New camera and some musical thoughts...

So, I've been meaning to post the best shots with the new camera. I must have taken about a hundred before I finally got a means of getting them off of the memory card. Only a handful were good enough to post though, meaning I need more time to familiarize myself with the camera. Represented here in this album are the snowfall from a few weeks ago, my friend's cat and my own, Rockerfeller Center's Christmas tree and a few random shots of Sunset Park at night.

Best shots with new Canon

Enjoy. Meanwhile. I did a week of my new schedule and I'm about to embark on another one next week. Over my meager weekend, I worked on the new chamber piece, hung out with a friend and had a vegetarian dinner and then ate too much chocolate, and then, tonight, met Karishma at the airport and rode with her back into Manhattan. I welcomed her back with Godiva chocolate and Two Boots Pizza on 7th and Greenwich Aves.

The new piece is a monster now. I've gotten to a point though where the middle section is going in a totally different direction that I don't want it to go in. I had started composing something in my head that I liked the idea of, forgot about that idea and composed something else, and now I don't like the new thing but can't get it out of my head long enough to get back the old idea and revamp those measures. I'll figure it out though. Just need to walk away from it again. Lucky, I won't have much time tomorrow to do anything but listen to it once or twice and maybe edit the piano part and the drum line some more. So I won't drive myself too crazy over it.

On another note, I started listening to some audio files on my hand-held Olympus USB audio recorder that were from early 2007. Me jamming on the piano mostly, but I realized that I have several good song ideas there, some of which I had almost abandoned and some of which I started and then realized I should start over after listening to them today and go back to being more true to my original improvisation...after all, that's the whole reason I used the thing in the first place. To record those improvisations and try to capture those moments of, I guess, genius, for lack of a better word.

In addition, there are files on there of ambient sound and train noise I recorded in the subway earlier in the year, around April. Stuff that would make either a really good musique concrete piece or an electroacoustic piece I've yet to write. Either way, what's on my recorder right now that I've neglected for so long: Gold Mine.

But I'm going to be also writing new things this year as well. 2008 was a tough year, because I maybe only finished one standalone piece while meanwhile I was working on finishing others for my recital and then, subsequently working on my thesis and then living and working in Raleigh, scoring films in the fall and, oh, I did write a song for my family to use on the yearly slide show of photos for everyone. Titled it Home. May post the recording soon, it was just guitar though, nothin' fancy. But anyway, point being, I was so focused on so many endeavors that I was forced to find ways of jotting down ideas, or otherwise recording them, quickly so I wouldn't lose them and I could take a crack at them later. But then, I'd listen to them later or try to work on them and shape them and they didn't inspire me as much. Then after a whole year passes of focusing on electronic music, and the film scores I did this year, I find myself listening to them again and saying, "Oh yeah! This piece!" And now, despite the compulsion to write new stuff, I feel like I should give these other ideas a shot at a life outside of my crazy head.

Because isn't that why we write down music in the first place? Gotta run guys, more later on my progress and my sanity.