Last week I had a crash on my computer and lost a number of my Loft mailing list addresses. Silly me - didn't back up regularly enough. If you have been added to the list in the last six months or so, the chances are you may no longer be on my data base for Loft events. If you happen to read this and it applies to you just drop me a line and I'll get you put back on!
So - that's that out the way - I had to set up a new user account to get round the corruption that had occurred on my old user account. Quite a time waster and it's all my fault for not backing up enough!
Apart from that I handed Alex the first draft of the full score on friday lunchtime! I went over to have lunch with him at the Guildhall where he is conducting at the moment. I was at a loss as to what to say - my conversation suddenly all dried up... it was like I wasn't just handing him my music I was handing him my thoughts too - all of them wrapped up in that pile of paper - my mind went completely blank. I apologised for my lack of social skills saying I had a completely one track mind at the moment, and I was the most boring person on the planet to have lunch with! He was terribly civil and wondered how Wagner felt when he first saw the score of Tristan... a thrilling moment he pondered. And yes it is in some ways. At the moment the full score still remains in A4 format as we are proof reading but I printed one page of A3 as a test and it looks amazing in A3 - so big and real and solid!!
This week I am performing at the Spitz (friday night) and while my head and heart are still with the opera - to get it finished - I had to drag myself away from that work to finalise and prepare for my set of solo singing. It was quite a wrench not to be working on the score - even though I often resent the hours I am having to spend on it. Moving into the world of performance again is confronting for me in some ways - especially as I am thinking of doing some quite radical material. It feels quite high risk - and maybe people won't get me at all! Then what? I videoed my self doing my really left field piece Wild Geese this afternoon. Boy, was that informative. And now I've got 4 days to get it feeling right. At the moment it feels too turbulent. It's like I need to stay much stiller in order for the inner turbulence and drama of the music to speak. At the moment I am too carried away by the drama and my relationship with the music is getting in the way of the music itself.
This is quite a thing to admit and demands a radical rethink of my relationship with the piece.
Ventured to a Hoxton night club last thursday with a friend, and we were both chuffed we decided to go. It was surprisingly mild in terms of the vibe - even though the music was quite heavy rap, drum and bass, the people were light hearted, easy going and unthreatening. I thoroughly enjoyed dancing in my 80's kind of way. Punting on the river Cam this weekend was also a first for me! Later to Even Song and totally transported by the countrapuntal four part writing. Fresh harmonies and unexpected textures and ryhthms sent me straight to a depth contemplation on music and the heart and how it reveals and refreshes the inner being. Even though I have concerns about the Christian doctrine - what was evident here was the authenticity of the musical vibrations and how that was completely free from dogma - and as a purely musical consideration held it's own spirituality beyond notions such as sin and salvation that trouble me. I wish I had found out who the composer was!
3.06.2007
It's all lost in space - mega meh to that!
What a turn out for the books...! Finished the first draft of the full score and converted it to PDF - intending to send it to my local printers - it buggered my system and I lost my whole mailing list in the furore!!! Miserables!! Luckily I had an old version of the list backed up so I have restored about 75% of the addresses - though my classification system (A-B, C-D etc) is all wiped! Feels like a kind of cold wind blowing through my heart - an empty barren desert - where once there was life - a nicely organized mailing list - poof! gone is puff of PDF smoke - meanwhile the full score never arrived at the printers! - so my music is all lost in space as well! Of course I have it all backed up - but the thought of sending all that music and it not arriving at it's destination is extremely disconcerting!
I will face these latest technical challenges in the morning - it's not human to be thinking about these problems past 5.30pm...
Meanwhile on a happier note - singers are coming forward for the audition. Strangely I am rather low on alto voices... hello out there you lovely altos - please get in touch... especially if you can sing high F!
Had a very interesting chat with my old friend and colleague Adrian Lee last night. He is going to take on the role of producer for the recording. He has so many wise and practical things to say about the whole process. As well as which he is really up for taking care of me - as I go through the inevitable ups and downs of organizing 22 musicians, a sound engineer, all the gubbins you need to set up a recording session as well as a full score and parts perfectly prepared. It's a huge task. He said he's there for me at the end of the phone if I need to think something through - or get a second opinion. He's up for making lists keeping the details on the surface - so nothing gets forgotten. Really good plan. I can't tell you how reassuring that feels ..(- whoever it is 'you' are, dear reader...).
Brilliant news is I've booked the Smith Quartet to play as part of the ensemble. They have the right kind of sound that I'm looking for in the string playing. We've also earmarked June 10 and 11 for the recording. 10 will be a rehearsal for the singers and 11 will be with everyone - rehearse/record.
One of Adrians good ideas - he should know with over 15 RSC productions as composer/MD/performer behind him - is to invite the key singers to a days workshop to introduce them to the vocal style I am looking for. Rather than expect them to get that in the rehearsal as well as bash the notes etc. I hope people are prepared to come along for an extra day - that would be well worth it I think.
