Week 38 / Last from-home week (2 more to go)

Well, it's getting close.  I quickly knocked out my Advanced Mixing final and turned it in last Sunday (wasn't due until this Thursday) so I have no "homework" left.  Starting Monday I need to be in school for the last 2 weeks.

I have a conducting final and an exit exam in school next week and a recording session for my 4th and final film on Tuesday. My focus now is totally on my thesis, a 3-minute original piece composed and orchestrated for a 52-piece Symphonic Orchestra. The recording session for this project (which has lovingly been named 'Fiasco' by previous students) takes place at Bastyr College Chapel, on the other side of Lake Washington from Seattle. It's going to be a crazy full day. Each of the 9 students will get 30 minutes on the podium to sight read, rehearse and get as many takes as they can. Nine students = 4.5 hours, plus breaks for the musicians will turn it into a 6-hour ordeal, by far the longest yet. 

I'm definitely in a better place emotionally than I was when I wrote the last post (2 weeks ago). With all my other classwork completed I can focus solely on writing, and since this piece is not for a director, the only person I have to impress / please is myself! I have a new composition advisor for this cue, and I am attending the Director's offie hours every Tuesday and Thursday for additional feedback. 

I'm very pleased with what I am writing and am quite stoked to have 52 professional musicians play / record it. Knowing what I know now about the industry, the who's who and whatnot, I face the very real possibility this will be the only chance I ever have to play and record a piece of my music with such an amazing group of musicians. The industry is changing, most small productions want purely electronic scores (which I am happy to provide!), the days of the massive John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith scores / sessions are beginning to drift away. They will still happen, but they will be few, far between, and available to a very select few. The process of becoming one of those few involves living in LA which is something I am simply not willing to do. 

There are video games here in Seattle, independent film makers, documentary film makers, TV and the like all over the world now. I still have the symphonic world, marching band shows, and the licensing world can be lucrative if you hit it just right.