Solitudes: An Epilogue

Well, well, well! Here we are at the end of a three-month long project. In January, I embarked on a new compositional journey attempting to write two pieces for piano, each an homage to composers I admire. The first was to be written in the style of John Adams, and the second in the style of George Crumb. I wanted to work on this project because though I am aware of my influences, I have never actively tried to write in the style of another composer. Inhabiting that headspace, I hoped, would open my eyes to compositional techniques I have not used and different ways of creating music. Once the piece was written, I had planned on recording it with two colleagues at the University of Arizona.

I am happy to say that in some ways, I succeeded in what I set out to do. By the end of this project, I did have a live recording (though not professionally rendered in a studio like I had hoped) of the second movement and an adequate MIDI approximation of the first. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, I was no longer able to complete the studio recording I had hoped for, so instead I shifted my goal to publication. Today, I submitted the piece to TUX People’s Music Publishing, and should hear back in the near future.

Week 1

In the first week of this project, I began by coming up with sketches for the first movement and writing them out by hand. I had in my mind a brief gesture that I had come up with while trying to improve my piano skills when I was unable to play clarinet for two weeks due to wisdom tooth extraction in December. In realizing how much the ideas I was sketching reminded me of the music of John Adams, I decided to run with it and build my project around the idea of homages to different composers.

Week 2

Having decided to embrace the styles of John Cage and George Crumb, I spent the second week doing a fair amount of score studying; asking myself questions such as “why did the composer choose to notate it in this way?” “What are the techniques that give these composers their distinct sound?” Understanding their style was key to replicating it.

I included this picture in my blog post for week two, but I wanted to post it again here - I miss doing all of my work at Black Crown Coffee Co. with my close friend Reason (who took the picture) so very much and I eagerly await the day I’m able to … — I included this picture in my blog post for week two, but I wanted to post it again here - I miss doing all of my work at Black Crown Coffee Co. with my close friend Reason (who took the picture) so very much and I eagerly await the day I’m able to do so again.

Week 3

In the third week of the project, I wrote a bit more on the first movement and focused my energy on notating what I had in a clear and sensible way. It was during this week that I was racing to my deadline for my Solo de Concours, so much of my creative energy went toward that piece and my work on Solitudes was mostly technical.

Week 4(ish)

“Week four” was… rough, and in terms of this project encapsulated three difficult weeks. COVID-19’s rapid spread in the United States meant no more in person classes - and therefore no more in person collaborations. In other words, no studio recording. During this week, I shifted my goal from having a recording to submitting the piece for publication. I still made progress, however. I fixed playability issues to make the first movement more performer-friendly and had completed about 75% of the movement.

Week 5

I finally finished the first movement (admittedly quite behind schedule) during this week! That’s pretty much it, this was a huge milestone for this project.

Week 6

In the sixth week, I struggled to work out my sketches for the second movement. I wanted to use a multitude of extended techniques, and when I initially embarked on the project I had hoped I would be able to workshop with Brice Kimble (the pianist I was going to work with) to see how I could use them. However, I did not have access to a grand piano so I had to just approximate what I felt they would sound like.

Week 7

The penultimate week of the project I made some progress in creating my palette of extended techniques, but my composition teacher Kay He (rightly) took issue with what I had written because it was just not cohesive - only a collection of these techniques with no connective tissue. I had to rethink the movement entirely.

Week 8

The final week arrived, and I finally knew where I was going with the second movement. A lot of time was spent this week finishing it, and I was slightly surprised at how happy I was with how it turned out after all the struggles of the previous two weeks. Another stroke of luck came in the fact that I found someone with a grand piano who was willing to record the piece - an excellent fellow composer named Mathew Lanning.

The very least I can do to thank Mathew for his enormous help in this project is to tell you to visit his website and listen to his music. He is an incredible and very prolific composer - he’s written fifteen symphonies!!! — The very least I can do to thank Mathew for his enormous help in this project is to tell you to visit his website and listen to his music. He is an incredible and very prolific composer - he’s written fifteen *symphonies!!!*

Some final thoughts

To quote 30 Rock, which I have been watching even more of lately than I usually do, “You want to make God laugh? Make a plan… Or read him a Dave Barry book.” Perhaps that second part doesn’t quite apply, but this project really was an exercise in adapting to things not going to plan. I encountered a lot of obstacles during this project, even beyond the logistical aspects of not being able to record as I wanted to or not having access to a grand piano. When things first shut down, I went through a period where all I could think was “what is the point?” I didn’t want to practice clarinet and I didn’t want to compose. Up to the end of the project, I almost believed I wouldn’t finish the second movement. I scrapped multiple versions of it because they were just bad, and I wasn’t convinced I knew how to write something good.

Even with all of this, I tried to force myself to finish it. Some days, it was easy and I felt genuinely inspired. Other days, I would sit at the piano or computer and just stare because I didn’t know where to begin. Suffice it to say, I was pretty incredulous when I finished the second movement and it was (at least to my ears) quite good. With all the difficulties in writing the piece and adapting to the world in which we now live, I think Solitudes is some of my best work.

The biggest skill I feel I gained from this piece is the ability to write in styles I previously had little experience in, especially in the realm of extended techniques. I’ve learned a lot about the ins and outs of how the piano works as an instrument, and what can be played and what simply can’t. I really enjoyed hearing the extended techniques I had written come to life in Mathew’s performance, and I will definitely be exploring them again, perhaps to an even more extreme extent. Above all, I feel this was an important project in developing my own voice. In writing like other composers, I feel more concrete in my understanding of my compositional language and the kind of music I want to write.

Though this project is over, this isn’t the end of this blog. I don’t know that I will be posting with as much regularity, but I want to keep you all updated on the projects I’m working on. I have some exciting things coming down the pipeline. Until then, enjoy this video of the process of composing Solitudes, which ends with a performance of the second movement:

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I have some more composing to do.