Duet for Violin and Percussion - Part 1

The Diabelli Project had its desired effect.

I started the flash composition exercise as a way to loosen up the rust and get back to composing after too long an absence. If you've been following the series, you'll know that there were a number of the sketches that I wanted to revisit.

And now I've done so. Back in October 2016, I did a brief series of violin and percussion duets. Each sketch started a different movement of a presumably larger work. Those sketches continued to percolate long after I was finished with them. So last week I started work on the duet.

Here's the first page of the finished movement in manuscript, and below it is the initial Diabelli Project version. 

In addition to expanding the opening, I also reconsidered what the main motifs were. 

And something else. The sketch went 9 measures and stopped with only a hint of what was to come. I now had to actually figure that out. Which meant deciding what the form would be, how the roles of the players would change (or if they needed to), the actual tempo of the movement, how long it needed to be, and a few other details.

As with the initial sketch, for the most part, it all seemed to just... flow. The Diabelli Project had indeed loosened my creative muscles.

When I have a fair copy ready, I'll post it. I'll also provide occasional updates about the progress of the work. I'm pretty sure I'll have at least one more movement finished by next Monday.

Once the work is finished, then the real challenge begins -- finding performers who are willing take a look at the score (let alone actually playing it). But that's a project for another day.