Back on the tracks

I'm in the midst of the final preparations for this trip down to New York, wondering how the train will feel after a month of reprieve. I'm also looking forward to staying for an extended interval, getting to see people I haven't yet seen; having some actual time to explore and breathe instead of trying to pack it all into 30-odd hours.

My deadline-oriented nature became very clear recently. Because the November BMI meeting conflicted with my Toronto visit and Alex's final recital, I went a good month or so without a meeting, and therefore without an impetus to write. I've never been the disciplined composer - I need to be staring down a deadline (be it artificial or real) to really get the ball rolling. The past two weeks, I've been developing fragments towards various stages of completion, including one that's halfway done (and I hope to finish on the train). I admire those who can sit down every day and just write something. I don't have a codified compositional approach yet - each piece, for me, has its own methodology and its own life and timespan. Sometimes it'll come out by hand in one fell swoop, sometimes it'll take weeks or months moving things around in Sibelius. Sometimes I just have to abandon the whole damn thing because it doesn't work, or because I can't access that headspace anymore. I have unfinished ideas, written at a very tumultuous and angry time, and I can't find any solutions for them because I'm, thankfully, no longer angry in that manner.

My plans as they stand now (aside from tentative, unscheduled get-togethers with friends) (i.e. gigs you should go to):
Monday - Smoke jam whenever I get in
Tuesday 12 - BMI meeting; David Binney @ 55Bar
Sunday 17 - conflict: Pulse @ Bowery Poetry Club/Peter van Huffel @ 55Bar
Tuesday 19 - BMI reading

Recommendations - gigs, bars, cafés, print shops that won't mind flustered composers rushing out parts - are always welcome.