Winding Down

Well, the end of the semester is finally winding down. This is the last week of classes, followed by finals week next week. Which of course means that there is a multi-day Disneyland trip in my near future.

It's been a good semester I guess; not horribly busy but busy enough to keep me out of trouble. The highlights are easy to point out - I received my Masters diploma in the mail after finishing and submitting my project in August. I'm currently churning out the parts for my Symphony No. 1, which is slated now to be performed in March. And, I started and finished a new composition for trombone and cello, which is being premiered today at the student composer's recital.

We don't always provide program notes at our composition recitals, but we are for today's program. Here's the notes from my work:

"The title of Into the Dark was inspired by a day recently when I locked trombonist Kari Estrada in her locker. She was literally in the dark. Compositionally, the duet (instrumentation suggested by Kari) utilizes a lot of minor triads and sevenths as well as diminished sevenths, which give the piece a somber or melancholy feel. It is essentially written in an ABA form which is illustrated most obviously by the tempos as well as the ostinato figures in the cello that open each section. I often feel as the piece represents an old growth forest at dusk, leading into the night hours. Kari says it makes her feel like she’s in a dungeon. I think she’s just remembering the locker incident."

It should be a fun piece to present, and I'm sure the audience will like it. Lots of other things going on in the next couple of days, concert-wise, so I've still got some work to do before I can finally relax. But the holidays are upon us!