Welcome to Oscar Season 2011! With cool young hosts, popular movies getting lots of nominations, and some difficult races, it looks to be a great show this year. To be honest, I don't expect to do as well with my picks as last year, but I'll certainly have fun trying and I hope you'll have fun reading my posts. Let's jump right in with Best Supporting Actress:
This years Supporting Actress race features Amy Adams and Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). All are strong performances, but as the least-high profile nominee, I suspect that Jacki Weaver will have a tough time in this race. Bonham Carter was good, but her competition all had bolder performances and more aggressive characters. Leo and Adams are in the same movie and their votes will likely get split, but there's a chance that voters will get behind Melissa Leo.
More likely is a win for young Hailee Steinfeld. She is, technically, the female lead in True Grit and gives a bold, focused performance, holding her own against some heavyweight Hollywood veterans. Her movie has been popular and well-reviewed, but her age is a serious factor - the Academy doesn't give awards to kids lightly. The best thing she can do, now that she's been nominated, is to campaign like crazy. She needs to go on talk shows and show everyone that she isn't at all like her character and prove that she's an actress in whom the Academy can invest its votes. If she doesn't do that, Melissa Leo, an actress who already has Academy respect, will have the edge.
I'm picking Steinfeld, but we'll see how the campaigning pans out.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Recording of Gauntlet
If that headline doesn't rack up the hits, I don't know what will.
If you're looking for a professional recording of Gauntlet, go here.
One of the great things about having a blog with Blogger is that they provide their users with statistics of how many views their blogs receive, where the hits are coming from, what sites are referring the viewers, and what phrases people typed into search engines to get there. And it can all be sorted by day, week, month, and all-time, to track trends.
The reason I started this post with the link to a recording of Gauntlet is because that's the number-one search engine query that leads them to my blog. I get searches like this all the time:
Gauntlet recording
Gauntlet download free
Gauntlet Spata MP3
Sorry, but you won't find a free MP3 of Gauntlet online. Not that I make a ton of money from downloads – I really don't – but the best recording is the one from Alfred Publishing and, while you can listen for free, it costs $.99 USD to download. That's just the way it is.
There's also inordinate number of searches for "Gauntlet violin parts free." Guess what? You're not going to get free sheet music. You'll have to buy it like a responsible, law-abiding citizen.
I also get hits for information about myself and my music. Searches like this:
Doug Spata composer
Avatar Doug Spata music
Star of Valor orchestra
... and they're either led to this blog or to my website, which has all sorts of information.
Here's a weird one. After my trip to Los Angeles last summer, I wrote about myvisit pilgrimage to Igor Stravinsky's house and to his star on the Walk of Fame. I titled the post "1260 North Weatherly Drive" and, consequently, I get tons of hits from people looking up that address. One of the search results for my name in Google looks like this:
If you're looking for a professional recording of Gauntlet, go here.
One of the great things about having a blog with Blogger is that they provide their users with statistics of how many views their blogs receive, where the hits are coming from, what sites are referring the viewers, and what phrases people typed into search engines to get there. And it can all be sorted by day, week, month, and all-time, to track trends.
The reason I started this post with the link to a recording of Gauntlet is because that's the number-one search engine query that leads them to my blog. I get searches like this all the time:
Gauntlet recording
Gauntlet download free
Gauntlet Spata MP3
Sorry, but you won't find a free MP3 of Gauntlet online. Not that I make a ton of money from downloads – I really don't – but the best recording is the one from Alfred Publishing and, while you can listen for free, it costs $.99 USD to download. That's just the way it is.
There's also inordinate number of searches for "Gauntlet violin parts free." Guess what? You're not going to get free sheet music. You'll have to buy it like a responsible, law-abiding citizen.
I also get hits for information about myself and my music. Searches like this:
Doug Spata composer
Avatar Doug Spata music
Star of Valor orchestra
... and they're either led to this blog or to my website, which has all sorts of information.
Here's a weird one. After my trip to Los Angeles last summer, I wrote about my
I think people click on it thinking that that's my address. Let me be clear – that's not my address. I sincerely hope that the current residents of Igor's house aren't getting mail addressed to me.
Another oddity: After I posted X-ray images of my broken shoulder last spring, I've had a lot of hits from people searching for "actual TSA scanner images." Weird.
Blogger also tells me where, geographically, the hits are coming from. Most of them are from the United States and Canada, as expected, but I've been surprised by hits from Jordan, Australia, China, Argentina, Brazil, and the UK, among many other places. I can only assume that people from those countries either: a.) stumbled onto my blog by complete accident or b.) have heard of my music and sought me out on purpose. I know it's the former but it's good for my ego to believe the latter.
So no matter how you got here, thanks for reading and I hope you come back. As per my tradition, I'll be blogging about the Academy Awards all next month, so stay tuned for some good oscar speculation and movie-related posts!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New Commission! (Update)
I had a great couple of holidays and used my time to work on that commission for the Charlotte MENC orchestra contest that I mentioned a few weeks ago.
I've now finished first drafts on all four pieces and have sent them in to my contact in Charlotte. I do have a few concerns that some aspects may be too difficult (or perhaps too easy) for each grade level, so I'm looking forward to the feedback.
