Update of school and a new premiere

Hello all,

Well, it has been a while since I have written anything so I thought that I should update on what is happening at the moment. For those of you that don't know, I just graduated with my master's degree from the University of Louisville. My master's thesis was a large work for soprano and orchestra entitled, "...but a pattern can change." Its length is roughly 13-14 mins. and is my largest work to date. I had been taking conducting lessons from Kimcherie Lloyd during my final semester at UofL. So during the last 3-4 months of the composition, I was able to converse with a conductor on the different parts of the piece. This was such a great experience for me. Actually, the past 2 years at UofL was some of the most musically creative times of my career, but I will get into that later.

The entire time, from the first sketch to the final bar, of composing this piece, I always kept in mind the idea of it being premiered by the UofL orchestra. Typically, each year Mrs. Lloyd chooses one large work from a recently graduated UofL student. During my lessons with her, I kept hinting at her choosing my work for next years new music festival. I was familiar with the quality of the students in her ensemble and kept that in mind when composing the piece. The best advice that I received at UofL was from my composition teacher Steve Rouse. He said, "You can make highly complex music without making each individual players parts very difficult." This struck me. I was introduced to the music of Lutoslawski during my time at UofL.

I was familiar with a few pieces of his, but never really studied much of it. Slowly, I began to realize that his music sounds extremely complex when listened to, yet if you look at the score, the players parts are not that difficult. So I chose to focus on this idea for my thesis and knew that if I wanted Mrs. Lloyd to choose my work, I have to make it accessible to her group. Well, to make a long story short, she choose the work and it will be premiered on November 12th, 2008 at UofL. I can't not explain how much this means to me.

During my time at UofL, my musically language shifted dramatically. To not bore many of you who don't really care about this, I won't explain how, but my compositions now have a new and refined feeling to them. I feel that my thesis shows my growth as a composer and illustrates some new orchestration ideas and thoughts that I wanted to explore. To have the opportunity for a premiere of MY FIRST orchestra piece, minus a short fanfare, is something that means the world to me.

Dr. Rouse also mention something to me that I will never forget. He said that you must realize your surroundings. Who are the people you are composing for? Access the enviroment around you and compose the greatest possible music you can for those people. For most young composers, performance opportunities usually only happen in an academic enviroment. This means performers who generally focus on Classical and Romantic music and people who do not really have experience with new music. So composing for these people is sometimes a difficult task in order to not have a terrible performance. I think I have learned more from bad performances than anything else!!! Anyways...

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT ARE PERFORMING YOUR MUSIC. I am just starting my doctoral degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. For those of you that don't know anything about the music school at IU, ...well lets say that it consist of the greatest assembly of world-renowned music faculty in the US, 1600 music majors, which makes it one of the largest music schools in the country, and one of the greatest student new music ensembles in the country that meets regularly to perform new music. The quality of performers here at IU is a gift to any composer. I told my composition teacher here at IU during my first lesson that now I can write all of the pieces that I have always wanted too. Because of the professionalism of the people that I am composing for, I don't have to worry about much at all. I can compose anything that I want and get a good to great performance of it.

To wrap things up, I must say that I could not be more happy with my life right now, not only musically, but life in general. The premiere of ...but a pattern can change is coming up soon and I will post more details has things come up. Hope to see you at the premiere in November!!!

Tim