What an amazing experience! Sure, I didn't win, but I honestly don't care - I met amazing people, got a
lot of attention, and most importantly, actually heard my piece being played. The violinist was rehearsing with a theme from my piece, and hearing it, I nearly cried. It was then I realized the impact of written word - people actually read this blog, and people actually play this music, note for note. The idea of that is just profound.
Let's start from the beginning. Omaha is a city full of amazingly nice people. While it's big (in a sense) it has a very tight-knit community, in general, and of musicians (there's a Conservatory),
and of Jews, all 6,000 of them. My host, Susan Rothholz, was very gracious and accomodating, also very nice and fun to talk to. She took me out to lunch in the Old Market, which is an old-time-looking area with shops, resturaunts,
very good food. We did some errands and came back to her fabulously enormous apartment, meticulously decorated, it was really lovely.
That night, she hosted a party for the composers, musicians, and Foundation people. The food was excellent (and kosher!) and I got to meet everyone. The two composers in my age group were both from Israel (originally), both professionals (one, a violist, the other a cantor), both widely performed. The two girls in the Young Composer category were actually twins, performing and composing from birth, practically, very smart and articulate and again, professional (at age 16, no less). They were all so friendly and we all got along very well, but I was ridiculously intimidated, I can't deny that! :) Talking to everyone helped, especially Carmel (the violist/composer) who seemed like a really down to earth, fun person :)
Talking to the musicians helped even more, I think. People were very curious about how a web designer non-performing musician could do so much. I also talked about my basic philosophy about composing, which is that the music
- needs to be accessable to the performers, it can't be so hard that it's unplayable. That's what electronic composition is for
- needs to be able to be interpreted by said performers, that is, I don't make very detailed articulations because I don't play any instruments, wouldn't the players know better than someone clicking away in Finale?
Apparently those are some novel ideas. One of them said I was a "breath of fresh air." Honestly, I just think you need to play to your stregnths. For me, that's lyric melodies, harmonies that draw from the sho and Eric Whitacre, and a sense of theatricality from the millions of movie and video game soundtracks I listen to. I kind of just run with it.
Anyway. The musicians were awesomely encouraging, as was everyone else.
The next day, Susan and I saw "Across the Universe" at this amazingly retro $2 theater (great music, terrible, terrible plot), reprinted the program (my name was spelled wrong), etc, and then finally, I got to my rehearsal. It was amazing. I really did want to cry, just hearing the piece out loud. Everyone seemed very happy that I was so happy; honestly, it must be like when a kid sees the moon for the first time, full of awe and "WOW" and all that. I was in shock for a bit. I didn't make many corrections, they really seemed to nail the feeling of the piece.
The concert went very well. My piece was first, so I stammered out something about it, and was very relieved to sit down! People seemed to like it. The other pieces were of course marvelous. The two girls each wrote atonal pieces, each in that "jumpy" style set in 3. The violist, Carmel, wrote this amazingly idiomatic, beautiful piece for violin, that made extensive use of maqams/quarter-tones. Jonathan, the cantor, wrote a very dramatic piece meant to exemplify the "Gilded Age" of the Jews in Spain, and really moved me.
While the judging was going on, I had many people come up to me, thanking and applauding and asking questions and such. Some people really seemed to love the work. I met a very well known conductor from the city who told me as much, which was VERY, very heartening. Of course, I didn't have any friends there, and looking around, I kinda wished Bren had come with me. :)
The final results - Carmel won (handily - she really deserved it), Jonathan won the audience choice award (his piece was at the end, and really told a story), and mine...well, I was a runner-up anyway :) Afterwards, a whole lot of people told me how well I did, how it was just a start, all this stuff. I felt very encouraged. Maybe I'll win next time.
Friday was coming back day. My flight was cancelled. The next one was delayed 1h30m. After a 100 dollar cab ride, I was home. YAY!~
I learned alot from this experience.
- Have business cards. Oh god. I already reserved my name as a domain name, and will be quickly (hopefully) revamping my site in my image, so it'll be JamieKlenetsky.com, have a bio and all that. The blog will still be there, so no worries!
- I'm doing really really well. Cause seriously, I went to Rutgers, had one composition teacher - ever - don't play an instrument, and am not a musician for a living. I just write on The Rig, not even on paper, and hope for the best. So yaaaaay
- I need to take this more seriously. Apparently, I'm pretty good at this.
Labels: Omaha
