Doug Spata's Olympic Dream

The Olympics begin this week and it's always an exciting time for the world. I love watching the opening and closing ceremonies and the Parade of Nations, though I don't have a specific sport that I follow. The first Olympics I was aware of was the 1984 games in Los Angeles and I remember that for a long time all anyone could talk about was the U.S. gymnastics team.

TV coverage does a good job of highlighting the dramatic stories that drive the competitors and led the athletes to the games. They all have that "Olympic dream," to achieve at the highest level in front of the whole world.

Even though I'm not an athlete, I have an Olympic dream of my own: it would be an epic thrill to hear one of my compositions used in during Olympic competition. I'm not talking about the opening and closing ceremonies – that's way too much to ask. But it would be amazing to hear one of my pieces accompany a gymnastics floor exercise, a synchronized swimming routine, or, at the Winter Olympics, figure skating or ice dancing.

As a kid, I especially enjoyed hearing the music used in the gymnastic competitions because it's so full of color, energy, and emotion. I think some of my pieces would be suitable. Need something with a dark energy? Try Avatar, Elementals, or Storm Trail. Something more rhythmic and angular? There's Agincourt. Need a bright explosion of sound? Quicksilver or Star of Valor. For something more lyrical, have a listen to A Hero's Welcome. And if you need something fun and sassy, I recommend Violet's Tango, Samba Del Sol, Lemon Twist, or Mambo Incognito. Of course, Gauntlet is good for any occasion.

Professional recordings of all these and more are available at alfred-music.com.

So if you're an Olympic-level gymnast, synchronized swimmer, figure skater, or ice dancer... you're probably training really hard and don't have time for music classes, so you've never heard of me. But if you're someone who knows an Olympic-level athlete, maybe suggest one of my pieces and help make my dream come true!

 

I Take Requests

Occasionally, I'm lucky enough to get fan mail. My e-mail address is pretty easy to find and I've received messages from teachers, students, parents, and even audience members who have questions or comments about what they've heard or played. It's always wonderful to get feedback right from the source. I got an e-mail recently from a student in Texas and it was a little different:

 I love your compositions, and so does my high school orchestra director! 
We play your pieces all the time and they are our all time favorites. I was wondering if for your next submission to Alfred Music Publishing, could you compose a piece that has these components:

• Written in the style of an overture like, "Gauntlet" (ABA form)
• Set in a minor key 
• Quick tempo
• Dark motifs using sixteenth note and eighth note passages
• A slower more lyrical and expressive middle section (it would be cool if it could alternate between major and minor keys/modes), that then quickens back up into the beginning themes
• And be the grade level of 3-4

Performing a piece like that written by you would be the coolest thing EVER!

Students frequently ask me to write something "like Gauntlet," but I've never been sure what that means. I've written lots of other overtures in minor keys with fast tempos and I'm wary about repeating myself - if it's too much like Gauntlet, then what's the point? But this was the first time that someone actually delineated what that means. And the thing that sticks out is the mention of Gauntlet's middle section (a.k.a "the hard part"). This e-mail made me realize that I'd never done a slow section quite like that in any of my other pieces. I responded:

I've written a few minor key pieces for more advanced orchestra, but I don't think any of the published ones have slow middle sections.  Still, if you haven't heard them already, you many enjoy Storm Trail, Elementals, and Agincourt.  Next time I work on a fast minor key piece for advanced orchestra, I'll be sure to include a slow middle section before the recap.

 I've always kind of assumed that students don't enjoy Gauntlet's nebulous, melody-free middle section. It is, admittedly, a weird 25 measures. In recordings and videos it's the place where counting most frequently breaks down, entrances are missed, and musicianship is lost. I hadn't considered that  the challenge of that passage of music was appealing to students.

So after thinking about this, I set out to start a new piece of music. I didn't want it to be the same ability level as Gauntlet, so it has some advanced technical demands. I'm pleased with the piece and thought I'd share with my fan what came of his suggestions:

I just finished a new piece based on your recommendations and I thought you'd like to hear it - the sound file is attached. It's a fast Grade III piece with 16th note syncopations and optional shifting, it's in C minor with a few key changes, and it uses overture form with a lyrical middle section similar in style to Gauntlet's. I also included snare drum, bass drum, and tam tam parts for this one. I'd love to hear what you think.

He responded:

Wow! It sounds awesome! The middle section sounds really good. I also really like the percussion sound. It gives color and a really cool adventure/quest sound. The intensity builds all the way to the end and that's what I love about all your pieces! Do you have a title for this one yet? 

I wrote back:

Success!  No title for this one yet, though. Writing music is easy - writing titles is difficult.

I'll send this piece off with my submissions next spring and I have high hopes for it!

