It’s been a busy stretch—so much so that I haven’t had time to sit down and actually document everything I’ve been working on. Since my last post, I’ve made substantial progress across several projects, and the momentum is finally building toward something bigger.
Circle-Music Updates
I previously shared that I was working on two new solo circle-music pieces, one for bassoon and one for alto saxophone. I now have good drafts of both. While I haven’t declared them fully finished yet, they’re in solid shape. I’m holding off on final decisions until I’ve had a chance to perform and record them. Sometimes a piece reveals its needs only after it’s been played out loud.
I also began work on the next solo piece, intended for either bass clarinet or clarinet, but I’ve put it aside for now. My primary concern is that my big project for the year—completing the fourth movement of my Fourth Symphony—is starting to fall behind schedule. If I want to premiere it this fall, I need to stay focused.
Setbacks and Score Migration
On top of that, life added a few speed bumps. My daughter was home sick for a week, which made it impossible to play music in the house. So I shifted gears and took the opportunity to move more of my back catalog from Finale to Dorico.
As part of that process—and to prepare for importing the symphony—I first moved over two complex works: an early orchestral piece with vocalists, and a seven-movement chamber trio for violin, bassoon, and piano. These gave me a chance to learn more about how Dorico handles flows, which was important groundwork for tackling the symphony.
I’ve already released a video about the orchestral work and plan to do one for the trio soon. Then, armed with those lessons, I began migrating my Fourth Symphony “Deconstructing Beethoven”. While it went smoother than expected, thanks to what I’d learned, I still ran into some odd issues. The most frustrating one so far has been a condensing bug when switching clarinet parts from B-flat to A. I’ll probably make a video on that too—it’s niche, but someone out there will need it.
As of now, I’ve got about 33% of my catalog moved over to Dorico. That’s encouraging progress, though I’ve yet to face some of the trickier scores—pieces with unusual notation that Dorico doesn’t handle very well.
Looking Ahead: Symphony No. 4 Resumes
The real highlight of the month is this: I’ve finally returned to writing the fourth movement of my Fourth Symphony. I had put it off for years after pandemic cancellations derailed the performance plans for the last movement. But now it looks like I’ll have an opportunity to premiere it this fall—assuming I finish in time.
Even better, the Beethoven Society still seems interested in hosting a talk about the symphony once it’s done, which gives me one more reason to get it across the finish line.
This week, I dusted off my old notes, set up the framework in Dorico, and drafted the first 20 measures. I’ll probably revisit the melody before going too much further, but it’s good to be back in the mindset. After spring break, I plan to dive in fully and, ideally, finish the movement before summer ends.
This will be my main focus for the next few months, though I hope to continue writing smaller solo works on the side when I need a break.
More soon.
