Proposed Music: Poem for my Grandparents
The Piece
I didn’t really know my grandparents very well. I want to find out more. As I reflect on who they were I will write a suite of music inspired by their stories.
The Musicians
A Far Cry string orchestra is really fantastic-sounding (and democratically-run!) ensemble of 17 players. I got in contact and they have voted yes to play my piece! Now the remaining step is to get some grant funding! Or…if that doesn’t work out, then perhaps a kickstarter campaign will be in order. I have the feeling that I just need to make writing for this group a reality somehow, some way!
For now, I am beginning to sketch out some basic ideas for material I might use (have to wait till July to hear about the grant but I can’t help starting to think of what to write). A Far Cry has also asked me to arrange a pop tune to use as an encore (and I said YESSS PLEASE!). It is a well known 80’s tune, which will I will keep a secret for now (just to build the suspense). Eventually, I imagine they will share a performance of it on YouTube, since they keep up a good presence there, and I will link to that.
Progress Thus Far
For no particular reason, I have begun by focusing on my Dad’s father, who was a professor of fluid mechanics, and a rather intense and opinionated fellow. I know him mostly as the not-very-approachable grandfather who once noticed I had assembled a very small collection of polished rocks and decided to give me nothing but polished rocks, geodes and crystals the following Christmas (an attempt to try and share his love of Geology, my mom always said).
To find out more about my grandfather and what he was like, I have been asking my parents for more information on this and that aspect of his life. During this conversation, I found out there is this amazing video produced in 50’s or 60’s featuring my grandfather explaining the fundamentals of fluid mechanics. This was a great discovery…I can actually watch him speaking on one of his areas of scientific expertise! I also found some scholarly writings with the title of “Some Remarks on the Turbulent Boundary Layer.” Apparently the boundary layer is the name for the edge an area of flow, like a wall, where it becomes very unpredictable, and eddies form and break free. This also seemed an amazing concept to use as a metaphor, and perhaps a title of something. Inspiration is gathering already, eddying, perhaps breaking free!
Multimedia Thinking
In the grant proposal, I put forth the idea of having a graphic novel companion to the music, which would provide background biographical information and poetic reflections. Part of the idea is to produce something much more personal than past compositions. It also incorporates in my interest in making comics (see my Super Tonic Man music theory comic book if you don’t know it) and perhaps Liz will collaborate with me on the graphic novel part, as well.
So, lastly, here’s a little clip I wanted to share. On thing I learned from advertising music composing, to test my piece in progress along with a suitable video clip to see if it’s a good match. It’s also a good thing to do for any music, because it somehow helps my mind grasp the music as a whole a bit more easily. For the video below, I have combined a few phrases of my hypothetical material in with the flow visualization film, just for fun. I thought the two things together were a bit hilarious, but it also kind of worked well together. a pretty interesting fit...just put them together for fun, really, but wanted to show you a little bit of it.