A Composer's Journal Entries December 2-8, 2005

Journal entries by composer and pianist Laurie Conrad

Moderator: figaro

Post Reply
figaro
Posts: 535
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:45 am
Location: Ithaca, NY
Contact:

A Composer's Journal Entries December 2-8, 2005

Post by figaro »

Music for Harp: A Composer’s Journal December 2-8, 2005

Friday, December 2

Snowing and cold. JF took me to the TV studio, so I could continue working on the sound for the TV show of Visions on the digital machines. M. is away until Monday night. Myra, the harpist for both the Visions CD and TV recording called today: she’s in town until Thursday. We might have dinner Sunday. The nine Visions for harp and flute are dedicated to her, and it would be fitting if I could finish the TV show while she was in town. The fellow from the radio station called: our interview has been put off until April 2nd.

Monday, December 5

Went to the TV studio to work on Visions & the digital edit room was taken, Enrico was there.
Still having trouble with the sound. Lauren took the copy tape home to watch on her television because for some reason the copy I made would not play on my set at home. She feels that the finished show will be good enough to win an award; which is fine & good, except I still need to get all the sound levels the same, from piece to piece. And the recording levels for Vision VIII are so low, I cannot use the audio. Therefore, have decided to cut Vision VIII, which will bring the show under an hour - which is better for airing at the studio. However, that means Vision VIII will be missing on the final tape. When it is finished I will send a copy to Binghamton’s PBS channel, they might want to use it.

Aside from retaping Vision VIII at the studio, there is no alternative. There are also a few minor changes in the visuals that still need to be made.

Making television shows & CD recordings were not something Beethoven or Mozart needed to think about.

Now that I better understand the digital machines - I will never do a show this way again. When we record String Quintet II at the studio, all the taping will be done on the same day, to insure that the sound levels remain constant. And we will re-record entire sections of each movement, if needed - not phrases. The editing for Visions has been a nightmare that I do not care to ever revisit.

Wednesday, December 7

Lit a fire in the coal stove. Myra stopped by & helped me bring Christmas things down from the attic. The wooden wagon is again filled with wrapped presents & a few stuffed bears. The familiar grey rabbit in his red velvet frockcoat is in the driver’s seat, accompanied by a small brown bear as his footman. After Myra had gone, I draped strands of clear lights over the floor & wagon & other presents near the piano - like a starry path to the middle window at the base of the staircase, the lights reflecting off the oak wood floors. Magical. Told Myra that I would work on the Images when my other projects were done. I would like the Images to be as magical as those strands of lights which are winding their way to the bottom of the staircase... Notes instead of lights ... winding their way across the manuscript paper ...

I have not written or performed music in so long, there must be thousands of notes waiting to be written. The writing will go very, very quickly ... once I sit down to write them.

Thursday, December 8
3 a.m.

Typed some Journal entries into the computer & came downstairs to find the world covered in snow. And the fire out in the coal stove. The outside floodlight in the back garden was on, and the small firs looked like a Christmas card or a gingerbread scene with white icing; snow still falling. I stood by the window & watched. The snow lends a presence to the garden that cannot be equaled in any other season, especially at night. The trees and shrubs have a new mass and delineation, geometries that seem to reach out in all directions - as though they command the space they inhabit in a new, vibrant and definite way. I gazed at them with admiration & wanted to walk between them, make a path in the snow around them ... But I was too tired and it is very late. So I decided to write in this notebook instead. Hopefully, the scene tonight will find its way into some future music that I will write or perform one day.

Earlier tonight, I went to the Nutcracker tech rehearsal in town with Sarah & Chris, then dinner. JF stopped by around midnight, & it began to snow. I lit the fire. Now, some hours later: quiet, calm solitude & no fire & a white, silent world. The evening like different movements of a beautiful & varied symphony, the people & events of the day bringing their own phrases & harmonies with them ... And now the silence of the snow, like muted strings; the flurries in the wind finally settling on the earth, solidifying. Two worlds, two tonalities - the snow in the wind & the quiet snow on the earth & trees. I would give the flurries muted pizzicato or tremolo in the strings, the layers of snow on the earth & firs long notes in the winds or brass. There is always music surrounding us, we are just not aware of it.
Post Reply