Greg's Gazebo

[mikkeljs]

Can you study in English there, Mikkel? Is mastery of Danish required?

Yes, all the teachers speaks english, and I speak more english than danish, since if Im sitting with a table with 10 danes and one from abroad, people just speak english. Many of the students from abroad can´t say a single danish word. Even my teacher don´t speak danish! 

Wait a second...Im not 100% sure if it is free to study for anyone. In DK education is always free for danes and danish students gets money from the state for 6 years of study, enought money for living! Which is fantastic for musicians who don´t have time for a job. Hmmm...I think it is also free to study for anyone from abroad, they just don´t get money to live for.

[greg]

That's pretty cool if it's free! 
I don't know, maybe one day... 

I think when i meant a minute in a few days, i meant 40 or so seconds (never timed it), and it was slow tempo.
I know what you mean about the only 5-10 seconds per day, unfortunately. 

In DK education is always free for danes and danish students gets money from the state for 6 years of study, enought money for living! Which is fantastic for musicians who don´t have time for a job.

Ahhh... so that must be what you're doing? Must be nice.

[mikkeljs]

That's pretty cool if it's free! 
I don't know, maybe one day... 

I think when i meant a minute in a few days, i meant 40 or so seconds (never timed it), and it was slow tempo.
I know what you mean about the only 5-10 seconds per day, unfortunately. 
Ahhh... so that must be what you're doing? Must be nice.

It could be fantastic if we studied at the same place! 

[greg]

I guess we can dream. 

[greg]

So, umm... I think it will probably be a couple more years until I can start writing music again (it's already been over 2 since I finished the last thing I wrote). I just hope no one is expecting anything.

[greg]

I have a question...
in the future, I plan on writing a symphony. Now, the form I have in mind is one EXTREMELY long movement without break. How long would be the longest I can possibly write that would be acceptable? I know it's pretty much a gray area subject matter, and there would be no clear definition. The Pettersson symphonies can go on longer for a single movement than anything else I can think of, and I'm sure they are a huge challenge just for this reason.

Oh, and the length I have in mind would be something over 2 hours- maybe 2 hours and 20 minutes or so. I just want to outdo any Symphony that came before with one big, bold, completely epic statement that doesn't split up into parts, and that's the best form I can think of- even if it takes several years to write, and it's the only symphony I end up writing.

[karlhenning]

Well, if you write a 2 hour & 20 minute symphony so that the result carries -- then you have established a new "how long is acceptable."

[greg]

Well, if you write a 2 hour & 20 minute symphony so that the result carries -- then you have established a new "how long is acceptable."

I haven't thought of it like that! 
Well, hmm... I gotcha. Gotta think like a pioneer. 

[greg]

A few quick notes:
I've chopped down my opus list in half- removing stuff that I thought were just short, useless pieces that I didn't even like. Now I feel like if I had to show someone all of my works, I'd be completely fine with it, since the ones I left remaining aren't bad. 

So, my new opus list looks like this:
op.1 Piano Sonata
op.2 String Quartet
op.3 What the Zorgenoth!
op.4 Blather Lather
op.5 The Bend of Time
op.6 We'll C

(the first two i just switched back to the originally conceived titles- formerly, they are "Lighthouse of Black Light" and "Ah! How Refreshing").

As for op.7... I mentioned that I'd start writing it this summer. Yes, I think I will start... however, as for finishing, that's another matter- it'll take how long it takes, even if it may be a year.

My op.7 I plan to be an orchestral piece written for the Takemitsu competition, so it will be under 20' (and obviously I want it to be just under). I just can't imagine finishing in time for this year's competition since I have so much "other" stuff I need to learn during the summer, so, I'm just going to say hopefully I can finish in time to submit it for the 2012 competition (deadline being Sep.30, 2011).

The working title is "op.7 From the World of Nothing"... during the course of this year and a half, I'll start by considering my style and recording fragments/themes/ideas, maybe even posting them. Then, from that maybe I can develop a direction and put it together in time.

[karlhenning]

Good luck! Write well!

[greg]

Just been going through tons of musical ideas...

sometimes I just freely improvise, too, and see what comes out. I've had this sort of "sound" or "style" that just "happens" when I improvise sometimes. It's kinda disturbing.

