A couple of weeks ago (August 2, to be exact), I decided to miss a perfectly good Rockies vs. Reds baseball game to stay home and write a piece in 60 minutes. (I was also taking a mental breather from my take-home Schenker exam, which I should have started earlier that weekend.)
New Music Hartford sponsored a competition with the following guidelines: write a piece in 60 minutes, and if your piece is selected, the musician will have 60 minutes to rehearse your piece before it is performed. Composers who wanted to participate waited until 3 PM EDT to see what their instrumentation would be, and then had to submit a PDF file before 4 PM. I figured, what the hell.
So, they're playing my solo flute piece! Here's the program.
John BACON: "gtr." (for electric guitar and looping pedals)
Michael COLEMAN: "3:48 p.m. Eastern (for solo cello)"
Carson COOMAN: "Beach Grass Elegy" (for flute)
Douglas DASILVA: "Antonio Conselheiro" (for mixed ensemble)
Michelle McQuade DEWHIRST: "47 Miles of Barbed Wire" (for mixed ensemble)
Benjamin FUHRMAN: Zais (for fixed electronic media)
Christopher GAINEY: "60" (for flute and cello)
James GEIGER: "Scherzo" (for flute and cello)
Jennifer JOLLEY: "I feel dizzy." (for flute)
Jamie KLENETSKY: Space music (for fixed electronic media)
Peter LAWLESS: "Tangent" (for flute and cello)
Evan MERZ: Confined (for fixed electronic media)
Nick NORTON: "London, August 2, 2009, 8:38 PM, Nothing Working" (for mixed ensemble)
Matthew C. SAUNDERS: "Passacaglia" (for flute and cello)
Jim SCULLY: "Duality in Time" (for flute and cello)
Ted SMELTZ: "Meditation in 60 Minutes" (for cello)
Nolan STOLZ: What The Waves Tell Me (Cello Sonata No. 2) and "Three Haiku for Flute and Cello"
Paul THOMAS: "Mourning" (for mixed ensemble)
Charles A. TURNER: "Burrowing" (for flute and cello)
I will say that I didn't invent the best title. When writing a piece in less than an hour, the last thing you think about is the title. Maybe next time I'll pre-sketch some ideas AND think of a kick-ass title, because this one is certainly not kick-ass.
I would like to go to the performance, but I have a couple of problems.
1. I picked up this temporary church gig, which keeps you in town during weekends. Now I'm remembering why I stayed away from church gigs when I went back to school. Should I get a sub? (I'm already subbing for someone.)
2. Money.
3. The Reds are playing the Dodgers that weekend.
We'll see if I go. I'm a bit on the fence about this one. In the meantime, I need to create a bio and program notes in 60 seconds.