes to trying to show off with Orchestral Color. I’m still pretty darned new to writing for orchestra, but I’ve had some solid praise in my orchestration of Growl, and for once in my life I want to walk before I attempt running.

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No JFund this time

Monday, October 17, 2011

Well this was not how I wanted to start my week.

Because I’m impatient, and because I happened to see on Google+ last week that the JFund applications were being reviewed, I checked out the American Composers Forum website this afternoon to see if the grant winners had been announced. They had. Last Wednesday. Which is a pretty sure sign that I got nothing. And that’s exactly what I got.

I’m honestly incredibly depressed by the news. I hadn’t felt so optimistic and confident about an application I’d sent out, well…ever. So this was a significant blow to the ego, especially given the subject matter of the piece and my personal stake in it.

But life will go on. It goes on with temporarily undermined confidence and a brief bout of depression, but it goes on. I’ve still got the MAP Fund Letter of Inquiry out there.

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More grant writing

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I spent some time yesterday reworking the JFund materials for MAP. The changes will be more substantial than I first anticipated, but not overwhelming by any means. MAP provides a 7-point list of suggestions for writing the Letter of Inquiry, which I’m hewing to very closely, adapting my existing texts to the order and layout of the list. I’m feeling even more confident about this project description than I did about the JFund, which I think was still quite good.

Tonight I’ll spend some time at the library trying to finish the writing so that I can have a few people look at it tomorrow and over the weekend.

One of the challenges is to hit all of the points while maintaining a consistent flow. I find myself jumping around from section to section, adding a bit here, editing a bit there, moving things around to accommodate both the 7-point structure and the arc of the writing.

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Back on track

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Fundraising for Only Air stalled briefly, but is back in full-swing as of this afternoon. After the briefest of misunderstandings with The Field late yesterday afternoon, I’m set up on the MAP Fund’s site, and will be submitting my Letter of Inquiry materials for review at The Field in the next day or so. I’m glad I spent so much time preparing the JFund materials – for this round with MAP, I’m able to duplicate much of my work from the previous grant, which is a HUGE time-saver. I’ll still be spending some time reworking it over the next day or two.

Of course, all of this money talk seems a bit crass in the light of yet another suicide. Jamey Rodemeyer of Williamsville, NY committed suicide Sunday because he was bullied relentlessly at school for his sexuality. He was 14.

It’s because all of this is still happening that I’m writing Only Air.

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Into the breach!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

As of this afternoon, I’ll be in good standing once again with The Field, so I’ll be able to reapply as soon as my 12-month funding report is processed. I’m slightly nervous about The Field’s $250 fee, but only out of fear of not getting anything from the MAP Fund. But,then again: nothing ventured, nothing gained. My application is ready to go once I get the word.

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Finally: the Only Air announcement

Friday, September 2, 2011

I got some great feedback from ISU Devo yesterday – they’ve got some grants that they can point me to, which is awesome. They’re researching them further, and will send me the info soon. Plus, they think the project is “highly fundable”, which makes me quite happy, and bolsters my optimism about the grant applications!

I got news this morning from the MAP Fund that the organization needs to have their 501(c)3 status at the time of the application, and must have had it for at least two years prior. So, I won’t be applying with ISU for that particular grant. Which means that I have to get back in good standing with The Field – I’m sure we never filled out our funds usage report at the end of last year. When the Tobenski-Algera Concert Series folded, Jeff canceled our domain name, which means that I lost the only email contact I had with The Field, as well as ALL of my T-A related correspondence, which is annoying. I’ve contacted them to find out what paperwork I still owe them.

In other news, I’ve started reading David Cutler’s The Savvy Musician, which is clearly going to exacerbate my entrepreneurial tendencies, and really light a fire under my ass when it comes to marketing this piece. I’m going to be trying to get some media attention soon, now that I’ve officially announced the commission in my August newsletter (which you can sign up to receive here). I originally didn’t plan to announce the commission until I had the contract in-hand, but the Letter of Commitment, and the School’s enthusiasm about the project, make me confident enough to announce it finally. Next comes the official blog post on my website. AND I can stop typing this blog into Google Docs, and actually publish it and backdate all of the previous entries.

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In which Dennis calls upon arcane knowledge

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Today the MAP Fund opened their website to letters of inquiry for their annual grant application process. I’ve done a bit of research into the grant already, and it’s a perfect fit. One of the requirements of the process is that artists have to apply with a non-profit organization. That organization can either be working with the artist on bringing the project to fruition or merely a fiscal sponsor (like The Field or Fractured Atlas). So before I set ISU to attack the initial Letter of Inquiry round of the application process, I checked one last thing: does ISU, in fact, have 501(c)3 status?

The answer is: at this moment, no.

They’ve applied for non-profit status so that they can apply for these sorts of grant opportunities, but they haven’t yet received the final approval from the government.

And this is where my status as a font of arcane knowledge kicked in. I suddenly remembered: when an organization applies for 501(c)3 status, once their application is approved, the status is retroactive to the date of application. Which means that provided that their application is approved (and I don’t really see how it would be rejected, but let’s not tempt fate here, people), they will be considered as having non-profit status from the time that they originally mailed in their application.

Of course, I’m a huge dork for knowing this off the top of my head. I know that. I revel in it. I take great pride in knowing these sorts of law/copyright/business/practical things, and go out of my way to learn more.

I’ve emailed the MAP Fund directly to ask a) may I apply as an independent artist under the sponsorship of The Field, and b) will ISU qualify as a collaborating organization since they have applied for 501(c)3 status, and upon approval (assuming that it will take past the MAP Fund’s October cut-off date for ISU to receive the approval), that status will be retroactive. I haven’t yet heard back on the latter point (I’m assuming that questions are being asked, and it’s entirely possible that lawyers are being called), but I definitely can apply on my own with The Field’s sponsorship. However, I suspect that the project would be much more likely to be funded if I were applying directly with ISU, so I’m going to press the point.

Fortunately, the ISU Development people have offered to help me find additional funding sources, which is great.

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