Yesterday was quite a day, I’ll tell you. It started quite harshly when I woke up to find out that I had fallen asleep on the couch, which was quite horrible and left me in a lot of pain, as my couch is one of those couches that are very comfortable to sit in and possibly even lay in for a while, but never good for a while night’s sleep. So, being in a lot of pain, I rolled down onto the floor at about 7 in the morning, or so.
I woke up again to a phone call and realized it was already almost 11. So I got up and did my daily email checks and then went in to the studio to finish up the draft on my new post-apocalyptic piece Quintessence. The past few days have been a whirlwind of projects and events.
A few days ago, a percussionist friend of mine from Thailand contacted me to ask for some input on a new project they are working on right now in Thailand. He has his own amazing percussion ensemble and they were preparing for a new performance in early 2009. Their theme this year is the four elements, one that so many have approached before. So he contacted me asking for some advice and input on putting together a ‘four elements’ piece that is original and striking. After bouncing around some ideas with him, we decided that a 6-movement piece would be good, starting with Aether (as the pure origin), branching out into the four elements and ending with a sort of recapitulation of the piece. I suggested the name ‘Quintessence’, the fifth element as plato called it, as our connection between all the elements was to be this one, pure element. He loved the idea, but it wasn’t until after our conversation, as I started drafting some ideas, that I came up with a unique solution. The catch to this whole project is that it will be performed by an all-percussion ensemble, with the exception to some synths and an electric guitar, that was optional.
My solution came to me just before I realized that I might have finally lost it, as it was to create a piece about the four elements set in a post-apocalyptic world. The idea being that it would be an interesting concept to explore our perception of these elements after an event of that calibre as well as this concept lending itself to our medium of performance as lots of drums/percussion and electric guitar and synths will not seem out of place in a post-apocalyptic setting whereas they would seem out of place if we were attempting to create a more ‘traditional’ orchestral-type piece.
Anyway, I had told them that I would draft some ideas for them and see what they think. My piece, Quintessence, is about 15 minutes and includes all the themes and ideas for the elements as I percieved them in our new ‘post-apocalyptic setting’. It’s actually very exciting and fun to explore what these could ’sound’ like in a world like this.
I am in the middle of orchestrating the piece right now and it proves to be a very exciting process even though I’m adding some more sounds than just percussion and guitar, but then that’s the beauty of arrangements. It’s always exciting to hear a different version of something you wrote, although this piece was written with their use foremost in mind.
Anyway, there’s an update. We’re also in the process of preparing the launch of my new music library and a bunch of other projects so stay tuned!
Right….back to writing now!
