Figured bass really helps piano reductions

Still working on the Horn Concerto in B-flat major commissioned by Ray Barnes through eBay.

A lesson that I learned from my edition of Antonio Salieri's Organ Concerto in C major for IMSLP is that a piano reduction of orchestral parts in a concerto is made real easy when you first do a figured bass realization from the bass parts. I admit I kind of dragged my feet on doing figured bass for the first movement (it was a snap for the last movement rondo because for the most part I could just copy and paste the figured bass for the A sections), but now that I sat down to do it, the task went pretty quickly. I'll have to leave it to another day to then use the figured bass realization as the basis for the piano reduction.

It should be noted that I don't want anyone to consider my figured bass realization authoritative even though I am the composer of the piece in the first place. Someone who is up to the task of doing figured bass on the spot from figures should use the provided bass part with the figures marked up.

What are YOU doing to support local composers?

I'm the kind of guy who can never come up with a snappy comeback on the spot when I need it. If I do think of one, it's hours or days later, when it's no longer relevant. I got into a rather acrimonious argument earlier today with a fellow who is a very dedicated musician, but perhaps also one with more ego than talent. At one point, he said "There are comp[osition] students just dying to get their stuff played." The fellow saying that conducts a small orchestra.

My lame response? "You'll get no argument from me on that." Of course there is no argument on the factual validity of the statement, though "dying" is a tad melodramatic. The problem should be with the moral qualification of the person making the statement. I can say "It's tough being a black man in America," but if I'm not myself black, what right do I have to make such a statement?

Though not quite a snappy comeback, a much better response would have been: "What are YOU doing to help those comp students who are 'dying' to have their pieces played? Are you going to the comp seminar and letting them know you're willing to do read-throughs?"

Maybe he has, I don't know because I didn't ask that. But I doubt it. I attended two rehearsals of his orchestra, a wind band with a couple of violins, really, and they were both entirely devoted to The Planets by Gustav Holst. The players enjoyed playing that and he enjoyed conducting that. I took notes and there's nothing in my notes about any local composers getting a read-through. But there's nothing wrong with that.

In general, if you're the conductor of an orchestra and you only want to play established repertoire, that's completely your prerogative and you don't have to explain your reason to anyone at all. Unless of course you also want to crucify yourself over the plight of living, local composers. Then you're a hypocrite.

Those of you reading this might wonder what I am doing to support local composers. It's a fair question. The answer is that I am doing a lot with what limited resources I have. From December 2006 to January 2009 I organized six string quartet concerts, all of which had music by living, local composers other than myself, and the performers were paid. One of those concerts didn't even have any original music by me (though plenty of my arrangements). In September 2009, I organized a concert at the Detroit Public Library with four Detroit composers (again, not counting myself). In 2010, the headliner for the Music of Engineering concert was Keith Buckner. I only wrote a piece for the concert at the last minute to make up for a hole in the programme.

And this year, if I get the opportunity to organize any concerts, odds are good it will have music by a living, local composer other than myself.