Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

I hinted at this in a previous post and now I'm ready to reveal it in full: I've been working on a flute quartet.

Why flute quartet?

1. I like homogeneous sounds.
2. Nederlunatic pointed me towards a little known flute quartet competition and I thought it might be good to try my hand at it.
3. It has been 22 months since I wrote something. I needed to do this.

What is it called?

Um... Flute Quartet...? I don't have a title yet that I am pleased with (I actually just like Flute Quartet as a title). I am thinking about using "pocket" in some kind of way as ever since I saw this Pro Tools video (see the Synchronic videos) on putting beats "in the pocket" I always conjure up this image of the host of the video: a limey with a wicked accent and an incredibly vibrant personality. I guess I could call it something like Pocket Rocket to match my already sexual leaning tendencies in titles: Man Expanding, When I Sleep Enormous..., He Stands Erect and Ready... (oh wait, I haven't written that last one yet).

What is it like?

Here is a page of score. Grab three friends and sight-sing it.

You are writing a flute quartet?!

Yes. I thought I made this clear. Another reason: I recently produced a short solo flute LP with a badass flutist. Recording and editing flute music made this a much easier thing to get into (and, unlike tubas, a quartet of flutes is a good idea).

How long have you been working on it?

On Friday (2/23/07) I had a lesson with a student and following the natural course of how lessons typically go with hdez, the following algo-formula was produced:

y, y*2, (y/2)R, y/2, y*3, y/R

As well, I stole the student's pitch-class set (well, he doesn't call it that): [E05]

In the lesson, I worked my nonsensical magic and like the results enough that the next day kept thinking about that algo-formula. On Sunday (2/25/07) I got up at 5am, went downstairs, and began to write at the kitchen table. The wifer was surprised to see me as I am usually at school on Sunday mornings making software tutorials. That day, however, school could wait. I needed to write - no matter how painful the experience would be.

And so, I wrote. And wrote. And wrote a little more. And kept writing - until 10pm. I did take an hour break hear and there as that much staring at a piece of paper starts to hurt after a while (and I was doped up on caffeine via coffee and Diet Coke). At the end of the eday I had the skeleton of 124 measures.

The next day, I fleshed out 80 of those measures. Yesterday, I fleshed out 50+ more (composing and such). The good news: the piece doesn't suck. The bad news: I won't finish it in time for the competition.

Oh well. I probably wouldn't have won anyway. Instead, the piece has made me write again and that certainly is better than the alternative (which I've been living with for 22 months). Also, the students get to see that their hdez does indeed put pencil to paper and get down to business (as he admonishes them to do).

I'll take a break from the piece today. I am quite close to finishing it. I've written a climax that begins great and then becomes quite cheesy. Now that I know what it looks like, I'll disfigure it and come up with something much better.

So, what are you working on?