I hate when people come back online after a longish absence and go on and on about why that happened and promises to do better in the future.  However:

 

My wife and I had a daughter on Dec. 8, 2016!  It’s been as chaotic and exhausting and powerful as you’d expect.  As I type (with one hand) she’s trying to hold her own bottle up, and is mostly succeeding in dumping it down her chin.  You’ll be happy to know that she enjoys music and will stop whatever she’s doing to listen intently when we turn on some tunes.  (Except when my wife played her the music from “Grease,”…  she hated that.  That’s my girl!)  I’ve been composing a lot, but it’s mostly songs for her to fall asleep to, and frankly, I think they’re mostly stolen and derivative anyway.  (-;  She also enjoys playing the low notes on the piano, so we’re thinking a lower brass player, or perhaps bassoon!

 

But it’s not all been lullabies and sleepy plagiarism!  I’m almost finished a piece for a video game (how’s that for a hint?) that I’m very happy with.  When I have some time between projects, my head has absorbed more material and ideas.  I feel like I have more creative ammunition and things to express.

 

I also spent more time trying to bridge ideas…  when you’re trying to fill a certain amount of time, things can get formulaic, and ideas tend to come in chunks so you get chunkA-chunkB-chunkC and they don’t necessarily connect.  To combat that, I’ve been trying to spend some time determining where chunkA wants to go, instead of clumsily tacking mismatched sections together.  Most ideas will suggest other musical directions (which can be melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic) but some ideas just sit there like a fat lazy frog.  Most times its better to throw that idea away (which hurts when you’re on a deadline!) and find something that goes somewhere.  In the long run you’ll save time and have a better, more cohesive product.

 

That’s all I got for now, except to say if you’ve sent me e-mail and I’ve missed it, please don’t think lesser of me.  Send again and I’ll get back to you!  Thanks!

n