 

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 2)

As I mentioned in Part 1, my foreign sales make up just a tiny percentage of my annual total. But it's still interesting to see what sells. Here are my top five foreign sales of scores with parts in 2011:

1. Sneaking Suspicion
2. Gargoyles & Star of Valor (tie)
3. Quicksilver
4. Avatar, Gauntlet, Hot Potato, Porcupine Pantomime (all tied)
5. Lemon Twist and Storm Trail (tie)

The new ones are popular and some of the old favorites made the list, but a lot of these entries are surprises. Sneaking Suspicion seems to be a breakaway hit overseas.

Alfred Publishing also sells scores alone, without the parts. You'd need extra scores to give the judges at contests, so the best-sellers on this list are the ones that are popular at contest season:

1. Gautlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Crusader

No surprises here. Except maybe for Mariposas - I suppose that explains its resurgence in the score-and-parts list.

Again, if you bought anything of mine in the past year, thanks very much!

Major/Minor Dilemma (Part 2)

About a year ago, after receiving my annual royalty statement, I posted some musings about my top-selling compositions - specifically, I noticed that a lot of the better-selling pieces are in minor keys. This led me to wonder if maybe I should just focus on minor-key music when writing for student orchestras.

Well, it wasn't long before I received an e-mail from someone who had read the post and had a different theory:

Of the 5 compositions you posted, the top 4, besides being in minor keys, have really "cool" titles.
I know this seems arbitrary, and it is, but I think we underestimate the value of the titles of our art.

He has an interesting point. I'm always trying to pin down what it is about certain music that appeals to people and maybe an evocative title can set expectations. Titles have always been tough for me and I frequently put off titling my pieces until days before sending them off to my publisher for consideration. So I wrote back:

I wonder if you'd be willing to help me put your theory to a test? My three newest pieces this year
are "Quicksilver," "A Hero's Welcome," and "Porcupine Pantomime." All three are in major keys.
If you'll make a prediction of which of the three will be the best seller, I'll check it against the results
when I receive next year's sales report.

The challenge was taken up:

I'm going to guess "A Hero's Welcome" will be the highest selling. This guess is somewhat arbitrary,
but my rationale is as follows: kids will like the title "Quicksilver" and adults will like the "Porcupine
Pantomime." A Hero's Welcome has universal appeal between the age groups. That's my best guess.
Hope they all do well for you, though.

That makes sense to me. So the sales numbers are finally in and the rankings for the newest pieces are
(*drumroll*):

1. Quicksilver
2. Porcupine Pantomime
3. A Hero's Welcome

Obviously, there are a lot more factors at play than tonality and title. First: exposure. Quicksilver was
performed at last year's Midwest Music Conference, which features huge audiences of music-buyers. Second: Tempo.  In my experience, fast music is more popular than slow music and A Hero's Welcome is a lyrical moderate-tempo piece.  Third: Degree of difficulty.  Beginner orchestras are always larger than intermediate and advanced groups, so there's usually a higher demand for beginner-level music. Porcupine Pantomime was the only early-level piece of the three. I suppose the moral of the story is that the appeal of a piece of music doesn't rest on anything as simple as tonality and title. 

So I'll put it to you, reader. I invite you to predict which of this years pieces will be the top sellers:

• Star of Valor: A medium-to-advanced concert overture with fast, heroic melodies, a little bit of shifting, and a fast tempo.

• Storm Trail: A fast, minor-key, intermediate-level piece in 12/8 time.

• Sneaking Suspicion: An all-pizzicato, minor-key piece for beginners with a moderate tempo.

New Recordings Available!

Recordings of my three newly-published pieces are now available online!  Just go to alfred-music.com and do a search for my name and you can get recordings of any (or all) of my published music for just $.99 per song.

Click on these links for online samples:

Sneaking Suspicion  •  Star of Valor  •  Storm Trail

Yes, it's the year of the "S's."  I totally didn't plan it, the selection committee just happened to select three pieces whose titles start with "S."  People would kid me years ago because three of my first four published pieces started with "G."  As I'm sure you know from exhaustively reading all the posts on this blog and committing them to memory, titles are tough for me.  If I were smart, all my titles would only start with letters A through M, so they always appear in the first half of alphabetically-organized lists of titles.

But I digress.

I'm really happy with how the recordings turned out. Some of my pieces are really designed for larger forces than the nine or ten studio musicians assembled to record the Alfred catalog, but the musicianship is of such high quality that I can't complain.

Consider this when listening to Star of Valor: I had a lot of trouble with counterpoint in college. All the rules just confounded me and I'd freeze up when asked to write out a simple chorale. My fugues were musical atrocities.  And here I am years later, juggling simultaneous melodies and lyrical accompaniment parts like it's nothing.  In fact, it was a lot of work to get it right and the studio musicians make it sound easy and natural.

