Bulgaria and the 110 piece orchestra

The BIG assignment for our last semester was composing a 3 minute cue for a 110 piece orchestra. We had Conrad Pope come two weeks before leaving for Sofia, Bulgaria (where we would record) to teach us about orchestrating. Conrad was AMAZING. SO much knowledge. SO musical. SO capable of teaching, inspiring, and giving advice. Conrad is an orchestrator and composer who has worked on many films --- just look at his list on IMBD http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691100/. We were all absolutely blessed he came out to teach us and work one on one with us for our final big project. I felt a lot more prepared and ready for this huge undertaking after working with him.

There were many challenges for this piece. I really wanted to utilize all the instruments we had available. So coming up with a piece that creatively used everything, blended the textures/timbres well, showed my writing/capabilities/personality, had contrasting sections, be interesting for any prospective director.... and lastly the work load. We each, individually, had to compose, orchestrate, create parts, tape and put in folders the parts and prepare conductors scores ALL WITHIN 2 weeks. This type of work is normally done by a TEAM of people... we were each a team of one. I could go into many more details of things that worked and didn't work with this whole project.... BUT in the end, I can now say I am a composer, orchestrator, and copyist; and have worked on a project for 110 member orchestra.

Our list of instrumentation was:
1 piccolo
3 flutes (1 doubled on alto)
2 oboe
1 cor anglais
1 Eb clarinet
2 Bb clarinets
2 bass clarinets
3 bassoons
1 contrabassoon
8 horns
6 trumpets
4 trombones
2 bass trombones
1 euphonium
1 tuba
1 piano
1 celesta
2 harps
6 percussionist
2 timpani
18 violin I
12 violin II
12 viola
10 cello
8 bass

Setting up the taping station... this is just two people (me and classmate Ronan) -- shown is only one conductor's score being taped ... the folders on the table in the back are for all the parts... not filled yet. 

Yeah, so, that big stack of paper in the front was HALF the paper of all my parts that I had to tape. By myself. --- took me from printing at noon till 9:30pm to get it all taped. 

We were worried we wouldn't have enough tape... 

GOOD MORNING BULGARIA! 

We flew into Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday, May 21st. Had all day... to pretty much nap.... check parts again... and go to record from 8pm-11pm (because that's when the studio was available.)

Our translator was Christo. He has played flute for 20+ years, teaches at a music conservatory and was the fixer for this whole project. He was fabulous. He handled and organized everything beautifully and was an absolute pleasure to work with. 

Conrad Pope watching things get set up. 

Getting ready to begin

Christo addressing the orchestra and explaining the process. 

Through the window of the sound booth

AND ----- My turn! I was 3rd in line. I was SOOOOO nervous. BUT I knew I had checked my parts and their transpositions 4 (if not more) times.... It's just such a HUGE thing... SO many details!

Me and Conrad listening to the first run through

Checking the score

The president of the college, Tony Perry, came out to support us. It was very kind of him to come and just be there for us and be there to help if/when needed. Always great to have another highly trained ear in the sound booth. :)

Thumbs up! Well done :) 

It went SOOOO well. I think the orchestra enjoyed playing the piece, which is always my goal as a composer. I want people to enjoy playing and hearing my work -- because, music is a shared experience between all involved... composer, musician and audience. 

I, of course, had a solo clarinet section. Hats off to my grandma Nancy, my dad and my sister Meghan. :) I almost cried when I heard the player. He played it so expressively. It was gorgeous. --- I went and shook his hand and thanked him personally afterwards. ---- Then, the build to the end was, in a word, GLORIOUS. I wrote for tubular bells and a huge tutti. Can't get bigger then that :) Can't wait to hear the recording. 

The after party :)

I look forward to hearing the recording. There were a few things that might not have worked as well in the score or in the execution. But I can't judge until I hear the playback. I know the trumpets struggled getting the chords in tune. I also thought the tempos were not ever quite right. BUT these are small things, I think. Overall, I was absolutely happy with the outcome. The time FLEW in the sound booth. We each had 30 min. (40?) to record our 3 minute pieces. I didn't realize it when my turn was up. 

Overall -- amazing experience! We will review with Conrad on Monday and that's it for semester 2! On to Semester 3 - final project and thesis. 

Derek Gleeson (director of the program and conductor), Conrad Pope, David Geraghty, Tony Perry, Debbie Smith (our fabulous sound engineer), Bojan Hoover, Hannah Greene, Ronan Scolard, and Stefan French.