Where to start? The past couple of days or so have been particularly heartening for my writing, partly because I have actually done some writing, but also because I have been laying the ground for future projects. There has also been some more interest in my pieces from different sources, including the possibility of another commission.
To deal with these things in order, the writing of The Serried Firmament has had to go on hold for a few days until I manage to sort out a couple of aspects of the text. To keep notes ticking over, however, I have set to work on an arrangement of an Easter carol, after a comment by a singer last year. They reminded me a few days ago that Easter is not too far away, so I have been working on this on and off (mainly off) since Monday, but put in a morning’s work on it today, so it will be done in fairly short order, I think.
The ground laying is very exciting indeed, and involves ideas for a piece some way away, but which would be my largest work to date by some margin. I need to come up with a proposal within the next fortnight or so, and this is going to require some research, so I have ordered a book or two and spent a goodly proportion of yesterday reading some articles online and brushing up on my knowledge. We’ll wait to see how this one goes, but it could lead to a major work in my catalogue, so my fingers are firmly crossed.
The interest and possible commission have come about via an interested member of the public hearing a performance of my Missa Seria, leading to an email dropping quietly into my inbox yesterday afternoon. We shall see where this leads, and, as with all these developments, there is many a slip twixt cup and lip, but it is exciting to have all these possibilities listed in my little black book.
I think it is safe to say that while January has been quiet in terms of performances, Why Should We Not Sing? apart, it has been alive with potential work. For the composer the business of a piece begins this early, with emails chased up and research done, long before any notes get put down on paper. In many ways the writing is simply the last stage of a piece.
Nicholas O'Neill 