We’ve Moved!

It’s official – the new SteveDanyew.com is here!! My blog is now on the front page of my new and improved website, so blog posts will no longer be showing up here. Please visit SteveDanyew.com to read the blog, sign up for RSS, and keep up to date on everything I am doing. Thanks for your support! -Steve

Upcoming/Recent Performances

It has been a busy autumn season with a lot of exciting events and projects!  Here is a list of recent and upcoming performances:

September 26, 2011 – Premiere of Distant Moons
Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Scatterday, Director.  Rochester, NY.

September 30, 2011 – Premiere of Star Spangled Banner arrangement
Idaho State Civic Symphony, Chung Park, Directory.  Pocatello, ID.

October 23, 2011 – Premiere of Once More, My Soul
FCC Sanctuary Choir. Westminster, MA

October 25 – Her’s Was a Beautiful Soul

Thad Anderson, marimba. UCF Rehearsal Hall Auditorium, Orlando, FL

October 29, 2011 – An hour of Hallowed Peace
Freudig Singers. Buffalo, NY.

October 30, 2011 – Her’s Was a Beautiful Soul
Thad Anderson, marimba. Casa Feliz Museum, Winter Park, FL

November 3, 2011 – Flash Black
Keene State College Concert Band, Jim Cheesebrough, Director.  Keene, NH.

November 20, 2011  – Lauda, Mov. I.

Bethel College Wind Ensemble, Timothy Shade, Director.  Newton, KS.

December 3, 2011 – Premiere of A Song of Singing

Delray Beach Chorale, Eric Keiper, Director.  Delray Beach, FL.

A Video Preview of A New Winds/Film Project!

A Video Tour Through My Newest Piece!

Updates!

Well, it has obviously been a while since my last post – sorry! Things have been quite busy…and the real reason I haven’t blogged much lately is because I have been building a new website that will house a new blog! Everything will be integrated within my main website, which will be great.  I promise (once the new site is launched) to blog much more frequently, hopefully every couple of days.

The new site is nearly complete, just needs some testing and tweaking.  I just had new photos taken yesterday which came out wonderful – can’t wait to share them! I’ve been traveling for over a week, enjoying the summer and seeing family.  I’ve also been working on some very exciting projects.  Just a few days ago I received word that my wind ensemble piece “Flash Black” was chosen as the winner of the Keene State College Wind Ensemble Call for Scores!  It was a national competition for wind ensemble works and Flash Black will be performed at Keene State (Keene, NH) on November 3rd. I will be there and will likely give a short pre-concert talk.

I also recently finalized a couple of very exciting commissions – one is a couple years out so I will save the announcement for a bit.  The other is very soon – a new piece for a concert in December 2011! This is the 30th Anniversary of the Delray Beach Chorale, in Delray Beach, FL, and they have asked me to write a new work for this special occasion.  The piece (underway with some decent initial ideas!) is for SATB choir, brass, timpani, and piano.  The Chorale found this wonderful text by American poet James Whitcomb Riley which I am using for the work.

So, it has been busy, but exciting! I return home tomorrow and will be hard at work on all these projects.  I will also try to savor a few more moments of summer, as it will be gone before we know it!

The Studio

Here are a few pictures of my studio – more to come in future posts.

Looking down into my tiny studio corner!

How my desk usually looks!

The beautiful art on the right is Ashley's creation!

Making Stuff Up!

I love improvising.  As a kid I always loved humming a made-up tune or sitting down at the piano and creating something on the spot.  It is how I became interested in composing.  I still love improvising, and it is still a big part of my compositional process.  Sometimes I simply stumble upon an idea while improvising, and end up writing a whole piece around that little idea. Other times, I improvise countless solutions to a troublesome spot in a piece and see which version sticks.

Saturday morning, before a recital, I sat down and played a few variations of a piano part I am currently writing for an SATB & piano piece, Once More, My Soul.  Here is a picture —>

(Yes that is tie around my neck…won’t see that very often!)

Anyone Up for a Quick Consortium?

I’ve spent some time dreaming up what I think is a pretty cool idea for a piece: Roaring train sounds, trombone plunger train whistles, loud drums and horns, 7/8, and the blues scale = WIN!  I have sketched out the first two minutes, made a midi (I hate midi, but alas) recording and posted them on my website.  The piece, Magnolia Star (you can read the story here) will be a grade 4/5 piece for wind ensemble and it will be about 5 minutes in length. 

My plan is to have the piece completed in August and deliver the music to the consortium members in September.  Often, consortiums are planned 1-3+ years out.  But I thought, as fast as everything is moving in today’s world, why not try a much shortened version? Worth a shot. I suppose this is sort of an exercise in putting together a very quick consortium – a bit of an experiment if you will.  Will people be willing to jump on board with this little notice? Will their seasons already be totally planned? We shall find out. 

You can read all about my ideas for the piece, see the first few pages of condensed score, and hear the midi (did I mention that I hate midi?) recording here.  If you are interested in being in the consortium and premiering the piece this fall (2011) or spring (2012), contact me asap! Time is of the essence!

Another Piece Finished (I guess?)

Page 1, Distant Moons for Wind Ensemble

Finishing a piece carries a strange mix of emotions – happiness that the work is complete, a little sadness that the journey is over, and a lot of uncertainty about the finality of many decisions that have been made.  Even after rounds of edits and careful perusal of the final score, a feeling still lingers in my head: Have I made all the “right” choices?  Could the piece still be improved?

I suppose it is an uncertainly I am learning to cope with, but it makes me wonder if someday I will reach the end of a piece and be completely satisfied?  That may seem like a pretty anticlimactic way to introduce this new piece, but I am in fact quite happy with the overall work.  I have written a few blogs about Distant Moons already, so if you are interested in the back story of the piece, read more here.

The piece was written for Mark Scatterday and the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and they will be premiering it sometime next season, exact date TBD.  The first page (rather uneventful!) is above to the right.

Next up: Piece No. 2 of the set of Sacred Songs for choir, and Magnolia Star for wind ensemble.

Building a Chamber Group from the Ground Up

Last night, as part of the Polyphonic On Campus Webinar Series, Doug O’Connor presented a fantastic webinar on building a chamber group, specifically the Red Line Sax Quartet.  He talked about how Red Line came into being, how they managed to win virtually all the major chamber music prizes, and how they ultimately split up.  The webinar presents some fascinating lessons learned and ideas to think about.  You can watch the recorded version here! Enjoy.