composer FAIL #94

First composer cat submission from Alex Shapiro.

I was in NYC this past week attending a workshop for the Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project (more on that later) AND squeezing in concerts that included music by Frank J. Otieri and Daniel Felsenfeld.

And now my luggage smells like onion bagels because…I brought back onion bagels to Ohio.

Next week I will bring back le pain des amis because…I will be checking out IRCAM…in Paris…soooooo…I understand if you hate me now, even though I'm acting like this on the inside:

No worries though, I still get a boatload of these:

the music publishing podcast

My semester ended on Mother's Day, and while I should be writing (and always be writing), a couple of monumental things have happened in my life (besides writing…sigh):

1. I finished watching Parks and Recreation. (Why haven't I watched this show sooner? Does this go into the #lifefail category?)
2. I was interviewed by Dennis Tobenski, a cool composer and vocalist whom I've known online for years but oh my goodness we finally got to video chat.

So, click here for the interview, and thanks for listening.

composer FAIL #93

So I am serious about having you guys send me your composer cat pictures. You can email me via my website. Or send me a PM.

Due to my age, I cannot apply for this again, which is unfortunate. Oh well. Onward.

composer FAIL #92

Guys! Send me your cat pictures. I am serious.

Guys. I am so close to a hundred FAILs and this is actually exciting. What should I do to celebrate a hundred fails? Eat tacos? Bake a cake? Have a martini?

(Of course I remember that maybe my original goal was to obtain one hundred composer FAILs before I turned thirty. Oops.)

Yes, guess what: I wasn't chosen.

Hm. Should I apply again?

composer FAIL #91 (and a call for composer cats?)

Susie Ling's composer cat Archer. (I wonder if I should have a call for pictures of composers' pets…)

GUYS.

I'm up to 91 of these failures.

I should have a celebration at 100.

Thoughts?

(Also I need to post these immediately after I receive them: I'm starting to forget how/why/what I submitted.)

composer FAIL #90

Thanks to my friend Hajnal Pivnick, these dudes (as part of the Face the Music) had two coachings with Kronos Quartet and two performances of works by me, a premiere by Wu Man, and Elena Kats-Chernin.

With friends (and kid quartets) like these, who needs acceptance letters?

composer FAIL #89

From Paul Octavious's Instagram.

I think I applied to have them commission me? Maybe? Question mark?

composer FAIL #88

PLUME!

In this edition: I should be doing my taxes, but…

rip steven stucky

Honestly, I never thought I'd be writing this blog post anytime soon, and I'm sure I can honestly say all of us are in shock to hear that Steven Stucky is dead.

At 66.

From brain cancer.

(which can go f*ck itself if you want my honest opinion).

I can't claim that I've studied with Stucky nor can I claim that I had a direct relationship with him, but I can say this: he was the first "big" composer I met.

I met Steven Stucky in high school (yes—high school) thanks to a most-excellent conductor Christopher Russell who taught classes at the then-named Orange County High School of the Arts. Stucky was our guest composer who visited our symphonic lit class and presented his music.

And again, I never studied with the guy, but he had a profound (albeit indirect) upbringing as a composer. And everyone is right when they say he was the most generous and kind human being on this planet.

So, I will honor Steven Stucky in the best way I know how:

Now, please go listen to his music.

composer FAIL #87

Originally I had a goal of posting a blog post once a week per semester. (I want to bring the blog back!) And I still have lots to write about, including my Vermont Symphony Orchestra trip (I have lots of pictures), the most awesome New Music Gathering, and even something about David Bowie (because that was devastating), but alas…why are all my deadlines on January 31/February1???

So anyway. I am behind two blog posts. Therefore, I am resorting to my old tricks:

composer FAIL #85

Thanks to composer Evan Williams, I now have a picture of a bonfire on my blog. Truthfully, you'd expect to see more of these around springtime; however, this one is special since a whole bunch of Cincinnati composers got together (myself excluded) and decided to burn a whole bunch of physical copies of their rejection letters.

Spring cleaning, indeed.

