New, but nothing particularly important.
Posted by C.J. Darnieder on Thursday, February 4, 2010
Whoa. Ever since I started doing vlogs, I sort of became estranged from my blog. Well, no more.
And you know...I wish I had something excellent, something groundbreaking and ridiculously exciting to post here that will make you jump out of your chair and pee yourself, but I don't.
I have a video though...will that suffice?
It's...erm...well, basically an embarrassing video of me trying to play Bach's Badinere, Mozart's Concerto in G, I., a flute solo from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, my very own flute sonata (Sonata for Flute and Piano-I. Giusto, ma poco moderato), and a really funny flute-related calendar fail. Originally, I wanted to post a video of me actually playing the piece at least relatively well, but after trying for a week to learn it, I realized that it wasn't really in the cards for the time being. There will come a day though. I promise.
Other than that, my main focus has been attacking social media the past week, seeing as my announcement for Speak will be happening within the next two weeks. I just added myself to yet another site, ReverbNation, so if you ever frequent the site, let's connect there as well. Yeah? Yeah.
Unfortunately, not all social media is really...well, social media. A forum called Young Composers is one of the many sites where I post MP3s of my music, but not the scores. Some of the composers there would rather that I did, telling me that they would be able to analyze and assess my music better if I were to upload the score. This might seem a little harsh, but I don't remember asking for their analysis of my compositions...the last thing I want is a complete stranger to be taking a monocle to my scores and telling me I forgot a breath mark. This is specifically what I wrote on the forum in response to a huge thread that discussed people who upload MP3s but not scores. People like me.
"Alright, so...I'm relatively new to this site, but I figured I would chip in my two cents since I'm currently being asked to upload scores of my compositions as well. First of all, I probably won't end up doing it. Sorry. Everyone keeps saying that they would like to see the score so they can "further analyze the work." What exactly are you looking to analyze? I post the MP3 because I want feed back on the general feel and overall sound of the piece. The last thing I want is another composer, whose opinion I did not ask for, tell me that I missed a mezzo forte marking in the second oboe part. I am the composer: let me handle the specifics. (All right, all of that sounded incredibly rude, and I didn't mean it that way, honestly, I just feel kinda strongly about it.) Furthermore, I'm not posting due to copyright issues. It scares the living daylights out of me just throwing my scores out on the Internet willy-nilly. I want to believe the best in everyone, but realistically speaking, you can really never tell. All of this being said, I 100% believe that you do not need a score in order to assess and analyze a piece to the extent that another musician should. Any other suggestions as far as writing goes is moot to me, because I believe it can eventually lead to questioning your own artistic ideas and lead to unoriginality."
I still hold fast to this belief. I'm not in a place right now where I can just adhere to other's creative ideas. They're mine and mine alone, and the last thing I want is to second-guess pieces I feel strongly about, especially when it comes to their construction.
Don't get me wrong. I understand constructive criticism is important for any artist to grow, but I think that criticism should come strictly from the impression that one receives when they listen. Isn't that why I wrote it in the first place? It's not a term paper. It's not an essay. It's a piece of music, and should be treated as such. As far as receiving criticism on the musical construction, I prefer the method of asking for it, rather than just being told that I "need" it. If I'm happy with a piece, then that's it: end of conversation. I'm working on my symphony day and night, mostly orchestrating at the moment. Unfortunately, since the symphony will be the main focus of my next music project, I won't be sharing anything more than sketches until Speak is released. But I'll be more than happy to release the sketches and keep you up to date with how it's going.
On a side note: how the heck is it February already? Weird.
Oh, and on a personal note, I've met someone. Not that it makes that much of a difference, but I have a really good feeling about this. I can tell he's different from all of the others. Cute, quick-witted, ridiculously smart, and for whatever reason, he likes me.
Alright, so as I promised...more blogging. You have my word. Until next time, C.J.
And you know...I wish I had something excellent, something groundbreaking and ridiculously exciting to post here that will make you jump out of your chair and pee yourself, but I don't.
I have a video though...will that suffice?
It's...erm...well, basically an embarrassing video of me trying to play Bach's Badinere, Mozart's Concerto in G, I., a flute solo from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, my very own flute sonata (Sonata for Flute and Piano-I. Giusto, ma poco moderato), and a really funny flute-related calendar fail. Originally, I wanted to post a video of me actually playing the piece at least relatively well, but after trying for a week to learn it, I realized that it wasn't really in the cards for the time being. There will come a day though. I promise.
Other than that, my main focus has been attacking social media the past week, seeing as my announcement for Speak will be happening within the next two weeks. I just added myself to yet another site, ReverbNation, so if you ever frequent the site, let's connect there as well. Yeah? Yeah.
Unfortunately, not all social media is really...well, social media. A forum called Young Composers is one of the many sites where I post MP3s of my music, but not the scores. Some of the composers there would rather that I did, telling me that they would be able to analyze and assess my music better if I were to upload the score. This might seem a little harsh, but I don't remember asking for their analysis of my compositions...the last thing I want is a complete stranger to be taking a monocle to my scores and telling me I forgot a breath mark. This is specifically what I wrote on the forum in response to a huge thread that discussed people who upload MP3s but not scores. People like me.
"Alright, so...I'm relatively new to this site, but I figured I would chip in my two cents since I'm currently being asked to upload scores of my compositions as well. First of all, I probably won't end up doing it. Sorry. Everyone keeps saying that they would like to see the score so they can "further analyze the work." What exactly are you looking to analyze? I post the MP3 because I want feed back on the general feel and overall sound of the piece. The last thing I want is another composer, whose opinion I did not ask for, tell me that I missed a mezzo forte marking in the second oboe part. I am the composer: let me handle the specifics. (All right, all of that sounded incredibly rude, and I didn't mean it that way, honestly, I just feel kinda strongly about it.) Furthermore, I'm not posting due to copyright issues. It scares the living daylights out of me just throwing my scores out on the Internet willy-nilly. I want to believe the best in everyone, but realistically speaking, you can really never tell. All of this being said, I 100% believe that you do not need a score in order to assess and analyze a piece to the extent that another musician should. Any other suggestions as far as writing goes is moot to me, because I believe it can eventually lead to questioning your own artistic ideas and lead to unoriginality."
I still hold fast to this belief. I'm not in a place right now where I can just adhere to other's creative ideas. They're mine and mine alone, and the last thing I want is to second-guess pieces I feel strongly about, especially when it comes to their construction.
Don't get me wrong. I understand constructive criticism is important for any artist to grow, but I think that criticism should come strictly from the impression that one receives when they listen. Isn't that why I wrote it in the first place? It's not a term paper. It's not an essay. It's a piece of music, and should be treated as such. As far as receiving criticism on the musical construction, I prefer the method of asking for it, rather than just being told that I "need" it. If I'm happy with a piece, then that's it: end of conversation. I'm working on my symphony day and night, mostly orchestrating at the moment. Unfortunately, since the symphony will be the main focus of my next music project, I won't be sharing anything more than sketches until Speak is released. But I'll be more than happy to release the sketches and keep you up to date with how it's going.
On a side note: how the heck is it February already? Weird.
Oh, and on a personal note, I've met someone. Not that it makes that much of a difference, but I have a really good feeling about this. I can tell he's different from all of the others. Cute, quick-witted, ridiculously smart, and for whatever reason, he likes me.
Alright, so as I promised...more blogging. You have my word. Until next time, C.J.