First Performance

So I go to music school at a university (composition major) and last night an arrangement I wrote was performed for the first time. I've been at school here for a few years and this is the first time anything I've written at school has been performed. I've done the college rock band thing and written and performed more than a dozen tunes that were performed regularly, but I didn't even read music back then.

Now I have this arrangement I wrote and it stressed me out quite a bit. I was really nervous about whether or not it was actually readable and playable. The arrangement is for 2 violins, cello and contrabass taken from a piano and 4-part vocal score (SATB). The arrangement accompanies the original score.

So the first time I or anyone else heard it was at dress rehearsal for last night's show (I'm in one of the two choirs that performed the piece), and that was really cool, until the end of the piece. The choir director let me write an ending for the strings in which they restate the main theme, and I offset the rhythm a bit for variety. I really wanted to hear that ending but when the strings came to it they couldn't play it, probably because they were sight-reading it and that rhythmic change is subtle but confusing. Also we performed Mozart's coronation mass so I think the strings were a bit preoccupied.

Anyway, the end was dropped and replaced with two measures of a C drone (the piece begins on a Bb drone) that fades out. Also 2 more violins were added to each part at dress. So I had to redo the ending and get those parts out to the director. Well i guess the players didn't get their parts until they were on stage and then scrambled to observe the changes.

So the performance went, alright. The bass missed the Bb drone (hit a B natural) on the first measure and played pianissimo the rest of the night. The bass part really makes the drone effect stand out, so I was bummed.

Anyway I learned a few things about dealing with performances and musicians and anxiety, and I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with first performances going like this. I gotta get to class but I can put the score up if anyone wants to see it.

How did you get the musicians? I'm working on a comp degree myself, and my senior recital's coming up.

I was asked to do the arrangement so the choir director dealt with all of that.

But as for finding musicians, I would recommend just asking other music students. If you have pieces requiring instruments that no one you know of plays, then you might want to arrange it for what you have to work with. A lot of students I know are totally down to perform music written by their peers. If that doesn't work just hire people, which sucks but what can you do? Just remember that even if you think it's not a very complicated piece doesn't mean that someone else can pick it up right quick. Maybe you've had that tune running around your head for weeks but remember no one else knows how it sounds yet. So try and give the musicians ample time to learn the piece; you don't want them to just be able to get through it, you want them to perform your music. Anyway that's my two cents.

Yeah I'm planning on giving it to them at the beginning of the semester and trying to get them a credit for doing it... hmmm....

I've only had one of my short pieces performed in a "concert" kind of setting and the playing was fine. It was for string quartet, quite a decent one, really. Originally I'd written it for 2 violins, 'cello and double bass, but for this performance, it was actually performed by a regular string quartet with a bass doubling the 'cello and a viola playing what was previously the 'cello part.

Anyway, it was played quite well but, because of the type of concert it was (it was a young people's arts night, so there was everything from dance, drama pieces, the string quartet and some bands), there were lots of people talking instead of listening and such. Also, the quartet was amplified, and I felt that the sound wasn't done particularly well. But, overall, I can't complain.

I think the lesson you've learned here is "never trust a singer." But, it's always a good learning experience to have a piece played, rather than just having what's in your head or whatever your computer plays back to you if you do that. There are lots of subtle things that are much more easy to identify when you have actual musicians playing your works.

Anyway, I hope, overall, it was a good experience for you, even if it was a little disappointing.

I know what you mean about disappointment in seeing the performance. This semester, I had a marimba quartet performed that didn't go so well - not enough to embarrass me or anything (except to myself) but not enough to do my piece "justice." I did rationalize that few ensembles, let alone one I assembled from peers and directed, could realize any music exactly as I--or any composer--wrote it and heard it in their heads...but it was a learning experience for sure! Still got a rush from hearing it performed!

Yeah I know what you mean about the rush. The choir director told me he was going to ask me to step down and bow after the piece was performed and I was really nervous about that. Before we performed the piece he told the audience that I arranged it and pointed me out. So the performance was very interesting. Here I am singing in like a 60+ person choir and the whole time I was watching the string players, stressing out because the first 3-4 measures kind of fell apart. But I shouldn't give the impression that I'm disappointed. The other 60 measures were played very well and I'm stoked on the performance.