Henning's Headquarters

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks, I think this an excellent suggestion. I'll consider 2024 a sabbatical year from composition, and I'll let that part of my brain unwind.

Considering everything that is happening in our country--and our world--right now, I know that, at times, my brain--and soul--gets burned out (wishing that we all could come together and figure out how to talk about the things that we have in common; it's tricky, but I do believe that we can do it.  We have to.  No other option for the human race.)

So, please give yourself breathing room--particularly after all that you have been through and are struggling with.  And find and go to places in which you find peace.

PD

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Election year. Highly polarized politics, ideology, and perception.

[Cato]

This morning I revisited one of Karl's religious works: I think you should too!  😇

[Karl Henning]

As to the current round of Call submissions, the final shoe has dropped. The "your piece was not selected" message came from the Lowell Chamber Orchestra.

[Florestan]

As to the current round of Call submissions, the final shoe has dropped. The "your piece was not selected" message came from the Lowell Chamber Orchestra.

Did they say why?

[Karl Henning]

Did they say why?

No, and typically they do not:

Dear composer,

Once again, thanks for participating in the 2024 LCO Call-for-Scores. We are saddened that we are unable to perform your work next season, but we will be archiving your work for possible future performance if the opportunity should arise.

The judges remarked that the high level of the compositions made the decision very difficult. 
We wish you all the best luck in your future musical endeavors.

[DavidW]

You know that they will have an extremely small number of works to choose for a season.  And they usually have themes too for each concert, so really you shouldn't take this rejection as a repudiation of any kind.

[Cato]

Did they say why?

I will be surprised if they do say anything specific.


In my experience, they are not looking for a dialogue.  If they say anything at all, it will be something vague, e.g. "It does not suit our current needs/abilities/audience's expectations/etc."


Sorry to hear about the rejection!  Just incomprehensible: it has been decades, but whenever I later heard the music by the "winner" or - for books - something the publisher did accept in a bookstore, I just had to shake my head.


The amount of kulcheral garbage lionized and promoted throughout our society condemns the taste of our age.

[Karl Henning]

You know that they will have an extremely small number of works to choose for a season.  And they usually have themes too for each concert, so really you shouldn't take this rejection as a repudiation of any kind.

No, it's really just one more on the pile.

[Florestan]

we will be archiving your work for possible future performance if the opportunity should arise.[/font][/size][/color]

Yeah, right.

Damn'em all, Karl!

[JBS]

I will be surprised if they do say anything specific.


In my experience, they are not looking for a dialogue.  If they say anything at all, it will be something vague, e.g. "It does not suit our current needs/abilities/audience's expectations/etc."


Sorry to hear about the rejection!  Just incomprehensible: it has been decades, but whenever I later heard the music by the "winner" or - for books - something the publisher did accept in a bookstore, I just had to shake my head.


The amount of kulcheral garbage lionized and promoted throughout our society condemns the taste of our age.

I would not be so harsh. As an undergraduate I had the opportunity to peruse in the university library's shelves a large quantity of literature which reached publication in the eras of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Austen, and Dickens. The details differed from our age, but the tendency for many of those publications to be garbage shows the taste of those eras could be just as bad and just as pervasive as ours.

[Cato]

I would not be so harsh. As an undergraduate I had the opportunity to peruse in the university library's shelves a large quantity of literature which reached publication in the eras of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Austen, and Dickens. The details differed from our age, but the tendency for many of those publications to be garbage shows the taste of those eras could be just as bad and just as pervasive as ours.

Oh yes, every era produces garbage, but imagine an era where the works of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, et al. were never printed at all, drowned in the humidity of the ancestors of Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steele, Lilian Jackson Braun, or James Patterson, the latter now rather openly putting his name on books written (mainly?  completely?) by collaborators.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

90 percent of my academic manuscripts are rejected at a first submission. Among them, 50 percent are eventually published after third or fourth submission. It seems that the better papers/manuscripts are more likely to be rejected.

[Karl Henning]

I know I have to keep trying. I'm really just going down the memory hole if my audience is no larger than all the nice people I know personally. Periodically, it's a challenge to shake off the accumulated rejections.

[Karl Henning]

A dear old schoolmate passed away recently

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I received a rejection letter this morning! 

[Karl Henning]

I received a rejection letter this morning! 

Sorry, and thanks for the solidarity!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

A dear old schoolmate passed away recently

Sorry to hear that Karl.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

90 percent of my academic manuscripts are rejected at a first submission. Among them, 50 percent are eventually published after third or fourth submission. It seems that the better papers/manuscripts are more likely to be rejected.

What kinds of things do you like to write about Manibu?

And sorry about the rejection today!

PD

[Karl Henning]

Sorry to hear that Karl.

PD

Thanks, PD. I passed by his house every day, walking to high school. I first got word from another schoolmate who lived around the block and with whom I often played chess. I was never really much good at the game.