Thursday, March 13, 2008

• Taking And Slowly Unwinds The Metronome.

  For the past three days my life has been a flurry of watching the clock and playing the time game, that is, seeing how much I can accomplish within as little time as possible.  My father calls it "stuffing seven pounds of shit into a five pound bag" but only because he disapproves of me spending long hours into the night tapping away on my keyboard, trying to make sense of harmonic structures and melodic themes. And while that last part may sound eloquent, it really becomes a nightmare in theory, because the text doesn't come with the implication I've only been sleeping three and a half hours a night.  This would usually make me a cranky, generally disagreeable person, but I just don't have the energy to argue.  In the end, I did accomplish something in an expedient manner, which makes up for the apparent hangover that follows.
  
  So what of it?  The score was split into twenty-two sections I needed to write, and as of now that number that number has been reduced to seventeen through a number of discussions with the animator.  As of last night, I had finished ten full sections and was planning to use today to finish another three, in order to keep up with my aggressive Monday deadline.
  
  Then my mother intervened Wednesday morning.  Her perspective was simple.  I was ruining my good health (as of right now my girlfriend is sick too!) and I had my priorities scrambled.  In my last post, I said I had TWO big deadlines.  My mother dropped another on me like squashing a slimy bug.  "You know you have that essay for college so you can double major in Composition and Education.  Did you finish it yet?"  But in my dense, I did have a premeditated reply, "No, but it's not due until April first and my English essay / Film Festival Score are due two weeks sooner."  And her retort, "But many of the professors highly recommended you get it in early" was one more punch to the gut I didn't need.  I left too tired to fight back.
  
  At school, I visited the band director, who was going to loan me his recording equipment and room in a week, to show him my new and four times as long sixteen page score.  I can't read his emotions, but I thought I saw him crack a smile, until the corners of his mouth turned down and he became very solemn.  "Zak," he began, "This is great.  But you're never going to get a clean recording like the MIDI file.  If I were you, I'd take it and use it."  Without fully realizing what he had said, I agreed with him.
  
  That's right.  The big letdown is there's no live band playing my score.  On the contrary, my intense timetable has dissolved and Shane has the first ten tracks signed, sealed & delivered.  So now the timetable is slightly different, to the point where my parents approve, albeit tentatively.  Thursday through Sunday:  Focus on English essay.  Monday through next Friday: finish score.
  
  So I came home and took the afternoon off, a godsend, save for a barbershop gig at a retirement community.  We got paid just enough to stop for ice cream at Bruster's on the way home, where I tried their "birthday cake" flavor.  Pro: tastes great.  Con: leaves the consumer with a massive sugar headache.
  
  So tonight I leave you with Shane's [untitled] movie's "Main Theme."
  
  Enjoy.
  
  

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