Climbing the steps to Parnassus

08/02/09 01:12 Filed under: Work

I thought it would be a swell idea to revisit this classic text to, y’know, ‘brush up’ on voice leading before I get stuck into my string quartet. I remember having it as a text at University, not having the patience to work through its’ exercises.

3 days and five pages of dire note-against-note counterpoint for a cantus firmas in every mode later ... I feel like dying. I continually remind myself: Beethoven found this useful and referred to it constantly. Was this the reason he was such a cranky man?

I guess I will continue with it for a while, since the better I remember all the rules, the better I will be able to break them. I don’t want to begin writing The Quartet until I have a clear idea about theme and structure. At the moment my head is swimming with a million ideas with nothing really pinned down. On Thursday night I got into a cab and found myself overwhelmingly inspired by the Punjabi folk music playing on the car radio. Doesn’t help that the commission is supposed to be in neo-classic style.

*sigh* Hopefully the concept and design with hit me in the face sometime soon or else a Neoclassic/Punjabi mashup may happen, and surely only bring discomfort and misery to the world!

LEAH KARDOS

Climbing the steps to Parnassus