I am excited to release my new website. It has been far too long since I have been keeping up with my online presence.
I’d blame it on school. I’d blame it on being too busy. I’d blame it on my other writing projects. But that would be not the entire truth.
The truth is, just like starting any new composition or other project for me, there is a great reluctance and fear at the outset. Exploring a new idea, concept, software, website editor all start the same way. Me trying to wrap my mind around starting the journey. My wife regularly quotes the old saying, “Begin, the rest is easy,” but getting started is the hardest part. The time spent on any project takes an emotional toll, some a great deal more than others. Still, other times getting started is easy. Okay, perhaps not easy, but more… inevitable.
So it is with the start to my final year as a student. Ever! Ready or not, today I start my third and final year of my DMA in Jazz Composition at the Frost School of Music. The last two years have been filled with starting projects and learning new skills. It would take far too long to list everything I’ve learned and done so far, especially if I take into account my two years of jazz composition study at UT Austin, though maybe I’ll take stock of it all as I wind down this intense five-year journey, which has fueled a major shift in the way and the what that I create artistically. The people I have met and worked with have helped me realize that composing music is my passion, and while I still love to play flute (in part because I know it is one of the only ways I will be able to promote my own music), I have discovered that the emotional roller coaster that is starting a new project and seeing it to its completion - hearing it performed or recorded - drives me and really is worth it. Not just worth it for me, but also for the people who have invested in my training, and especially for those who may be moved by what I put onto the page and subsequently into the
Here’s to a year of lasts as I gradually conclude my studies. But here’s also to a year of more firsts as I begin new projects, study new subjects, and continue to build on the skills I have been striving to improve. Thank you for joining me on this journey.