Push that dynamic, prod that bar number

Today has been a day of pushing and prodding bits and pieces, slowly coercing the quintet’s parts to be respectable and intelligible. Some of it has been successful; some less so (most notably the issue of key signature – I habitually write without key signatures, using a mixture of sharps and flats as required, but this piece is particularly tricky to work out what key signature it should use because it’s continually contradicting itself), but progress has been made and I do believe that at this stage (2.30am) the score is essentially done and the parts are well on their way.

I also went and saw the dental hygienist (what an exciting life I lead) and was told that I have neither plaque nor calculus so yay for the new electric toothbrush. I got snowed on twice. Djeli’s Christmas present turned up, turned out to be larger than expected and has necessitated the participation of parents to hide it until I can get enough wrapping paper to cover the box. And I accompanied my mama to a lovely concert at Wigmore Hall of Debussy, Bax, Vaughan Williams, Puccini and Piazzolla chamber works – really gorgeous, just a shame my brain was whirring away desperately trying to work out the key signature issue so I didn’t really take in as much as I might have, but it made for a nice interlude in what otherwise would have been a dull and stressful evening.

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An end!

OMG! All of a sudden this afternoon the quintet just went there and there and took a little turn there and all of a sudden it just rushed off and finished itself!!! I can’t quite believe we made it, but I let it settle for a little, while I prepared the dry ingredients for the Pudding Mark II, and yes, it’s really found it’s finishing point. I still have a truckload of work to do with tweaks and layout and so on, but at least the music’s found where it’s going so it really is tweaking and adjusting rather than actual pull-notes-out-of-thin-air composition.

And, of course, I made more Christmas puddings – this time a 1-pound and a 2-pound pudding, the 2-pounder in one of the gorgeous traditional enamelled metal pudding basins that my friend sent me for Christmas.

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Digital musings

I should be quick tonight as it’s nearly 5am. Whoops. The evening just got away from me, mostly in writing – I’ve been working on two related blog posts on ways ensembles and composers can add value to their work using digital options. The first one, on programme notes I’m hoping will be up tomorrow (um… today, I guess) – just need to review it and make sure I haven’t said anything totally mad.

I bought a pudding basin. And suet. Friday is Christmas pudding day. Yes, I know it’s very late. Nigella seems to think it’ll all be OK.

Worked on the quintet for about 3 minutes. Was hard to work on this earlier today as the lady upstairs decided it was easy-listening day. From about 3 in the afternoon till 8pm. But I didn’t want to go to bed without having put down at least a couple of notes.

Score for Remembrances is… done. Well, sort of. Looking great, flicked through… then realised that every single vocal stave is using the tenor clef instead of treble. So now I have to go back to Finale, change the clefs, re-export all 7 pages, open them in Photoshop, trim them and reimport them back into InDesign. Not Happy.

Heigh ho.

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De-stressing

Rather poorly today. Seems that Djelibeybi has given me his germ and so yesterday and today I’ve been doing battle with inflamed sinuses, earache and general urkness.

So I slept most of this morning and had some very bizarre dreams – very sci-fi/fantasy really. Dramatic but not nasty. This afternoon I was booked in to go to a session with my physio on relaxation – I’m a very stressy person and she thought it might help. And it seemed a useful session. I certainly relaxed *during* the session and will give it a go again over the next few days too, so I hope that’s a good start.

Afterwards I found my mother drifting about the Pitshanger Lane shops, so I treated us to treats from the bakery (I had a raspberry muffin, she had an apricot tart thingy) and we finally found reasonably priced Pedro Ximenes sherry at the cheese and wine shop. Whereupon my brain froze up and I got millilitres mixed with centilitres and brought home 2 bottles when I only needed 175ml it turned out. Um. Not very bright sometimes. But at least the Christmas pudding is finally under way (I have to nip out and buy currants tomorrow morning) with the sultanas (blech!) and prunes busily soaking up sherry.

Haven’t really felt up to doing anything on the quintet today – too achey and miserable. Hoping tomorrow will be better.

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Struggling

I’ve been in a pretty bad head-place since getting back from Portugal. Not entirely sure if it’s a case of the post-holiday glums or just the dismal snow-ridden weather and being cooped up after all the exercise, fresh air and intermittent sunshine of Lisbon. Possibly I need to tidy up and do some house-brightening. Maybe invest in some daylight bulbs to dispel a little of the gloom occasioned by the appalling lighting setup in this flat. What I wouldn’t give to be able to repaint and move all the lights into the middle of the room and get rid of the landlord’s heavy, big, dark furniture. Feeling a desperate need for COLOUR.

At any rate, today was a bit of a struggle. I had a physio appointment in the morning. She has given me a red theraband which which to work on my resistance exercises, which hopefully will make actually doing them a little easier. The pavements out there are pretty treacherous though – ice all over the place once you’re off the main roads – so after that I just went to the local shops to get some stuff for dinner, and also took advantage of the chance to pick up BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM magazine for their Christmas music cover CDs – both very good this year, although I think (as often happens) the BBC one is the more interesting, so if you’re contemplating them, that’s my recommendation Also treated myself to the Christmas issue of Jamie magazine, which has some yummy-sounding ideas in it.

This afternoon has been primarily spent battling the glums and not really prevailing. We pulled out the Christmas decorations and dressed the (tiny) tree, which was nice, but I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to fill the wide windowsills and our empty walls. Might need to sort out some of our posters which are languishing about the place and get them framed quickly. Our last house was tiny, so the only decoration needed to make the whole place seem Christmassy was the tree, a few wooden stockings along the mantlepiece and my marvellous Nisse in the bookcase.

But now, alas, we have huge spaces to fill, and even the addition of the new crazy robin isn’t enough to fill the void. Or perhaps to overcome the clutter that we haven’t yet found anywhere to store. Maybe bright coloured boxes for the clutter might help???

But I did finally do something constructive:

1. I made raspberry muffins

2. I worked a tiny bit on the quintet until Finale crashed (after a save, thank heavens). I am delighted to be able to report that I’m still working on the additions I made just before we left for Portugal. I haven’t (yet) had to delete all that like I was doing on daily basis before. I think this is progress.

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Watched snowy landscapes

through train windows on our way to Lancaster – first leg of the journey to the Isle of Man.

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Made a full Christmas dinner!

Nigella Lawson spiced turkey (fabulous recipe) with allspice gravy, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, River Cottage Brussels sprouts done in garlic butter (very fine but perhaps not the best match with the spiced turkey – I think the Nigella pecan sprouts might have worked better in context), Nigella soy and sweet chilli chipolatas, followed by ris a l’amande with hot cherry sauce and the chocolate chip and cranberry biscuits I made yesterday. We also made an awesome mulled wine and a fantastic non-alcoholic drink called a Xmas Xinger, containing pomegranate juice and ginger ale (both from Nigella’s Christmas – yes, it was very much a Nigella year – I did get the book for last Christmas!). Guests seemed to be happily stuffed by the end of it, so a good result all round.

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Started Christmas

Two days early , I know – but otherwise it would have been four days late.

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Made a fabulous Christmas dinner!

Everyone said so! Roast turkey with mascarpone, lemon, garlic and herbs, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip and carrots, little cumberland and lincolnshire chipolatas. Djelibeybi played sproutmeister with a little help from our friend Robert. Lis made mulled wine. And I even made a passable ris a l’amande for pudding!

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Made brownies, stuffed the turkey

Getting a head start on Saturday’s big Christmas dinner party. Brownies are from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a domestic goddess. Pretty good. VERY fudgy though – I prefer my brownies a bit more cake-like in general.

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