I needed to finish composing one of them, an older piece I originally sketched out for the Kitchen Theatre’s production of The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, but never ended up using — it turned out to be the wrong feel for the scene — Balcony Dance. But I recently re-discovered the pencilled notation for the main section and have enjoyed playing it and messing around with it, and then on Saturday suddenly all the stars lined up and I could compose a bridge for it.

My experience of composing is often a sort of mixture of divine inspiration or channeling, where I’m taking down what I hear in my head for the melody, and then doing what feels like the “work” of notating it, fixing any less-than-ideal melodic lines, figuring out what chords I’m hearing, playing it for rhythmic feel, learning what the piece is really expressing. All of these activities are lots of FUN and create big joy in my life! But I don’t always know in advance which type of activity I’m suited for on a particular day/hour. So there is some experimentation, and the openness to be able to let go of my goal and switch tacks, and also to always try to compose in order to see if anything comes out.

So I recorded Balcony Dance, and then also recorded a solo Matilda, which was used for The Clean House in a tango-ish version with lots of players including percussion and accordion. 

I did recently have the experience of composing a whole Name Music piece in just under one hour — finished except for the chords. Now THAT is a bit unusual for these current days, but I had a blast. The piece is Sigrid, in memory of my elderly cousin who passed away a year ago.

I have a whole binder filled with Name Music pieces I’ve written since the Pandemic, and a few others besides... what fun! Now would like to play them with others!