This rejection is fresh out of my inbox since this past week has been absolutely crushing (this rejection did not help), and well, Hope Springs Eternal, especially when your composer friends decide to do something…incendiary.

(I still like my horn piece, btw.)

composer FAIL #84

Oh yes, I still receive them. And I will keep receiving them in my inbox as long as I live.

(Unless, of course, I start receiving rejections via text and/or Facebook messenger. Which would totally suck.)

Maybe there is a glitch in the matrix, but I have a funny suspicion that I've received the same rejection letter. Again. Well, I don't think I'll be applying to Opera Philadelphia again in the near future.

BUT ANYWAY.

My friend John Lane has an awesome new podcast entitled "Standing in the Stream," a podcast for and about creative people. And guess what? I'm on it! If you listen, I'll talk about blogging, my academic engagement, my opera company, and a couple of projects I'm working on.

composer FAIL #83

The past few weeks I've either been opera planning, lesson planning, or reducing Copland (more on that in a future post because it seriously consumed my life for a while). Alas, the rejection letters had been piling up. So, instead on working on more Copland parts, I decided to clear out my inbox instead. Enjoy!

If there were only seventeen applicants…sigh.

composer FAIL #82

So I have this dilemma. There is a composition competition that is due today, and I am tempted to enter it, but alas, they sent me a rejection letter a few months earlier.

Look familiar? If I were to enter this comp-comp, I'd submit the same piece as last year (Spielzeug Straßenbahn) but I would have a recording this time around. But I would be submitting a rejected piece. And there's an application fee. So, maybe I should say no, but…

(sometimes I wonder if I have entered a new level of masochism.)

composer FAIL #81

I'd like to tell you all that Lindsay Cat is sleeping on a Very Important Document, you know, something to do with casting a NANOWorks show or sending a Very Important Email about a NANOWorks show, but in typical Cat Fashion, she is not helping with said NANOWorks show.

Did I mention we have a show?

Anyway, I'll post the latest rejection letter. And, instead of spending a year in Rome, I'll be attending the 2014 O’Neill National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT starting this Saturday. Like I wanted to eat spaghetti alla carbonara anyway…(sob).

composer FAIL #80

Why yes I'm clearing out my inbox this week. Why yes I'm up to eighty rejection letters. Maybe I should throw a huge party to celebrate.

Pfff. I'll be going to a puppet conference anyway.

composer FAIL #79

Welcome to this edition of "I'm posting another rejection letter due to wrapping up the last week of classes" and so here is another rejection letter. Yes, they have been sitting in my inbox, and yes, I have a cache of them.

Well…yeah…my proposal did not fly.

composer FAIL #78

Oh look, another month has gone by on the blog without a weekly blog post. That's okay. Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for reading/commenting on my posts at NewMusicBox, and huge thank you to Alexandra Gardner and Molly Sheridan for editing said posts (I was truly spoiled).

So, um, time for the rejection letter, no?

I am kind of curious how many composers submitted operas…and if my opera wasn't selected due to lack of orchestration or abundance of male voices. Is it so hard to provide feedback?

composer FAIL #77

Ah, it has been a while, hasn't it? I actually have three (I think?) more rejection letters in my inbox, and I thought maybe I should attend to those. In the meantime I did enjoy a fantastic trip to Texas (more on that later!) where Spielzeug Straßenbahn was finally premiered, and I wrapped up a piece for Miller Asbill and Brevard College, so that piece will also finally happen! (We've discussed it for over a year.)

Anyway, the rejection letter awaits.

composer FAIL #76

As you have probably noticed, I am back to my old practice of posting pictures of cats as part of my "composer FAIL" series, mainly because (1) my feline at home has consistently planted herself on my lackluster sketches and (2) how can you resist posting a picture of Henry Cowell with his furry companion? (Hat tip to Christian Hertzog for directing me to this gem.)

So, dear Lindsay Cat, if you are going to be so helpful, could you please tell me how to successfully incorporate saxophones in a wind ensemble piece? Dear Stravinsky, why has the saxophone "reminded [you] of a slimy, pink worm"? You are not helpful either.

I digress.

Am I going to attend anyway? No, I don't want to miss this concert series.