To describe it in storylike terms- it's either one of two things. The first is the image of a dark street with no end it sight. It continues on forever, and you walk down it. The other is the emotional state of experiencing "grinding and gnashing of teeth" of burning in hell while you look up and see heaven from a distance. (Making up this stuff wasn't even intentional- it just happened).

For the second one, typically I just make big dischords in the bass with the left hand while my right hand plays melodic like stuff in the treble. The effect is like screaming for help while being tortured. Sometimes I have a habit of doing something different that I never learned from anywhere- while the treble is in the middle of a phrase (like a scream for help), cut the phrase short before it "finishes" and repeat it maybe a step higher and it's like it screams louder and louder while being in more pain. Honestly, the most disturbing musical language I've come across- Pettersson is tame compared to the possibilities of this language- maybe even some of Schnittke's pieces, too (and Penderecki as well).


I don't think I'm going to try to focus on that language much (although I may experiment with it). It's just too disturbing. I want to focus on more of a language of what a philosopher might feel like sitting on top of a mountain, enjoying scenery, while... philosophizing. 


Also, I've been working on an opening. I just won't be satisfied until it's the best one I've ever heard, so I still haven't written it yet. 

[greg]

So I got the first two bars down. 
(It starts off with very quiet tam-tam strokes and muffled notes in the cellos. )

BUT the important thing is, I think I finally found a way of composing which works for me best. It might sound extremely strange, but...
I'm pretty much trying to compose while watching anime at the same time. I have that electronic piano program and whatever anime video I'm watching on the screen at the same time. I also have a book of staff paper, so I can write the music down when I need to.

I feel like ideas are coming to me better doing this- the reason being is that I'm more relaxed, especially if I'm lying down. Probably the whole reason for my creative block for the last 2 1/2 years is mostly because if I just go sit at the piano with the intent to compose, I have the thought that I could sit there and waste my time for hours, and then have to go to work. But if I'm composing like I'm doing now, it doesn't even matter if I don't write anything- I'm still getting through something, even if it's a completely different goal. So, I just write, take my mind off of it for a while, think of some ideas, change stuff... should work out.

[karlhenning]

So I got the first two bars down. 
(It starts off with very quiet tam-tam strokes and muffled notes in the cellos. )

All right; we want two new measures today!

[Scarpia]

So I got the first two bars down. 
(It starts off with very quiet tam-tam strokes and muffled notes in the cellos. )

According to what I've read above you have to sustain this another 2 hours, 19 minutes and 50 seconds and you've already used the tam-tam.   

[greg]

All right; we want two new measures today!

I think I can pull that off. 

According to what I've read above you have to sustain this another 2 hours, 19 minutes and 50 seconds and you've already used the tam-tam.   

Lol, actually the one I'm writing now will be slightly less than 20 minutes since I'm doing it for the Takemitsu competition.

[greg]

I decided to erase what I wrote and start from scratch sometime around the beginning of this month... turned out to be a good decision, I think.

Finally, I think I got a good feel for what I'm going to do. Between last night and today, I've written ~11 bars of music, which is unheard of for me, for the last 3 years. I have a very good feel for what I'm writing and actually have too many good ideas to write down, which is always a good thing.

Also, I've decided to title it "Gray Skies-" a variation on Liszt's "Gray Clouds" piano piece (title-wise, not music-wise).

Probably the biggest factor to get me going was the first two notes. For some reason, it reminded me of the Thunder Plains from Final Fantasy X, so I decided, "heck, why not stick to this direction?" Doing so, I felt I had a subconscious direction to write certain stuff, and it was just a matter of following my intuition. 

So, to get an idea of what I was thinking of (the "Thunder Plains"), this video shows it (the background song to it is also really cool)... although it also shows lots of random battles and dumb custom characters names, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX7jZhutT_M

[karlhenning]

I decided to erase what I wrote and start from scratch sometime around the beginning of this month... turned out to be a good decision, I think.

Finally, I think I got a good feel for what I'm going to do. Between last night and today, I've written ~11 bars of music, which is unheard of for me, for the last 3 years. I have a very good feel for what I'm writing and actually have too many good ideas to write down, which is always a good thing.

Molto bene!

[greg]

op.1 Piano Sonata

[greg]

op.2 String Quartet

[greg]

op.3 What the Zorgenoth!