Opera and music...?
An interesting and rather unexpected last couple of weeks. I was GOING to be working on sound at Opera Theatre of St. Louis this year, but someone on prop carpentry crew was injured, and they had to move around a few people. Now, I'm on swing crew, which is basically the crew that helps out when other people need extra help. Not really a crew, so much, as two people.
There have been some other changes associated with this, such as how my partner, who has been around for a few years now and has much more experience and knowledge of Opera Theatre and how they do things, is not going to my partner after today. This gives me a little bit of trepidation, b/c there will probably be occaisions when I'll have to do something and it'll take more time than it would normally, or I'll have to go to the warehouse and get stuff and not know how to do it yet. It should be fine, though.
The biggest deal for me, really, is that it appears that I'll be on a straight 9 to 5 schedule. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I WILL HAVE HAD THAT SCHEDULE!!! It's kind of funny, b/c that's the standard thing, and I've never done it!
It worries me slightly, b/c I'm such a night person that I'm guessing that 90 to 95% of the time, I'll really have to drag myself out of bed. Kind of like school from ages 6 to 17.
But if I shower the night before and have the alarm go off at 7:50, that will give me enough time to really drag around for a while before I leave. I'm finding that I really don't like to rush. I think maybe I used to, but not so much anymore, ESPECIALLY b/c this is stuff I'm being paid for, and not just some silly class.
Also, Leigh Anne Huckaby is my boss, and I really like her. She's been to both of the Xavier concerts and was gracious enough to apparently tell virtually everyone at Opera Theatre about how much she enjoyed them. I think it's good for me to work for someone who really knows about me in a real way, as opposed to working for and with people who don't and only see me fumble around and etc.
You see, I find that my life has been leading [occupationally] solely in the direction of the music. I feel ill-equipped to do anything else. Obviously, I will, but not without some hiccups and some great discomfort along the way. On the other hand, the good news is that there's always things I enjoy about the jobs I've had. This is my third year at Opera Theatre, and it's located right on the Webster campus, which is my second home. To get to work at 'home' is really nice, and to be involved with something creative is, too. I was one of the spotlight operators last December for "Edwin Drood" at the Rep, and it was really great fun!
On the music front, I seem to have decided to really look more in the direction of making a great, dynamic, fun CD. It's not that there aren't a number of great piano albums out there, but I sure can't think of a SINGLE ONE that has a strong element of listenability and fun to them. It's also not to say that I'm going to make something EXTREMELY accessible, but hopefully moreso than many. It's a good thing most of my music has a really strong rhythmic component to it, or else this would be a much more difficult task.
That's about it for now. More later!
I've been thinking about which pieces would work best on a CD, and I've also been thinking about keeping the length down to around 30 minutes or so. Why? Number one: my pieces are all basically song-length [anywhere from 2 min 15 sec to 4 min], and number two: just because you CAN put a lot of information of a CD doesn't mean you SHOULD.
So, I'd like to start this process, one that will probably take many months, because the biggest deal for me is finding the right person[s] to record this with, production-wise. Then, it's a question of finding a really great method of recording the stuff [mics, pianos, rooms, etc.], and, then, it's a matter of executing it. All of this will most likely take some time, but, who knows? Maybe I'll meet someone soon who will really connect with the music and we'll really take off with it.
I'd like to think of this more as an 'album' project and less of a 'demo' project. I don't even particularly like the idea of 'demos'. It seems to me that if I'm going to make any audio recordings, I should do everything in my power to make it as good as possible on every level, and approach it that way, rather than in a 'demo' kind of way.
There have been some other changes associated with this, such as how my partner, who has been around for a few years now and has much more experience and knowledge of Opera Theatre and how they do things, is not going to my partner after today. This gives me a little bit of trepidation, b/c there will probably be occaisions when I'll have to do something and it'll take more time than it would normally, or I'll have to go to the warehouse and get stuff and not know how to do it yet. It should be fine, though.
The biggest deal for me, really, is that it appears that I'll be on a straight 9 to 5 schedule. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I WILL HAVE HAD THAT SCHEDULE!!! It's kind of funny, b/c that's the standard thing, and I've never done it!
It worries me slightly, b/c I'm such a night person that I'm guessing that 90 to 95% of the time, I'll really have to drag myself out of bed. Kind of like school from ages 6 to 17.
But if I shower the night before and have the alarm go off at 7:50, that will give me enough time to really drag around for a while before I leave. I'm finding that I really don't like to rush. I think maybe I used to, but not so much anymore, ESPECIALLY b/c this is stuff I'm being paid for, and not just some silly class.
Also, Leigh Anne Huckaby is my boss, and I really like her. She's been to both of the Xavier concerts and was gracious enough to apparently tell virtually everyone at Opera Theatre about how much she enjoyed them. I think it's good for me to work for someone who really knows about me in a real way, as opposed to working for and with people who don't and only see me fumble around and etc.
You see, I find that my life has been leading [occupationally] solely in the direction of the music. I feel ill-equipped to do anything else. Obviously, I will, but not without some hiccups and some great discomfort along the way. On the other hand, the good news is that there's always things I enjoy about the jobs I've had. This is my third year at Opera Theatre, and it's located right on the Webster campus, which is my second home. To get to work at 'home' is really nice, and to be involved with something creative is, too. I was one of the spotlight operators last December for "Edwin Drood" at the Rep, and it was really great fun!
On the music front, I seem to have decided to really look more in the direction of making a great, dynamic, fun CD. It's not that there aren't a number of great piano albums out there, but I sure can't think of a SINGLE ONE that has a strong element of listenability and fun to them. It's also not to say that I'm going to make something EXTREMELY accessible, but hopefully moreso than many. It's a good thing most of my music has a really strong rhythmic component to it, or else this would be a much more difficult task.
That's about it for now. More later!
I've been thinking about which pieces would work best on a CD, and I've also been thinking about keeping the length down to around 30 minutes or so. Why? Number one: my pieces are all basically song-length [anywhere from 2 min 15 sec to 4 min], and number two: just because you CAN put a lot of information of a CD doesn't mean you SHOULD.
So, I'd like to start this process, one that will probably take many months, because the biggest deal for me is finding the right person[s] to record this with, production-wise. Then, it's a question of finding a really great method of recording the stuff [mics, pianos, rooms, etc.], and, then, it's a matter of executing it. All of this will most likely take some time, but, who knows? Maybe I'll meet someone soon who will really connect with the music and we'll really take off with it.
I'd like to think of this more as an 'album' project and less of a 'demo' project. I don't even particularly like the idea of 'demos'. It seems to me that if I'm going to make any audio recordings, I should do everything in my power to make it as good as possible on every level, and approach it that way, rather than in a 'demo' kind of way.
posted by KENNY at 3:04 PM
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