When in doubt, look at the form.

[artsyhonker]

Toward the middle of last week, I finally finished a draft of a sekr1t commission, due date this Sunday. But the middle section wasn't quite right; no matter what I did with the accompaniment it ended up aimless and confusing in a way that isn't much fun for singers or listeners (given the context of the commission).

I have been attacking it every which way and getting more and more frustrated with myself. But last night as I was in the garden, hunting for snails, I realised that all I had to do was change the key of about sixteen bars and it would fall into place. The problem wasn't that what I had written was bad, though in some ways that section remains unremarkable and I might yet mess with it to make it more lyrically interesting; the problem was that within the overall form, it needed to not be in the same key as the next bit.

I think I've just about got it sorted now, which is a relief, and I'm sure will also be a relief for the singers -- except, of course, they won't have seen the bum version, and so any weaknesses in this new improved version will stand out more.

Comments

[artsyhonker]

Yup, once I'd sorted that out the rest of it basically fell together very quickly.