Welcome

My piece, An Ever-Fixed Mark, is based on Sonnet 116. I don't usually know how a piece will turn out until I hear it performed by actual people (as opposed to the MIDI I'm used to). This piece came out to be almost a lecture from the pulpit, broad and with pauses and with the lyrics in order (the only piece in the concert to have that), kind of an explanation of love. The sonnet means a great deal to me - in my personal anxieties, the sonnet reminds me about what's important.

Thanks to all who came and gave me support in writing and being in C4. It's really a wonderful experience.

In other news, I'll be participating in the Vermont Composition Workshop in June. I think it'll be really helpful for me, to help me learn to focus on what I really want to do, which is to write pieces that are listenable but not boring (to me, so it'll have to be pretty interesting!), more singable and more moving.

Finally, there have been a couple of interesting articles lately: Weaponizing Mozart and Triumph of the Cyborg Composer. Both can change the way we think about music: the first, how Britain is "punishing" students by making them listen to classical music, turning them off to it forever; the second, how David Cope's music-making algorithm "Emily Howell" creates music with "soul", and what this means for our conceptions of making music. Definitely worth a read!