The Life of the Composer: Correcting the Parts and Score

Journal entries by composer and pianist Laurie Conrad

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The Life of the Composer: Correcting the Parts and Score

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The Life of the Composer: Correcting the Parts and Score of “Images”: A Composer’s Journal Entries: October 9-13, 2008

Thursday, October 9

Al dropped off a different version of the studio recording for me to listen to; found it hanging from the front door, in a small plastic bag. The usual place.

Paul the diplomat is here overnight, from Ghana. He is stationed there for some months. Gave him a copy of the Images concert CD recording, to give to a radio station there.

Saturday, October 11

Went to dinner with Myra last night and went over the harp corrections. Came home and worked almost through the night, putting the new corrections in my rehearsal score and the scores and parts I am getting ready to send out. Spent almost all of today finishing them. Found the original main score and original parts and now must put all the corrections in those as well. It should take me a few days ... This is the last time I Xerox up parts to send out to musicians before the rehearsals begin and all the corrections are made. It takes so many hours to Xerox everything, I was trying to save time; I had to make Xerox copies for the players to rehearse with, and a rehearsal copy for me - and thought it would be easier and faster to copy them all at once. But in the end it did not save time, and was much harder than if I had just waited in the first place, put all the corrections in first ... No matter how it is done, it takes a long time and is a lot of work. The Images score is almost 130 pages long, and the parts are the same length ...

Then I listened to the new CDs Al dropped off, from our studio session for Images. Logged all the takes. There will be very few edits - and it is very beautiful. Will e-mail Al and set up a time for us to meet. I am - exhausted.


Monday, October 13

Finished putting in the last corrections to the Images score and parts today. Now getting ready to send them out: to Germany, Poland, Serbia, and to several professional musicians in the United States ... Next, when the final CD is produced: radio stations.

Now to correct the score and parts to the String Quintet, find musicians and record it. E-mailed Robert Spear: he has to put the corrections in his computer program. Poor Robert ... I will help him, as I have in the past. Then to finish the orchestration Trois Prieres and Chansons. And find someone to perform and record them. Hopefully I can also perform and record the Piano Quintet by next summer. The Song Cycle next fall or winter. If my health holds and we have some miracles that produce volunteer musicians ... Or I inherit a lot of money .... Meanwhile, if there is extra time to compose new music - what would I write, and for whom ... I promised Rene a piano piece, but in addition to that commitment: what? Suddenly I feel surrounded by space again, vast distances of beautiful silence ... And the notes will come .... The melodies and harmonies and rhythmic motives... They always do.
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