Every Saturday, The Creative will feature a brief post about my current creative efforts and how they are progressing. If this doesn't interest you, read no further -- not only will I not be offended, I'll never know.
And there went another week.... I swear, they're getting shorter and shorter. If nothing else, my mornings here at home to work have been far nicer since I've been able to open the windows and get a bit of a breeze through the house. My two creative consultants have enjoyed it, as well, and have spent far more time sitting in open windows than they have crawling across my piano keyboard while I've been trying to work.
Music -- I've actually spent most of this week working on a commission for Centreville United Methodist Church in Centreville, Virginia. It's an original composition for one five-octave set of bells, a separate 5-octave set of chimes, and another separate three octave set of bells (plus timpani, cymbal, and -- I really think I'm going to do it -- vibraslap). My hope is that, as I'm getting it ready for publication later, that I can boil it down so that it can be played by just the one 3-5 octave group, with the other ensembles and instruments as optional and additional parts. If nothing else, it's a challenge, and the piece is infectious enough that it's stuck in my head about 24/7 (or at least 17/7 -- I never remember what I dream, so I don't know if I'm hearing it while I sleep or not).
Writing -- Still waiting on first readers to get me comments on Fealty and Fire. I plan on going back to it no matter what the first or second week of October to start making final edits.
Publishing -- Had a really unexpected envelope from Lorenz last Saturday afternoon. They've accepted eight of my piano arrangements for next year's editions of The Church Pianist magazine. That's really exciting for me, not just because I'm getting published, but because for 10 out of the 12 months of next year, subscribers to the magazine are going to have my music (and in most cases, more than one piece of my music) thrust before them and will, hopefully, start to recognize my name. It's a sad fact that, oftentimes in music, it's not just the quality of the music itself that sells, but also the name attached to it. Still, if that's the way the game works, then I guess that's the way I'll have to play. Regardless, if you're looking for some good music to use at any time for a worship service (or just want some nice new music to play at home), check out The Church Pianist.
That's all from here this week. There are some very big things on the horizon for me in the coming weeks and months, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to start sharing some of them with you next week. Until then, close the web browser, go wherever you do your best work, and then create something. You'll be glad you did.
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