After two years of astonishing productivity, it all came to a halt. In all honesty, there really wasn’t much in 2006 that felt right, least of all in the creative department. We’ll get to that in a moment, however.
First of all, I have an announcement. During the summer I submitted the electronic version of my 1999 piece “In a Lonely Place” for consideration for an electronic music concert another Atlanta-based composer was setting up. Well, I’m pleased to announce that the World Premiere performance of “In a Lonely Place” will take place on Monday, February 19, 2007 at The 5 Spot in Little Five Points in Atlanta. Details can be found in the entry for the event on my MySpace page. It will be the first time since March 2001 that a piece of mine will be performed live.
This is the first success I’ve found in the past year of getting my music performed live. In May, I joined the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI), which makes performers and composers aware of upcoming chances to submit for commissions and festivals in an attempt at added networking with other musicians. Looking through the monthly editions of SCION- the SCI newsletter- I found a handful of opportunities for myself to try and get my music heard (ironically, the above concert was discovered via a friend via the Atlanta Composers Blog). The verdict is still out on my application for Kronos Quartet’s “Under 30” commission project, and from what I’ve heard, there might still be an outside shot at a slot (or 2) at the University of Florida’s 16th Annual Electroacoustic Music Festival in April, but two other electronic music festivals came and went (one in Minnesota, one in Tennessee) to no avail. Still, more opportunities will present themselves in the new year, and maybe good fortune will come from them.
One opportunity I failed to take was last year’s Young Film Composers Competition, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies, started by the station as an attempt to give young up-and-coming film composers a chance at scoring one of the many score-less silent films they own. None of the four clips for last year’s film “The Show” spoke to me artistically the way the clip I scored for 2005’s film “Souls for Sale” did. Maybe it was for the best. But then again, maybe it could have been a launching pad for a new life. Like I said, nothing really felt right about last year. Regardless, we’ll see soon enough if 2007’s selected silent- the 1924 film “Beau Brummel”- inspires me to get back into TCM’s ring.
My work on my friend Chris’ short film series “The Case”- which can be viewed on his MySpace page- came to a grinding halt. My score for “Chapter Three” remains 2/3 completed in being recorded by live musicians, and though both “Chapter 4” and “5” have been filmed, and “4” has been on my computer for months, I haven’t written a note for either one. Probably just as well; in the next couple of months I’m expecting to receive a full edit of the combined chapters, which will undoubtedly require additional writing and editing to what I’ve currently composed. With luck, expect the full score for “The Case” to debut sometime in March.
In all, I composed seven pieces in 2006. The first three- “Rhythmic Muzak in C-Minor”, “Alone With Percussion”, and “Ambient Sustanence”– were short electroacoustic compositions I wrote and recorded reasonably quickly, intending to use them as “source music,” as it were, for my own short film, “Unwinnable Hand: A Thriller in Two Movements,” which I began filming (as of this writing, “Movement I” is filmed, but not edited, while “Movement II” is written, to be filmed in 2007) in February. My blogs for the production can be found on Sonic Cinema, as well as a video diary made after the first day of filming. In April, I devoted my creative impulses to “Sonic Contemplation,” a piece I originally began in 2001 as a response to the emotions felt after my grandfather passed away in 2000. Through this time frame- and much of 2006 actually- I found myself in a similar emotional state, caused by self-induced anxiety about life. It certainly wasn’t healthy, but is was inspiring. The piece is among my best, I feel; representative of the growth and focus I’ve acquired over the years as a composer. Immediately following that was “Weightless Waltz in F”, another long-in-progress composition. The “Waltz-like” electronic piece- which I felt so strongly about that I submitted it to the Minnesota festival- is my answer to “The Blue Danube” edit during the first docking scene in “2001: A Space Odyssey”- written, along with a later piece (“Weightless Waltz in D”), for a long-in-development “alternate soundtrack”/tone poem to Kubrick’s film entitled “Beyond the Infinite.” Finally, in October came my month-long horror movie marathon, with accompanying composition (“‘Darkness’ for Voices, String Quartet & Tubular Bells”) which evokes the genre’s tantilizing dark side. Overall, I’m pleased with the quality of what I wrote in 2006, even if it wasn’t as much in quantity as came from ’04 or ’05; a lot of factors- filming “Hand,” a change in computers (and software), and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things I put on my plate, which included another short film script (“Red Cup Mafia”) as well as a started short story and my continuing movie reviews.
A more organized approach is the order of the day in 2007. “Weightless Waltz in D” and “Darkness” will be recorded and released by the end of January. “Unwinnable Hand” will be completed, hopefully with a shot of hitting some festivals, in addition to being released online. “The Case” music will be completed, and more submissions to music festivals/concerts/commissions will take place. If I get to any composition beyond that, or any unexpected events occur, my thinking may change. For now, though, this is what my 2007 looks like; I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the possibilities.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
Brian @ Society of Composers, Inc.
P.S. I can’t believe I forgot this. In January 2006, I finished my third CD’s worth of material, the Wester-inspired “Sonic Visions of a New Old West.” What’s been keeping it out of circulation is…no artwork. Well, on Thursday I checked out some artwork which had just been posted online by a friend of mine from high school (she’s a fellow MySpacer as well). Impressed, I emailed her, complimenting what she had, and asking if she’d be interested in creating artwork for “Sonic Visions.” She lept at the chance; I got the CD in the mail to her Friday. Thank you Carrie Henry in advance; I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
