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And Done!

I have final composition-lesson approval, and here is the barely-modified but now finished product:
Unknown Precipitation by Kyle Vanderburg

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…Almost…

So I went home after last week's lesson, made some changes, expanded the nonpitched percussion break, and basically decided I was more or less happy with the piece, which sounded like this:
Unknown Precipitation 2/21/10 by Kyle Vanderburg

But then, I somehow managed to get a lesson with David Maslanka, who gave me several great comments on writing for percussion, writing for marimba, and just writing in general. I went home, reworked a few parts, and came up with this:
Unknown Precipitation 2/23/10 by Kyle Vanderburg

And now, one more composition lesson to take it to, and hopefully there will only be minor editorial changes.

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Closer…

With the exception of the non-pitched percussion parts, the piece is pretty much done. I'll be spending a lot of time this weekend with the auxiliary percussion and with just general polishing and such, but it is quickly coming to a close.

Latest rendering:
Unknown Precipitation 2/18/10 by Kyle Vanderburg

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…sleeeeep

Now that I have actually slept (and don't feel like a zombie), I can post an actual, (hopefully) coherent update.

The piece is coming along nicely, with some minor changes in orchestration and harmony needed that should put me behind my original self-imposed deadline of tomorrow, but well within my deadline of March 1. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish these changes tonight and through what few breaks I'll have this weekend.

At this stage of composing I generally have some idea of a title, and this work is no exception. After living with this piece for the past few months, I believe I'm happy with it being called “Unknown Precipitation.”

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Orchestrated! (Kind of…)

In order to have a completely unbroken chunk of time, I decided to stay up all night composing. This accomplished two things:
1. A great deal of work
2. Showing me why I don't do this more often.

But after all that, I have a good portion of the piece orchestrated (although the orchestrated parts need polishing and the nonpitched percussion parts need to be…written), and here's this morning's rendering.
SN-Semper Reformanda 2/10/10 by Kyle Vanderburg

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Moving Fast

After presenting the version of SN-SR as seen in the last post (which has been updated to the new audio.kylevanderburg.net/bandcamp embedding system) to a composition lesson, where it was modified, shortened (by content), lengthened (by time), and Saturday I began the daunting task of orchestration. Here are the latest versions:
SN-Semper Reformanda 2/6/10 by Kyle Vanderburg
2/6/10 version

SN-Semper Reformanda 2/8/10 by Kyle Vanderburg

2/8/10 version

4 days until (my) deadline! Also, I'm trying out various titles. If you have any ideas, throw them my way!

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Kyle Vanderburg