One of the benefits of being in an ensemble as awesome as Third Wheel is the opportunity to work with real live composers. We got to do so today, and it is just so exciting to be in the same room with the person who wrote the dots on the page in front of you. Mark Popeney is a talented composer who also happens to be a friend of ours, and a little while ago we approached him (or was it the other way around? I don’t remember) about writing a piece for us. Actually, we had this great little meeting at Wurstkuche — one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. But I digress … this is not a food blog, I promise.
Mark finished the piece recently, and we have been learning it, and so today we got together to work with him on it and get his perspective. Usually, as performers, we spend a good amount of our rehearsal and practice time trying to decipher the precise meaning and intention of every little black mark on the page of music. It is quite a different experience to have the composer in the same room as you’re trying to decipher these things! It’s also interesting how easily printed music can be misinterpreted. Or over-analyzed. We spend so much time trying to convey every dynamic, every accent, every slur and every tempo change — but sometimes that wasn’t the composer’s goal at all! It’s good to take a step back every once in awhile and make sure that the big picture of the musical statement is being conveyed. What good are a few perfectly manicured trees if there’s no forest?
Being in the presence of a creative mind is a wonderful thing, and I am so excited for the world to hear this cool piece that Mark composed for us. It will be even more fun to listen to after he tells you about how he composed it, and where he got the idea for the piece. But all of that will have to wait until the world premiere. Stay tuned for a big event announcement, coming soon!
