Concerto for Tuba

I. Awakening
II. Divertissement
III. Re-Awakening

"Maybe you can finish that tuba concerto you've been workin' on. You know... the tuba concerto you've been workin' on? Been talkin' about that for about... three years now. Hm. Got a nice... got a nice formal structure? Got some thematic material? Hm? An A theme and a B theme? Maybe some rhythmic motives binding the passages together? Maybe a nice... a nice exposition? A nice florid coninuous variation sequence? A recapitulation? Hm? Got a nice... cadenza for the soloist? Maybe the tonal center moves around in an unconventional progression? Maybe keep the listener guessing as to where the final movement is going? Maybe all the material of the first two movements is unified in the coda of the third movement, with some nice... juxtaposition? Maybe take the listener on a roller coaster, leaving them satisfied with the overall experience? Something like, uh... the aesthetic you've been leaning toward? Both enjoyable to the layman's ears and technically sound for the theorists? Oh, I look forward to hearing it."

The first movement is totally finished. It's essentially a rearrangement of Awakenings (plural, whereas the concerto title is singular tense... not a typo), a relatively acclaimed piece I wrote for the New Music Ensemble's silent film concert, second year at BGSU. It combined minimalism with Eastern-European folk melodies, accompanying the ten-minute montage of citizens waking up and facing the day. The unrelenting quarter-note drive in the accompaniment succeeded in connecting the audience to the vaguely melancholy monotony of city life without actually putting them to sleep. Of course, the original piece was written for tuba, piano, and sax choir, whereas the concerto is just tuba and piano. The hypnotic minimalism was a lot easier to achieve with a blend of about twenty-two saxophones (SATB), so I wonder if the piano in the concerto will just sound cheap by comparison.

Personally, I was never that sold on this piece, but after several people at BG suggested or requested that I adapt it for a concerto, I put my doubts aside, knowing that people already do like the piece I haven't finished.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally completed detailed outlines of the second and third movements, and I think I like what I have so far, but I can't seem to bring myself to frickin' finish anything. I have the attention span of a beagle.

But this is currently the piece at the top of my list of projects. That is, until the next shiny ball bounces across my field of vision.