I wasn't elated as I got the the end of the full score layout - I've gone beyond elation - it's pure drudgery now - damn those PDF files... I should have put them on a CD and walked over to the printers then none of this would have happened! It's demoralising somehow.
I can't quite get my head around the fact I'm doing a Spitz gig in under two weeks. I better had as I need to keep my voice in shape and right now all I can think of is - yes you guessed it - my lost addresses and PDF files - isn't life exciting?!
Weird thing happend this evening - I went on a date with a guy who used to work for my father at Saga Records! First thing he said without even knowing Marcel Rodd was my father was "the man was a genius - he revolutionised the music industry single handed" I kid you not that is what he said! And he himself is still in the arts and was quite qualified to say so. I was simultaneously chuffed and somewhat freaked out! He was 'just a kid' when he worked for my Dad - but he remembered all sorts of things about the factory in Kensal Road and the heat and noise of the printing presses and that he was the one that had to go and get the wages for everyone from the local bank in Harrow Road every friday afternoon. It was quite surreal. And we were a stones throw from this Serphardic Synagogue in Maida Vale that he was convinced would have records of my Roditi family history dating right back. It was like being is a time warp or something.
I drove home just now and got completly lost on the way back.... and I know those streets like the back of my hand...
I loved the Kombat Opera's second offering on Sunday 'Spouse Swap'. Really funny, really excellent comic vocal writing. I really know where he's coming from (Richard Thomas) and feel as if I could do a good job working in that style myself... I bet a lot of composers are thinking that right now... or just dissing it as a clever trick.. I think it's brilliant.
Meh - is the word of the moment - it means so so, and I intend to add it to my vocalulary.
I'm feeling mega meh tonight....
meh
meh
meh....
I will face these latest technical challenges in the morning - it's not human to be thinking about these problems past 5.30pm...
Meanwhile on a happier note - singers are coming forward for the audition. Strangely I am rather low on alto voices... hello out there you lovely altos - please get in touch... especially if you can sing high F!
Had a very interesting chat with my old friend and colleague Adrian Lee last night. He is going to take on the role of producer for the recording. He has so many wise and practical things to say about the whole process. As well as which he is really up for taking care of me - as I go through the inevitable ups and downs of organizing 22 musicians, a sound engineer, all the gubbins you need to set up a recording session as well as a full score and parts perfectly prepared. It's a huge task. He said he's there for me at the end of the phone if I need to think something through - or get a second opinion. He's up for making lists keeping the details on the surface - so nothing gets forgotten. Really good plan. I can't tell you how reassuring that feels ..(- whoever it is 'you' are, dear reader...).
Brilliant news is I've booked the Smith Quartet to play as part of the ensemble. They have the right kind of sound that I'm looking for in the string playing. We've also earmarked June 10 and 11 for the recording. 10 will be a rehearsal for the singers and 11 will be with everyone - rehearse/record.
One of Adrians good ideas - he should know with over 15 RSC productions as composer/MD/performer behind him - is to invite the key singers to a days workshop to introduce them to the vocal style I am looking for. Rather than expect them to get that in the rehearsal as well as bash the notes etc. I hope people are prepared to come along for an extra day - that would be well worth it I think.
I wasn't elated as I got the the end of the full score layout - I've gone beyond elation - it's pure drudgery now - damn those PDF files... I should have put them on a CD and walked over to the printers then none of this would have happened! It's demoralising somehow.
I can't quite get my head around the fact I'm doing a Spitz gig in under two weeks. I better had as I need to keep my voice in shape and right now all I can think of is - yes you guessed it - my lost addresses and PDF files - isn't life exciting?!
Weird thing happend this evening - I went on a date with a guy who used to work for my father at Saga Records! First thing he said without even knowing Marcel Rodd was my father was "the man was a genius - he revolutionised the music industry single handed" I kid you not that is what he said! And he himself is still in the arts and was quite qualified to say so. I was simultaneously chuffed and somewhat freaked out! He was 'just a kid' when he worked for my Dad - but he remembered all sorts of things about the factory in Kensal Road and the heat and noise of the printing presses and that he was the one that had to go and get the wages for everyone from the local bank in Harrow Road every friday afternoon. It was quite surreal. And we were a stones throw from this Serphardic Synagogue in Maida Vale that he was convinced would have records of my Roditi family history dating right back. It was like being is a time warp or something.
I drove home just now and got completly lost on the way back.... and I know those streets like the back of my hand...
I loved the Kombat Opera's second offering on Sunday 'Spouse Swap'. Really funny, really excellent comic vocal writing. I really know where he's coming from (Richard Thomas) and feel as if I could do a good job working in that style myself... I bet a lot of composers are thinking that right now... or just dissing it as a clever trick.. I think it's brilliant.
Meh - is the word of the moment - it means so so, and I intend to add it to my vocalulary.
I'm feeling mega meh tonight....
meh
meh
meh....
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