Bachata Update

I've been sidetracked by a few other projects and commitments lately, but found time to work on my bachata last night. I put a few finishing touches on and added the optional percussion parts - bongo drums and guiro, which are traditional in bachata music. I'm really happy with this one and I'm excited to have written something unusual and interesting.

Whenever I write a piece like this it's always my hope that it will open student musicians to new things and lead then to explore music they hadn't considered or didn't know existed.

All that's left is to edit the dynamics and articulation, add bowings and rehearsal numbers, and get a printed version ready. Unfortunately, it might be a while, because my weekend is booked solid. Not that I don't enjoy prolonging the joy of the composition experience, especially since I'm so close to finishing.

Bachata

I've written tangos, mambos, waltzes, cha-chas, and a bossa nova that's going to be published next year. You might think I like dancing, but really I just embarass myself on a dance floor. Dances are simply fun to write and to play. Nowadays, with "Dancing With The Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" being such huge hits on TV, dancing (and especially the traditional ballroom styles) are more popular than ever. So when I sat down recently to write a new piece and decided that I want to do something different. I looked up "ballroom dances" online and found a dance that I've never heard of before - the bachata.

A few You Tube views later and I decided that I found my new inspiration. The bachata is a dance from the Dominican Republic, very similar to the merengue. The defining element of the bachata is an accent on beat four - what Wikipedia calls a "pop." The count is: 1, 2, 3, POP, 1, 2, 3, POP. It's a fast tempo (almost like a mambo), but the dance moves are often very close and romantic.

Bachata Video

It also turns out that the bachata has a long history and an established place in the world of latin dance, so it's curious that I'd never heard of it before. It has gone through several incarnations, stylistic fusions, and evolutions over the years.

So far, I've played around with bass lines and accompaniments to get the right "flow" and have come up with a good melody. I'm happy with my bachata so far and just need to come up with a B theme. I intend to play around with texture and dynamics on this one. So far, it's a lot of fun!

Website Updated

I took some time this weekend to update my website. Check it out at:

home.cinci.rr.com/dougspata

I corrected a glitch on the home page, added a bunch of You Tube video links to the Music-Video page, and included next year's new titles on the Music-Published page. Enjoy!

New Music Selected!

I got word from my editor this past weekend and Alfred is going to publish three of my new pieces in the 2009-2010 catalog!

I can't tell you how relieved I am.

First, they selected "Porcupine Pantomime," a beginner-level bossa nova that lets students practice that often-tricky shift from "bow-hand" to "pizzicato hand" and back. Frequently. The effect is that the young musicians get their "quills" in the air, hence the title. There's also an optional set drum part for this one. Even more vindication: I was assured by a colleague that this piece would never get published.

Next, you can look forward to "Quicksilver," an intermediate-to-advanced piece in 9/8 time. It flies along at a rapid pace in a major key and I think that it will be super-popular.

The third selection is "A Hero's Welcome," unusual in that it has a slower tempo, but there is constant, flowing motion, so students can keep interest. It features some shifting and, more importantly, a chance to really emote and bring some higher-level musicianship to the fore. This piece was premiered by the Hersher High School Orchestra when I visited them in February and they did a superb job with it.

I think the folks at Alfred did a great job, selecting a diverse array of styles and levels from my catalog this year. I had a few pieces that I may want to re-submit at some point, but I'm happy and excited with these three. The next step in the process is getting the proofs and contract addendums for these new selections and that usually happens around October.

Doug's Olympic Dream

I've had a lot of unexpected honors in my career as a composer - I've had schoolkids write essays about me, My music has been performed at major festivals and conferences, and I've received a lot of compliments through the years both in person and via e-mail - but I do have an unrealized dream.

Ever since I was but a wee Doug, I've thought about how great it would be for one of my compositions to accompany a floor exercise routine at the Olympics. I remember watching the telecasts of past Olympics and hearing all sorts of great, exciting music during the gymnastics competitions and hoped that someday, some of my music would be selected.

Wouldn't it be cool to see those impossible flips and turns accompanied with Gauntlet, Avatar, or Agincourt? Recordings are readily available online (www.alfred-music.com), but the real issue is exposure. My student-level orchestra music is little-known outside the realm of school orchestras and young gymnasts have no time for activities outside their sport, so they probably wouldn't know that my music exists.

So: If you know a young gymnast looking for an exciting piece of music for her routine, do me a solid and steer her over to the Alfred website. Maybe she'll go far and make both our dreams come true.