Anyway, follow those links, enjoy the new music, and please buy it if you like it.  Thanks!

New Submissions

It's that time of year again!  I just got back from the post office where I shipped nine new pieces of music and a CD to Alfred Publishing for consideration in the 2012-2013 String Orchestra catalog.  My fingers will remain crossed for approximately the next three months while I wait to hear back from the selection committee.

This year I sent in nine original pieces, none of which were re-submissions.  Three beginner pieces, three intermediate-level pieces, and three advanced-level pieces and a good mix of styles and keys.  My hope is that by giving them a broad range of music to choose from will increase my chances.  In the past, they've chosen one piece from each ability level and each of a different style and .  Here's what they chose last year, for example:

Sneaking Suspicion: beginner level, minor key, all pizzicato, scherzo style
Storm Trail: intermediate level, minor key, unusual time signature, "Gauntlet-esque" style
Star of Valor: advanced level, major key, part independence, shifting, heroic style

I have a few favorites among this year's submissions, but I'm proud of everything I've done and would be happy just to have something selected.

More Like Gauntlet

I recently decided to do something about the rhythm that has been nagging me from the back of my mind and incorporate it into a new piece.  The result is a fast, advanced-level piece in D Minor (occasionally going into F Major and flirting with Phrygian mode) with frequent meter changes.  I originally thought Agincourt, with its 7/8 time signature would be a good rhythmic challenge for advanced students, but now I see that middle school kids are playing it with no problem.  This new one (still untitled, of course) should be suitably difficult.

But while writing this new one, I got to thinking about something.

People always ask me "why don't you write something like Gauntlet again?" To which I have two responses.  First: I thought I have.  I'm not sure exactly how I bottled lightning with Gauntlet - it seems to be a product of the very specific state of mind I was in for two weeks in 1998 and, despite my best efforts, it remains a unique anomaly.  I think that Agincourt, Elementals, Avatar (no relation to the new movie), Gargoyles, Crusader, and Storm Trail all have that same "dark and fast" quality.  I also have dozens of unpublished pieces in the same milieu, but I still get asked why I don't write more pieces like Gauntlet.  I'm not sure what quality it is that people respond to and want me to reproduce, but it seems beyond my grasp.

My second response is: why would I want to write the same thing twice?  Even if I could write a piece like Gauntlet again, would you really want to play a piece that's exactly like Gauntlet but not Gauntlet?  Would teachers buy a piece that's really really similar to a piece that they already have in their library?  I still like Gauntlet, but all these years later I see a certain naivete in its construction and I'd like to think that I've grown as a composer since then.  While I sometimes try to emulate the dark style and fast tempo that made Gauntlet popular, I'd rather write a piece that is unique and interesting on its own merits than a complete re-tread of something I've already done.

Let me put it this way: What if the Beatles kept writing songs like "Love Me Do"  over and over for their whole career?  It was a huge success for them early on, but what if, instead of exploring new sounds and growing artistically, they kept focusing on the same jangly rockabilly sound they started with?  Another example: Hootie and the Blowfish, a band that stuck with its middle-of-the-road frat rock long after the public's taste for middle-of-the-road frat rock had faded.

My hero, Igor Stravinsky had this problem (on a much larger scale).   He spent a long lifetime writing an amazing string of masterpieces, but all anyone wanted to hear were the three ballets he wrote in his early 30's.  He never revisited the early style that made him famous and instead, focused on constantly exploring new sounds.  Still, he made a career out of it, so it's not the worst problem to have.  Another extreme example is Carl Orff, who lived to be over 100 and wrote tons of beautiful music, but all he's known for is the first five minutes of one piece that he wrote back in the 1940's.

So this new piece I just finished is like Gauntlet in that it has a fast tempo, a minor key and a legato section in the middle, but it also has unique challenges.  If it gets compared to Gauntlet that would be great, but I hope that it stands apart and can be appreciated on its own merits.

Got my Proofs!

Alfred is really running ahead of schedule!  I got my proofs for Sneaking Suspicion about two weeks ago and Storm Trail and Star of Valor yesterday.  Usually, they don't arrive until mid-October.

Bob Phillips, my String Editor did a really great job with them.  He made excellent suggestions about articulation, bowings, and caught a few note errors on the scores I had submitted.  Other things arose that I think were good suggestions.  For example, I tend to favor tied notation and Bob recommended using dotted notes instead.  He also found places for courtesy accidentals, bow lifts, and reminders in the violin and viola parts to use 4th fingers.  All good suggestions which should make the music more playable.

My corrections to the proofs were minimal and I can't wait to see the finished product!