A brief glimpse

I did not anticipate spending part of my evening listening to some of my old compositions.  Truth be told, I don't know how my evenings are usually going to be spent until the evening is upon me.  Nevertheless, some of my post-teaching time was spent listening to what I've uploaded to this site on the Works page.  They are all things I wrote during the early and middle part of my undergraduate education.

Should you choose to browse there and take a listen, you will not find anything brilliant or earth shattering.  They are merely me following the directions of my ear using some guidelines that I had learned in my music theory courses.  They are all MIDI files, for I do not possess the piano chops to attempt to perform (or perform one part) any of what I wrote.  There are a few others I need to upload -- mostly saxophone works, including an impossible-to-play tenor saxophone solo entitled The Music of a Fatality.

The curious thing about re-listening to these pieces (as I have done several times since their creation) is that they invoke either the same of similar images in my head as they did upon their composition.  Perhaps it's the same idea as a writer of text being able to leave their work for a long period of time and return to it to remember details about their characters and setting.  All pieces of music have something to say.  The challenge is know how to translate what needs to be said into music.  That ability is something beyond me.  Thus, like many other folk, I rely on other composers to hopefully write something that can serve as a representation of what needs to be said.

I encourage you to take a listen to David Maslanka's Symphony No. 2 for Band / Wind Ensemble.  For years (before I was exposed to the first and second movement), I claimed the third movement would provide a glimpse inside my head.  The first movement also contains material that may help you better understand me.  My connection to the second movement (despite the use of saxophone at the beginning) is the weakest.

You'll find the material that connects me to Maslanka's work within the harmonic structure and various other elements.  For example, the high tessitura of the melody in the first movement (and the feeling of an impending fall) speaks volumes of my mind.  What it says, I cannot tell you (I know--that makes no sense).  But whatever it seems to say, my mind says its right.  Likewise for the story of the third movement.  Maslanka describes it with this sentence.

The underlying impulse of this movement is an exuberant, insistent outpouring of energy, demanding a high level of playing precision and physical endurance from the performers.

I agree with that but perhaps not in the way that Maslanka does.  I see it as a struggle, and on one end is life and the other death.  If you want a clearer explanation, ask me.  If I deem it necessary, you'll receive the explanation (see yesterday's post).  Take a listen to Maslanka's second symphony.  Perhaps you'll find something within it for yourself.