So...

...I took a little break from blogging, just because of all the work I have to do. Yeah, it's been that same song and dance for weeks. Some occurrences of note:

*Orchestra readings!! They went over really well. They didn't actually get a full run-through of my piece, but hopefully I can edit what I got into a decent-sounding track. If not, I'll dump the midi file into Garageband... err... "Protools", and get a recording up that way. Stayed tuned to my Myspace page in the meantime.
*Fastball released its first studio album in five years. This is awesome news. I'll elaborate on this in a later entry.

Among other things that I can't remember at the moment. And the awesome events coming up:

*In two weeks, the MSU Chorale will be performing Faure's Requiem. The show is Saturday, April 25th at 8PM. Tickets are $15 (or free with a valid MSU Undergraduate ID). The University Singers will also be performing that night. If you're free on Friday, there will also be an open dress rehearsal that you can attend for free at 11:3o AM.
*More readings! Tomorrow is a reading with the Shanghai String Quartet (I was bad, I didn't write for them), and in two weeks, there will be readings for the MSU Wind Ensemble and the University Singers. Busy time for composition majors at MSU (well, for everyone, really).
*FASTBALL IS PERFORMING AT THE CITY WINERY ON MAY 9th!! I am super stoked for this. Last time I saw them was back in 2004 at Penn State. They are an amazing live act. Go check them out for sure during their tour this Spring.

Orchestra Readings '09

So on Monday, the scores for our orchestra readings (which will take place the first week of April) are due. I just got to the end of my 3'30" piece, structurally speaking anyway. Now, it's time to go back and really flesh it out. After I consult with my composition teacher, I'll be spending the weekend doing that. Writing a piece and hearing 80+ people play it is such a breath-taking, mind-blowing experience, and it's one that I'm grateful to have. As a composer, it's usually more practical to write pieces for smaller groups to perform, as it's difficult and often times impractical to get such huge forces required to play an orchestral work together. It's really amazing that the orchestra director gives us student composers two full rehearsals to play our pieces for us.

Anyway, I'll be posting the recordings from the orchestral reading whenever I get them. Hopefully, that'll be around the second or third week in April. Until then... I gotta finish the last bits of my piece, and hopefully name the damn thing already.