[Steem Diary] Written and Musical Entry no. 3 "Determination"

Hello everyone! This is the next entry in the diary I am keeping on Steem this week. Today was a little bit more down in the dirt working in terms of what I did. As per usual, I will include a summary of my day, my thoughts, and (today only) a larger segment of music expressing my thoughts:

Entry 3

My Day

Today I found a purpose once again. I woke up around 8:45am for a 9:00am SGI for band. We were having a virtual meetup of the Trumpets and French horns. The SGI (small group instruction) went well. We looked over a few pieces individually on the call, and discussed ideas of editing together a virtual recording.

After that, I began to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is a daunting 700+ pages long. Last night, I finished the prisoner of Azkaban, and I decided to immediately start the Goblet of Fire this morning. My girlfriend and I have a deal that each Harry Potter book I read is a roller coaster she has to go on with me this summer. I do read them also because I enjoy them (particularly POA and GOF. SS and CoS were not my favorite books).

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On a side note, my girlfriend has given me permission to discuss her here. Her account name is @esouthern3, and she is going to begin posting very soon. If you are looking for someone who is intelligent, and skilled in fields including, but not limited to art, writing, poetry, and Harry Potter (one of these days I will become better than her at that last one), I would recommend giving her a follow, and watching for her posts!

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Somewhere in the mix, I stopped reading and made myself a plate of bacon for breakfast. After eating the bacon, I went back to reading GOF.

Around 11:45am, I stopped reading and got ready for a history call I had at noon. In the call, we discussed the assignment we have this week, and how we are going to continue throughout the year.

After the call, I had the first exciting event in weeks. I discovered a website database of composition competitions with deadlines and entry fees. I found one with a large payout and no entry fee. The prompt is to write music for the soundtrack of an 8 minute piece of film. My next task became to compose for that.

I spent 4 hours composing the soundtrack today. I got about 40 seconds done. I had done 1 minute, but deleted the last 20 seconds because it was much too intrusive. I look forward to finishing it and posting it here (after submitting it to the competition).

Around 4pm, I just watched YouTube videos and browsed Facebook for an hour. During that time, I discovered the video I am going to use for my "Something I love." Around 5pm, I took a "nap" until 8pm. That was a mistake. I now have written this summary, and I have to go write about my thoughts, and write about the piece.

My Thoughts

Today, I didn't really think much of anything. For the first time in a long while, I found something to occupy myself. I now feel like I have a purpose in composing, and I have the new (and interesting) challenge of composing a piece of film music. I have never done that before, and whether I win or lose the competition, I am thankful for the unique experience that this is providing.

So, today I feel determined. For the music I post today, I am going to post the first minute or so of a piece I have been working on recently to represent the "Elemental Phoenix" from @splinterlands. For generic purposes, I am calling it "The Phoenix" (or something of the sort. I have been working on this piece for about two weeks now (rather slowly. Maybe 3 hours in total over that time). I believe it has represented a shift for me. A shift from anger and frustration about the situation to a determination to rise from the ashes, and move on. Here is what I have so far:

I was really happy when that idea came into my head. One night, I was really depressed about the whole situation going on, and I began to wonder: what can I compose to overcome this? It was around 1am, and I was in bed. That motif popped into my head, and I began texting myself reminders of what it was. The motif (G# - E - D# - C#), possible ways of developing it, etc. The next day, I actually figured out how to make it work. It is funny how a motif like that becomes such a part of your day to day life. From that point on, I would hear it in my footsteps as I walked, I would hear it in the shower, and I would hear it in many other activities day to day. Now, a few weeks later, I am almost 2 minutes in with the end nowhere in sight. . .

Something I love

Today, I discovered this hilarious video someone edited together of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the fifth (and doing a few other things). I always love watching Dudamel's movements as a conductor. I hope you find this funny as well! Here it is:

(Note) In order to encourage meaningful feedback on the platform, I will check comment trails of users who leave superficial comments (ie "Awesome post," or "Upvoted.") and will mute any users who exhibit a pattern of leaving "spammy" comments."