Proofing

Three of the publishing schedule's landmarks wend by in quick succession recently. About a week ago, I got my copies of this year's new music, a few days ago I got my contract addendum from Alfred Publishing, and yesterday I got the proofs for next year's music.

When I get proofs, they send the score that I submitted, marked up in red pen with all sorts of corrections and editions and then I check that against the engravings of the score and parts to make sure there are no errors. When I say "marked up in red pen" it sounds bad, like they're correcting my homework or re-writing my music, but it's not like that at all. My editors like to be a lot more specific with bowings than I am, adding upbow, downbow, and lift marks. They like to be very precise about placing dynamics and articulations and they don't share my enthusiasm for double bar lines.  But I'm all for being as specific as possible, so their changes are good ones. The only corrections I found were two wrong notes in the Viola part of Beale Street Strut.

Funny story about getting my copies of this year's finished music: I usually have about three pieces published each year and they send me two copies of each in a small box. This year I found a giant, heavy box on my doorstep. I opened it up and discovered someone had mixed up their Douglas E's - I had received the shipment intended for Alfred/Belwin composer Douglas E. Wagner. I checked the shipping label and, sure enough: his name, my address. I contacted Alfred and we sorted it out. No word if Mr. Wagner got my music by accident.

YouTube Concert

I thought I'd assemble a little YouTube concert from some recent videos of my music. Up first is the Crews Middle School 7th Grade orchestra playing Lemon Twist:

Nice job!  Very precise playing, a good laid-back tempo, and I like those sharp uniforms! Up next is the String Orchestra of the Community Music School at Webster University in St. Louis playing A Postcard From Tuscany.

A good sense of style on this one and it's good to see young players take their time with a more lyrical piece.  Next is the Monarch 7th and 8th Grade Orchestra, appropriately playing Las Mariposas Exoticas:

This is one of those pieces with interlocking parts, where the whole orchestra works as one and I think they did a pretty good job of keeping it together.  They also did a nice job giving the piece the "lightness" it requires.  Let's finish with a classic.  Here's the Wilson Middle School Orchestra playing Gauntlet:

Nicely done!  Bravi to all the orchestras!

New Music Selected: Samba Del Sol

My third piece selected for the 2012 - 2013 Alfred String Orchestra catalog is Samba Del Sol, an appropriately sunny tune for beginners. It's all in pizzicato and all on the D string, making is super-easy and it features optional percussion parts and back-and-forth melodies, making it super-fun. 

Not much else to say about this one, other than to mention that it's the latest of many Latin-themed pieces I've had published. The others include "Las Mariposas Exoticas," "Violet's Tango," and "Mambo Incognito."  I'd bet a good concert could be put together with just my Latin numbers.

New Music Selected: Harrowland

The second of my pieces that Alfred Publishing selected for their 2012-2013 catalog is Harrowland.  It's a fast, minor-key piece for beginners in the same "sturm und drang" style as Gauntlet, Avatar, Agincourt, and Elementals. And those are some of my best-sellers.

As always, I write string orchestra music as instructive etudes, so directors can reinforce important skills with their concert music.  With wide leaps between notes, Harrowland is designed to give young musicians practice with string crossings.

This one was actually a re-submission. About two weeks after I finished Harrowland, I brought it along with me when I was invited to guest-conduct at the 2007 String Day concert in Philadelphia, where the piece was premiered.  Each year, string students of Bucks County, PA volunteer a Saturday to sightread a few selections in the morning, rehearse them for a few hours, and put on a show that same evening.  I was asked to conduct the advanced group, made of middle school students and a few ringers. We opened with Gauntlet, played a few other pieces, and closed with the world premiere of Harrowland (which, at the time, was called "Voyage of the Queen Anne's Revenge").  It was a great time and an exciting day of music-making! We had a great turnout of participants and it's great to see a school district where students are given opportunities to shine.

New Music Selected: Beale Street Strut

I recently heard from my editor and I'm thrilled to announce that Alfred Publishing will release three of my new pieces in their 2012-2013 String Orchestra catalog!  They're ahead of schedule this year, as I usually hear from them in late July or early August. 

The first new piece to look forward to is Beale Street Strut, a major-key, intermediate-level piece.  For those of you outside the United States (which, I understand to my delight, is a growing number), Beale Street is a stretch of road in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, famous for having a lot of jazz and blues clubs and it is considered the epicenter of Southern jazz. 

As you might expect, the piece has a jazzy style and features some "blue" notes. Specifically, F-F# and C-C# chromatics.  The basses and 'cellos get to play some classic bass lines as well as some broad-shouldered melodies. As usual, there's lots for the violas to do as well.

I think this is one that students will be humming in the hallways of their schools and that audiences will remember after the curtain goes down.