Dolce Music

CD Released

ftrobaugh — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:32:41 +0000

The CD of the music of the ballet is to be released soon. It is supposed to be delivered by Thursday, but you can hear some selections now.

(Boy! Are you ever lucky! )

Almost Done

ftrobaugh — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:04:15 +0000

It has been a busy several weeks. Dealing with recording, scheduling, click-tracks, getting music and voices recorded, fixing pitch and other glitches, over-dubbing, synching, mixing, etc. You know the drill.

But we are mostly done with the music as we enter the final week of rehearsals. Mostly done?! Shouldn’t you be entirely done? you ask. Yes, but we have three versions of one dance, and the dancers need to decide which one they want. I hope they do that soon.

I must say, it has been really fun working on this project. It has given me a much better understanding of Emily Dickinson the person. While she was a very private person, she had a delightful sense of humor, and the people who knew her intimately must have been very lucky indeed.

Now, as long as Swine Flu fears doesn’t close down the theater, we will have a great show.

Emily of Amherst: Rounding the Bend

ftrobaugh — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:34:15 +0000

We are rounding the bend on the ballet. There are a few more scenes to go, and I am writing about three minutes of music a day. While it is a bit tiring, I am having fun. It is also revitalizing to see that the “Done” pile is now bigger than the “To-Do” pile.

I need to have the music locked by the end of March. Holy Smokes! I just realized how soon that is! Well, back to work.

So when will I have time to do my taxes?

Ballet: Emily of Amhest

ftrobaugh — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:54:44 +0000

Since December I have been working on the music for a ballet called “Emily of Amherst.” The ballet is being presented by the Emily Dickinson Museum as a part of Amherst, Massachusetts 250th Birthday. The choreographer is Catherine Fair, the creative director of Amherst Ballet. 80% of the music is written, but half of that still needs to be scored.

It has been a fast-paced, but fun, collaborative process. Catherine and Jane Wald, Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, wrote the libretto, and Catherine and I work on the music. Catherine tells me what the general character of a given scene should be, and I write the music that I think helps create that character. Catherine then tells me “yes” or “no,” and I work on fine-tuning the parts that work and redoing the parts that don’t.

Working as part of a team is much more satisfying for me than working as a solitary creator — the give and take, the discussion of ideas, the bringing together of different visions of a project is invigorating.