Today I spent an hour and a half writing three measures the second violin. The time I put towards composing each day is minimal but it also helps me reset. For the past month I’ve had to put in 12-hour days at work, so any time I can put towards composing is valuable. I don’t let my work life bleed into my music life and, ignoring all keen psychological analysis to the contrary, I feel that I’ve kept it separate.
There’s a transition in the 2nd movement that goes from tremolo, wave-like texture to a texture that is linear, and I’m particularly satisfied with that (whenever anyone says “satisfied” they actually mean “proud”).
Beyond the three-measures-a-day that I’m accomplishing, I’ve started a vivace section that is exhausting. The difficulty–with me and with rapid sections–is that my mind doesn’t think that quickly and so the melodies I write to a certain extent are for 1/2 the speed of how I want them performed. This leads to some inaccuracies of intent.
I have an inexpensive study score of Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 1 that has been a totem. That quartet is imprinted on my ears after having known it for decades. Listening and reading the score after being immersed in the more difficult of the modern styles has me appreciating it as a model of almost classical structure. It is far from the otherworldly experience I had on first hearings and is now a language that I’ve internalized. With the extra analysis and deeper listening, my appreciation has only increased.
@NotationIsGreat had recently pointed out a page of sheet music plastered like a gig posted to a “telephone box.” (There’s unfortunate symbolism there re obsolescence.) I will replicate this effort with whatever Xeroxed copies I have or will make (copywrite police: I’m speaking euphemistically) around Midtown. I. Will. Be. A. HERO.
I feel that I’ve written some of the most beautiful music I ever have in this format, but at the same time I feel trashy about re-listening to what I’d already written. You cannot win as an artist, emotionally.