Category: Composing - Chin Ting Chan | composer

Application... My New Toy...

11/26/2010

I sent out my UMKC application today. The score of my Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (2009) was way too big - I had to purchase this huge box (they ran out of big envelops) in FedEx Kinko's and stuff everything in including a crap load of recycled paper... I felt like sending out a huge Christmas present in Thanksgiving.

Actually, I would feel very happy to receive such a huge package. For me, receiving packages is exciting and satisfying - I like online shopping.

and...

I bought a gift for myself again...! It's Samson's Zoom H4n! I've been wanting it since last year. Now, I can use it to record my own sounds, so then I don't need to rely on the sound library anymore. But, the primary reason for buying it is that I need a convenient tool to write my new EA piece for trombone and live electronic, which will be performed on Dec. 15th.

Composition

11/22/2010

I have my whole thesis piece palnned out in my head, and I am getting so anxious to getting it done. It is always this last part of composing that stresses me the most. All I have to do is simply develop previous materials in a convincing way, and there is just so much possibility and fun. I think I can actually finish this piece (which doesn't include program/performance notes, parts and other edittings) before the end of the semester! I have about 5:30" (some parts need to be reorchestrated...), and the goal is about 7:30".

I am already excited about writing my trombone/electronic piece for the upcoming performance on Dec. 15th (I have to write so fast...). What's my next project? Choir? Wind Ensemble? Pierrot Ensemble? Piano Solo?

Praecepta Concert this Wednesday night at 8:00p.m!

11/16/2010

I'm very excited about concert on Wednesday. I finally get to have my Saxophone Quartet (2009) performed!

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I'm gonna take the GRE this Friday. It's frightening because I still haven't started studying yet! I'll need a lot of luck... As for my thesis, I don't get how I have 40 pages but only five minutes of music... is it time for a big repeat sign?! ||: :||

Frustration

10/28/2010

I am so frustrated - I wish I am a millionaire, so I can hire all these musicians to play my music... Most of the time, I just want to have a piece played one---at least they get heard---then I can put them aside... I know I am not writing great music, or even good music, but it is my wish that my music is worth hearing at least once. I don't care how many audience I have---hopefully there is more than one---it is my hope that my music says something to my audience. It might be a small audience, but that's fine.

I love to work with performers---it is usually a fantastic opportunity, and it's really fun. It is one of the reasons that keeps me writing more music, but I don't get the chance very often. Sometimes, I think I might better off be a performer to fulfill this wish.

How do I write great music?... no... no... how do I write music that people would like to play?

I am extremely frustrated... I will keep on composing, even if my music doesn't get played, but I have to admit that it is very difficult... very very difficult...

Writing more music

10/19/2010

I really like putting superficial elements into my compositions. I recently did a Schenker analysis on the first quarter section of my thesis piece, and found that I might as well write the whole piece in sonata form!--yes, I am working on the development of it--but who will hear it? I won't. The Schenker analysis did help me a lot with composing, with figuring out or planning out the structural pitches and registers/contours of sounds and tessitura. This piece is a lot about tension and release.

Egg and Chicken?

10/18/2010

Assuming that I don't write the exact same notes as Mozart did for his Symphony No. 40 or whatever, even if I happen to write many same notes, the fact that I am writing it in this period of the history and at this different location of the world and for a different group of performers and audience, I am writing new music. A lot of things have been done in music, that's true, but the way how I, or any other composer write a piece, even though it might have the exact same notes or even formatting/layout of the score, creates new music because it requires new sort of communications among musicians and audiences.

We don't write in the style of Beethoven anymore because we have heard so many new sounds and that create so much more possibility in musical expression. I am sure that has Debussy heard the music of today, he'll write... like Takemitsu?! Wait... does egg or chicken come first...?

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I am so exciting about the upcoming 31st Annual New Music Festival hosted by MACCM! We have Robert Morris as the guest composer this year.

Masterclass and Thoughts

9/10/2010

The masterclass today with Jennifer Higdon was very rewarding. She had lots of nice things to say ---- "this song really breeds." She made no suggestion for changes, but she did prefer the altered version with alto saxophone than the original version with clarinet. The Dal Niente ensemble's saxophonist's (Ryan Muncy) interpretation was compelling, and the sound of the instrument really fit the character of the music, but I am also very eager to hear "How Can I Keep from Singing?" with clarinet. I also played "Immortality", and she seemed to like it as well.

The talk that precedes the masterclass and the convocation that follows were both good. She had much encouraging words for the students. It was shocking that she didn't know music at all when she started college in Bowling Green, just like how I started college teaching myself piano... One thing that strikes me the most from the conversation with her, is that, when I asked her how much theory she thinks about when she composes, and she said, NONE ---- it's all intuitive... Well, I've tried both ways, and I've certainly been educated that I should find a balance between my gut and logic. Now, should it all come down to personal preferences? Well, the ultimate judge of my music is the audience ---- COMMUNICATION is the key.

Also, we've talked about the business aspect of being a composer ---- the house keeping crap. Other than that, I remember asking her, "how do you usually start a piece?" "Daydream, a lot," she said. I can't agree more. As a composer, we think about sound ALL the time. Just like all the other arts ---- a visual artist probably sees lines and shapes at all time; a script writer imagines his/her own life as a script...

There is too much to learn in music ---- it is an eternal learning process, and it is awesome!

Photography and Composition

8/5/2010

So, I am back from Hong Kong after over two months of vacation! I enjoyed this summer a lot. Hong Kong is my home! I will miss it a lot...

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You might wonder why there are all these pictures at this composer's web site... First, I love photography. Second, I think photography has a lot in common with composition. In photography, just like in composition, I have to think about color, contrast, form, pattern, structure, f/m/background, subject (melody/motif?), theme, and last but not least, what do I want to say?

So, I am actually composing when I take pictures...

Travel

5/19/2010

After a rehearsal tomorrow, I will head up to Guangzhou (廣州) and then Zhangjiajie (張家界) in the Hunan (湖南) Province. Supposingly, the movie "Avatar" took the scene from Zhangjiajie. I am bringing my camera!

It will be a six-day trip, coming back next week on the 26th.

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Check out a photographer's view on composition! He quoted Edward Weston, "Composition is the strongest way of seeing." This is interesting.

"Five Songs of the Von Seggerns"

5/18/2010

I finally finished my "Five Songs of the Von Seggerns"!!! It has taken me exactly four months to write this huge piece with approximately 20 minutes of music; plus, it is almost through-composed because of the nature of the poems. Thanks to Amanda DeBoer who gave me this opportunity!

Now I can finally go into "revising" mode, which is much more relaxing...

I think that... I start to sound like Ken Rockwell when I make all these links, hahaha... If you are a photographer and you don't know who he is, you should check him out. He writes about anything he has in mind, and certainly doesn't care what other people think...