Like the Pheonix, Let This Blog Be Reborn

I haven't forgotten about this blog, but I will admit I have let it slip because I got very busy. As I look to take on a couple of arranging projects I thought we might try and reawaken this blog. I know it is being read but I have a feeling that because of the lack of posts we aren't getting responses. So I hope to be better at posting.

Anyway, I mentioned a couple arranging projects and I'd like to tell you about them. Neither is set in stone but I want to talk about them anyway. The first I would like to talk about is arrangements of smaller binary works. I am currently teaching an AP Music Theory class and we covered binary form. The students were instructed to develop a sixteen bar binary piece and given parameters to work their creativity in. At the end we had a group listening of all the pieces and I must admit...I was impressed by many of the compositions. For the most part, the students used piano and a solo voice as it made the project easier, but when I heard some of them I wasn't hearing their piece, I started to hear a bit of what the piece could be. So I am planning to pick out two or three to start with and asking the student's permission to arrange these rather simple pieces into something a little bigger. I have heard several groups of instrumentation in listening to the student's work, everything from symphony orchestra to duets and I would like to do two contrasting pieces.

The other project is a little bigger and also more exciting in my mind. I have recently become acquainted with a piece titled "Serai" on a CD of the same name by ARZ. The CD is described thusly, "Eclectic instrumental progressive rock that blends elements of metal, classical, and world music into sonic tales embodying literary and spiritual themes." (Taken from the CD Baby Website) I first heard an arrangement of this for winter drumline and thought it enjoyable but nothing special to my ear. Then I heard the original and definitely liked it better but still didn't think much of it. It wasn't until a couple days ago that I started to hear something more than the piece itself. It started to come to me the way music comes to me any time I compose, I heard one section very clearly in my mind as, in this case, a symphony orchestra.

At first I tried to dismiss the idea, because I am so busy right now and because while I heard that one section clearly, my mind hadn't yet started to wrap around the rest of the piece. The difference between writing original music and arranging music is that with original music the idea must be fostered and nurtured or it dies, but it also must be kept separate from other ideas lest they start to blend together. With arranging music, you have the original music there and it has a tendency to fester in your mind and not let go. So I constantly found my mind wandering back to the piece and other parts of the piece began to take shape in this new medium my mind had chosen. Still I resisted because there were places I just could figure out how to make work. It wasn't until I was riding my bike and listening to the piece that I finally gave in. While I was riding I was trying to talk myself out of this crazy notion of arranging this piece by imagining the ISO (Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra) trying to play it. At that point the music hit a guitar solo-esque passage and I got this image very clear of the symphony orchestra as I have always seen it on stage, but also three platforms raised around the orchestra, one stage left, one stage right, and one upstage center...all three platforms under intense spots from directly above. On the stage left platform stood an electric bassist, stage right stood and electric guitarist, and upstage center sat a drum set player. Suddenly I couldn't fight the idea anymore

This image drove me to find the website of this group, ARZ. When I found it I began reading about this and found out that ARZ was originally supposed to be a band like any other....but as they worked they found that that genre too limiting. My desire to do this arranging was cemented by this passage found on the ARZ's site:

"As the project matured I realized that I wanted to pursue music that held no categorical boundaries as far as instrumentation and style was concerned; I didn’t want to compromise." -Steve Adams, Guitarist

This passage speaks to me because it is also the way I feel about music. So I found the contact page on the website and sent a short little email requesting info about the channels I would need to go through to arrange "Serai." I recieved an email that same day from Steve Adams himself asking for more information. Obviously I have become more and more excited about this project and I hope to bring this to fruition.

So that is what is on my plate as of right now. I may have a future arranging job come winter 2008 because I have been working with a show choir back up band and in talking with the choir director I found she isn't terribly happy with her current arranger. I offered to do it for her next year and she seemed very excited by that idea and seemed pretty likely to contract me next year.

Again, sorry for the long lag in posting. anyone that visits this blog is more than welcome to comment on anything they want. I started this blog because I think music is better when done together, and in my experience the more people that provide input the better something is because it then not only becomes an expression of one person, but of many, thus making it more open to interpretation. Here's to a successful restart.