Radar Quebecoise

The new works concert was originally planned for tonight, but due to some snafu, it ended up being advertised by the Banff Centre for last night. An unexpected result of this was a decided drop in the collective energy level today. People played well and kept their focus for the second round of rehearsals for the original music, but outside the rehearsal hall, many asses were dragging, mine included.

I took my piece to "Defcon 2" and went over it cell by cell, and it sounded much better for having done so. Even though this is a graphic score and so-called free improv, I reminded everyone that just like straight-ahead jazz, this music only really works when it is played from an emotional centre. That is the message that I will repeat when we get into recording the piece tomorrow evening.

I am quite happy with how this piece has gone, but I know it's time to move my writing beyond this particular style of graphic notation. This is the fourth grid-based piece I've written, definitely the most ambitious, and I feel like I've finally added some original modifications to the format. Some time ago, John Korsrud had suggested that I consider laying out the individual parts of my compositions and physically move the pieces of paper around, considering the flow and content of each segment, and that way find the final form. This is exactly what I did this time round, sticking each of the individual cells of the piece up on the bulletin board of my studio, going over them again and again, until I got a satisfying flow of events. I just can't let Reno know that he had such a good suggestion.

One of the other fine composers here, Carl Anderson, got lightheaded at the start of my piece and was feeling unwell for the rest of the day. In fact, he eventually went into town to the medical clinic for a checkup. They couldn't pinpoint anything in particular, but he has been pushing himself hard since arriving here, so a good night's rest may be the ticket. I certainly hope it's not more serious than that. I joked with him that it was the goal of my piece to take out one trumpeter at a time. It starts with a faux-Tastee Bros. screech trumpet bit. You can go to www.tasteebros.com for some clips of the most obnoxious screech trumpets ever recorded. Most brass players secretly dig that sort of stuff, though many will deny it in public.

Marianne and I went into town for sushi for dinner, and we ran into Mike Herriott, Kent Sangster, John Korsrud and Melissa Hubert just leaving the sushi bar. Sometimes you just have to get away from that big buffet table. Message to Malcolm: keep away from the buffet!!!

In the evening was a session on the business of music, a seminar that I have already heard Hugh give quite a number of times, but there is always something new to be gleaned, especially in the digital age.

I think I have forgotten to write about the bear attack that happened here last weekend. I mentioned a few days ago that Marianne and I had taken a stroll in the woods. I had wanted to take her along a trail I had done a couple of years ago, around the backside of Tunnel Mountain beside the Bow River. She said she didn't have a good feeling about going that way and sure enough that was the exact trail where a malnourished black bear took out a cyclist within the next 24 hours. He ended up in a Calgary hospital with some head lacerations. The bear paid for it with its life. Had it been a grizzly bear, the biker would have been dead, too. So I'm going to pay attention to Marianne's intuition from now on.

I complained to some of my associates today that I'm not getting any dirt from them to spice up this blog. Everyone has been relatively civil and well-behaved, and we are all getting along quite well. There have been no inter-sectional dustups, booze-fuelled barf-o-ramas, furtive couplings or any other sordid gossip to report. It makes for good music, but relatively dry reading.