It's sight reading music, so I can't divulge any specifics about what keys, meters, and styles I used, but they're each around 30 measures and clock in at about one minute (at tempo). I'm really happy with how they turned out and I think that they'll be even better when I spin them into full-length pieces later.
I've now finished first drafts on all four pieces and have sent them in to my contact in Charlotte. I do have a few concerns that some aspects may be too difficult (or perhaps too easy) for each grade level, so I'm looking forward to the feedback.
It's sight reading music, so I can't divulge any specifics about what keys, meters, and styles I used, but they're each around 30 measures and clock in at about one minute (at tempo). I'm really happy with how they turned out and I think that they'll be even better when I spin them into full-length pieces later.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
New Commission!
I'm very proud to announce that I'm working on a new commission! Every once in a while, someone contacts me and asks me to write something special for them. In this case, that someone is the Charlotte, North Carolina chapter of the MENC (Music Educators' National Conference). They've asked me to write the sight-reading selections for their Spring Contest!
I get quite a few international visitors, so I'll explain: Here in the States, many school orchestras participate in "contest" in the Spring, where they perform a short program and get criticism from a panel of judges. The judges then award ratings and it's a source of pride (and stress) for many music programs. Along with prepared selections, orchestras are also judged on their ability to read a short selection of never-before-seen music. That's where I come in.
The Charlotte MENC has asked me to write a short piece for each of four ability levels. They even provided a list of what keys, meters, rhythms, bowings, articulations, and techniques that each level of orchestra should be able to sight-read.
Obviously, I can't give any specific details here about how my pieces will look or sound, but I can reveal that they're all around 30 measures. I'm sure judges get bored hearing the same pieces over and over all day long, so I want to make them all as different as possible.
I really can't sell 30-measure pieces for publication, and because they are all written for different ability levels, they won't hang together as a suite. So the plan is to take each one later, spin them into full-scale pieces and submit them to my publisher.
This is turning out to be a really fun project! I've already finished the Grade I and II pieces, I'm about halfway done with the Grade III piece, and I hope to finish Grade IV by the end of the year. Then I'll submit them to my contact in Charlotte and we'll work together to make adjustments and corrections so they comply with the criteria in each grade level.
I get quite a few international visitors, so I'll explain: Here in the States, many school orchestras participate in "contest" in the Spring, where they perform a short program and get criticism from a panel of judges. The judges then award ratings and it's a source of pride (and stress) for many music programs. Along with prepared selections, orchestras are also judged on their ability to read a short selection of never-before-seen music. That's where I come in.
The Charlotte MENC has asked me to write a short piece for each of four ability levels. They even provided a list of what keys, meters, rhythms, bowings, articulations, and techniques that each level of orchestra should be able to sight-read.
Obviously, I can't give any specific details here about how my pieces will look or sound, but I can reveal that they're all around 30 measures. I'm sure judges get bored hearing the same pieces over and over all day long, so I want to make them all as different as possible.
I really can't sell 30-measure pieces for publication, and because they are all written for different ability levels, they won't hang together as a suite. So the plan is to take each one later, spin them into full-scale pieces and submit them to my publisher.
This is turning out to be a really fun project! I've already finished the Grade I and II pieces, I'm about halfway done with the Grade III piece, and I hope to finish Grade IV by the end of the year. Then I'll submit them to my contact in Charlotte and we'll work together to make adjustments and corrections so they comply with the criteria in each grade level.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Online Concert
I thought I'd program a short online concert of some of my more popular selections today.
Up first is the Cleveland School of Arts Orchestra performing Gauntlet. They do a lot of tuning and warming up (and it certainly pays off), but if you're interested in getting to the good stuff, skip ahead to the 1:45 mark.
Nice job! I especially like what they did with the "hard part" (mm. 56 - 80).
Up next is the Shaw Middle School Orchestra performing Zydeco Two-Step:
Excellent! The keyboard player did a great job.
Our final group is the Traverse City Symphony Strings - a civic orchestra - performing the heck out of Agincourt.
"Out of This World" is certainly an apt description of this group! They're a small ensemble, but they play with all the ferocity and musicianship of a group three times their size. I was also blown away by the production of this video - the multiple angles and great editing do the ensemble justice. Here's my favorite shot:
"Energy" at the end! A well-marked part is a joy for a composer to see.
Up first is the Cleveland School of Arts Orchestra performing Gauntlet. They do a lot of tuning and warming up (and it certainly pays off), but if you're interested in getting to the good stuff, skip ahead to the 1:45 mark.
Nice job! I especially like what they did with the "hard part" (mm. 56 - 80).
Up next is the Shaw Middle School Orchestra performing Zydeco Two-Step:
Excellent! The keyboard player did a great job.
Our final group is the Traverse City Symphony Strings - a civic orchestra - performing the heck out of Agincourt.
"Out of This World" is certainly an apt description of this group! They're a small ensemble, but they play with all the ferocity and musicianship of a group three times their size. I was also blown away by the production of this video - the multiple angles and great editing do the ensemble justice. Here's my favorite shot:
"Energy" at the end! A well-marked part is a joy for a composer to see.
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