Euphonic Remarks

For hundreds of years ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is trotted out to bludgeon poor listeners into bleary-eyed submission. Like being lost in the desert one prays continually for the end to come. I honestly believe that not a single soul on the planet likes this song, yet year after year out of a perverse sense of duty we inflict it on ourselves and others. Worse yet are the ‘clever’ versions, as though changing the items is going to make the ceaseless repetition any more bearable. I say no! No more! There is no need for it. We have a large repertoire of holiday songs that are infinitely more palatable. I ask each and every one of you to help put a stop to useless suffering this holiday season; don’t instigate or take part in the singing of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ in all its wretched forms.

I shouldn’t be writing this. I should be working on my arrangement. I have less than a week to get this all done. As indicated in my previous post, I’m preparing a piece to enter the CBC Evolution contest. What I’m working on has a large amount of instrumentation. A full orchestra is going by the end of it is a raucous display of joy. If any of you fine reader has scored parts for an orchestra, then you know that it can be very taxing. Trying to get everything to fit together  without sounding like you scored it by splattering ink on the sheets is a challenge. If I’ve learned anything by now it is that less is more. I will say it again louder for emphasis: LESS IS MORE.

There are times when you should be ruthless in cutting. Be bold and just snip that part out. It wasn’t working and it should go. Don’t look back or think twice. For instance: the bridge was sagging. I tried to prop it up with two layers of counterpoint on violins and trumpet over arpeggiated violas. It wasn’t working one damn bit. It sounded like Bach barf. So I cut it. Rather than flog away at something that wasn’t working I came up with something that did. By just using the trumpets to accent about every 4 measures and having the violins arpeggiate at half the note value of the violas everything became clear. Parts weren’t fighting with each other for attention.

Having everything sounding all the time is sure to overwhealm any composition. A song needs space to breathe, where phrases can surge in and out of existence. It keeps your listeners attention because there is always something new to listen to. It pulls you in directions and a back and forth dynamic emerges. You enter into a conversation with the piece rather than being talked to, or worse yelled at, by it. Eliminating superfluous and jarring parts will strengthen your work to no end, so be strong and sharpen your scissors.

Where does the time go? I was listening to the CBC on the drive into work one morning when I heard a mysterious ad for ‘Evolution’. Well I bit and went to CBC.ca/evolution. Turns out it is a contest. A contest whose deadline is coming soon. Let me give you the run down:

CBC is looking for composers to promote. Five finalists get sequestered away in Banff to compose a piece each to be performed at The Banff Centre and broadcast live on CBC Radio 2 with a $20,000 grand prize going to the winner.

How can I let an opportunity like this go by? I’ve jumped on it and have been frantically pulling together a composition that I’ve been lazily toying with for the past year. In my single-minded focus I’ve neglected to write a post. For that I apologise. I know the timing is tight, but maybe some of you will be interested in laying your work on the line. Go over to the CBC Evolution page and read up on the contest.

On a related note, I have to say that the pressure of a deadline is really making me produce. Knowing that you only have until X date and that is it. After which you’re dead in the water, finito. It’s motivating to say the least. I was taking so long to get this composition recorded that I lost all focus. Now I have tackled it with renewed vigor and have hope again that I will see it finished.