July 18, 2013: I am back from my vacation. Well, technically I have been on “vacation” from my university job since mid-May – however, as most professors will tell you, we tend to fill up the summer with lots of additional projects, mostly work-related. You know – like composing a symphony and blogging about it.
What I just returned from was an honest-to-goodness vacation. Actual time off from my craft. I spent three weeks with family and friends, played tons of board games, and drank a larger amount of beer than I normally do (which means one a day as opposed to one a month…). It was a wonderful time that allowed me to recharge and refresh for the final push on the Symphony.
And now, back to work. Today will be a very brief “status update” of sorts, as I haven’t done too much since my last post.
That is, other than finish the draft! That’s right – the notes are all in place, and all that is left is the hours-and-hours of editing that needs to be done to this bad boy. I am very excited to be at this point in the work, and hope to be able to share the final product very, very soon.
Ah, but now I have to edit. I admit – I have a tremendous love-hate relationship with editing. I recognize just how necessary it is, and will inevitably spend way more hours that I probably need to pooling over print-outs of the score, double-checking every dynamic, articulation, and spacing to ensure that the music on the page does the work justice. At the same time – I really, really, REALLY find editing to be about as tedious as cleaning a tile floor with nothing but a toothbrush. This has unfortunately led me to skimp on editing in some of my past works. Not a wise move on my part. Those times where I have skimped has taught me NEVER to do it again, as it inevitably led to problems in both rehearsal and performance, wasting everyone’s time in the process. The fact is – not sufficiently editing your work is a “rookie” mistake – a self-inflicted wound that will cause a composer far more grief than simply putting in the tedious hours ever would.
So, this is what I will be doing for the next few weeks. Hours, and hours, of editing.
Yay.
It will be worth it.