First week plus one day of cataclysmic writing done!

Cataclysm, day 9671.57 KB

Score: Cataclysm, day 9

Els compassos 2 a 9 estan dedicats a l'Albert i aquests darrers tres mesos meravellosos de retrobament. ;)

First thoughts

I'm finding this even more interesting than I anticipated. It's a very peculiar mix of frustrating and exciting, I don't think I can explain this very well through words. The frustrating part is easier to express: everyday I set out to compose, then I sink into the process, which might take more or less time each day, and my focus and involvment sharpen, and... Stop. Brutal Coitus Interruptus. The first two or three days it felt really strange, really stupid. This is obviously not a natural way to create, the brain doesn't work like this, and a lot more than one bar unfolds in my mind, every day, only to be cropped at four beats. This castration of the creative process is not natural, and it is indeed frustrating.

But I'm very curious these days, so I smile at this, make a joke about myself, and let it go. What's next? Whatever, do the laundry, make a phone call, go to sleep. Interestingly, after the first few days I find myself not resisting it nearly as much, hardly at all in fact. The frustration is disipating very quickly.

Then there's the other 50%: the excitement. Because it is exciting, it's like a constant discovery. Everyday I feel happy when I sit to write my next bar. I don't know what's going to happen, I have no plan. It's similar to facing a puzzle, or looking for a flat, or entering a library to browse randomly. It's actually quite similar to improvising, except I'm composing. Very peculiar. This means that my brain does what it normally does during composition, only it finds itself in a strange place, with much less control, and having to constantly stay alert and ready to drop that control.

And the result? I like it so far! It's a bit odd, rather dense (that's not surprising), but because there is no plan, I have no idea where the tension will lead, nor how the piece might develop. I deliberatly used a big ensemble, and a not-so-straightforward harmony, to step a bit out my composer comfort zone, which I tend to do anyway, and seemed especially appropriate for this project. I'm so keen to discover what happens next!