Composer Dialogue #2

Today, I gave the idea of pairing 2 folksongs in a musical set to the composer. I told him that I want to use the a cappella, slow folksong first then musically transition to the more brisk folksong. I stopped myself and said,

I have to be careful b/c I want to tell you what I envision, but I don't want it to come across like I am telling you how to compose. That is not my intention.

 His response was honest & exactly what I needed to hear:

The more I know your intentions the more I can give you a song that you will be happy with. Please tell me what you want and I will work with it. I would much rather spend time getting what you want early on than re-write over and over to get there. I view this as your program and composition.

Aside: On the first piece, I have begun a music theory analysis - so that a teaching plan will evolve. I'll do this on each piece. Also, for each piece, I will utilize a "teaching copy" of the music and a "conducting copy" of the music. The teaching piece will have all rhythms, solfege, music theory analysis, etc. Anything that dominates the beginning of instruction will go into this copy. It is a messy copy of music. All pencil markings and scribble. All polishing - markings, dynamics, cues - will go into the conducting copy. This looks like a beautiful map of the music with beautiful, neat colors and lines.

I received 3 shipments of single octavos today. Perusal copies. It is all I can do to leave them on the table and not go through them. Until Friday. That's the first real dig into the music.