Well, I'm trying to stick to my New Year's resolutions. I'm having some success, some of the time. Vauge? A little.

I'm throwing all of my effort right now at a new Fallen Angels opera - Temptation. This one deals with Satan tempting Jesus in the desert, only is set in current-day corporate America. The temptation isn't quite what you're expecting, either.

In the other Fallen Angels operas, the "good guy" in the Biblical story becomes the villain in my story - and they usually end up being kind of a jerk. In Temptation, Jesus (or, Joshua in my story) is definitely the antagonist. I had intended to make Joshua just as much of a jerk as Eli, Josephine, and Adam, but he's not, for the most part. The libretto for Temptation is mostly done (more edits will happen as more friends of mine give me suggestions,) and I've started some work on the music, too.

I had some time to kill this week before meeting a friend for dinner, so I found a coffee shop and sat down to write some music without a keyboard or Finale telling me what it sounded like right away. I do this every once in a while - it's a good exercise to get your brain to hear the music you write. I wrote the trio from Temptation, trying my best to imagine what it would sound like. A day or two later I put that into Finale and was mortified. It sounded really difficult and way too dissonant for what I was going for. I decided to keep it, though. Another day or two later I came back, fiddled with the tempo, added dynamics, etc. I didn't change a note, and it already sounds so much better - it sounds like music now. Much closer to what I heard in my head. Dynamics are important!

I'm also sitting on some potentially exciting news, but I don't want to say anything about it yet - don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched! I hope I'm not jinxing it just by saying this.

So, it's been forever since I wrote in this.

A lot has been going on:

 - After the recital, I finished Lilith, I orchestrated it, then put together a recording session for both Lilith and The Name on the Door. I have great new recordings of each that are up on the specific pages for those pieces. Check them out: Lilith . The Name on the Door

I applied for doctoral programs again. They were due December 1. With work on those and the start of holiday season, I've been pretty busy. The applications are in... and I've already received two rejections. Bummer. But whatever, I have two more. Fingers crossed.

Other big news: I paid the application fee for a spot in the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival. Guess that means I have to finish the application now... by January 6. I'm submitting Lilith, The Name on the Door, and... one other mini-opera from Fallen Angels, which hasn't been written yet. Yep. I still have a lot of work to do. Always.