Saxophones

I'm writing a piece of music for two saxophones.  If it comes together, Pam and I will perform it at the end of April at the spring concert of a composers group I belong to - the Composers Society of Montgomery County.

It has been over a year since my last piece - which was for piano and brass trio - and did not get a good performance.  We needed more rehearsal - thought we had it - but things fell apart in performance.  That experience took away my interest in composing for awhile.

I decided to write a piece that Pam and I could play.  We have more control over the performance, and can put in more rehearsal time.  But after being away from composing for over a year, I found my skills rusty, and it has taken more time than I expected to bring my mind back into that space.

Tonight we had a first run-through of the music I have written so far.  It isn't a performable piece yet - just a set of thematic sketches and ideas.  We tripped over a lot of notes, but it was fun to play and hear the two saxophones - an alto and a bari.  This will be the first time we've played those two instruments together.

Lots of work to do before the piece is finished, but it is great to hear it live and fun to play.  I'm optimistic!