Creative types....help needed ...
As you may or may not know I'm writing an Opera. This opera ( Called Henriette ) is based on real historical events. it is in French ( as were the original events ) and is a "proper" opera with full orchestral score, French libretto and stage directions.
Here's my problem.... when I sit down to write I am fine , I know that if I am not in a composing frame of mind I can harmonise , invert melodies etc. . even though full orchestral pieces are difficult for me I can do them ( I am self taught so have no methodology for this just trial and error and books and ears)
When i am researching I have all manner of dry historical books and legal case notes to work from...I read and take notes till I feel I have put enough of a shift in.
Here's the issue
I have 20gig of data files of music and scores ( across 3 computers ). a backpack stuffed and rammed with paper notes ( and scores ) and research materials.
I know that doing more research or composition at this point is counter productive and I may well be going over the same old ground. I am utterly overwhelmed ...utterly....I went to try and organise and digitise stuff today and ended up cleaning the house from top to bottom.
I have a synopsis for each scene....detailed notes for each scene...some scores organised into scenes....lietmotifs for the main characters...time signature and key ideas for the main characters,
I am still overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff I have done already and am struggling to move on....I don't want to continue composing as I want to be customising parts now...
Help
Comments
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no help to you but I am a bit awestruck
My Trading Feedback | You Bring The Band
Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youIt sounds like a massively involved project, but by the sounds of it you're having trouble keeping focus/ having perspective on the entire project while you work on the individual small details. I have no Opera-centric advice, but you need to work out a system so that you can get lost in the work without losing your place in the whole.
Eg, when you're working on a scene, you need to know what your objective is for the scene - what points are you trying to hit, what characters are involved, what emotions are in the scene. So you can forget about the rest of the project, and just focus on making that scene right.
You can always tweak it later when you hear the resulting work in the context of the entire production.
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Spotify, Apple et al
My Trading Feedback | You Bring The Band
Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youMaybe start by piecing together the narrative first, imagine you're writing it as a straight play. Once you're happy with the structure of the story, then start to look at how the music serves the narrative. No matter how good your compositions are, the story is all. It might be worth working with a dramaturg on this.
You play in or write the main melodies on a timeline with a midi controller and can arrange & build parts that you can later print in standard notation for actual players.
If you don't need notation then just start recording parts via midi and romplers into a big audio session.
When you can see the structure on a timeline and actually listen to parts that simulate the actual running length it will be easier to write all the small bits that connect sections together and get the overall feel for where you may need to make sections smaller/bigger/simpler/complex.
@Legionreturns Thats a great idea, organising it into jobs that need done by mood.
@Bintytwanger77 I already have the majority of the storyline mapped out, it can be read as a plotted piece
@Winny_Pooh I already use notion for this the problem is that I have 20gig of files and scores
I'd storyboard it first at the highest level, get the chapter headings - the acts and the scenes; get separate folders for each, then start slotting in the best bits into each folder. Then review what you've got, what you're missing, etc.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
For the interested here's a very rough draft of the opening overture.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
More power to you, mon ami. It sounds like a fantastic project and I'd love to come and see it when it's done.
You need an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
My feedback page: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/91654/
I first started using it with a big writing project that eventually had 80 chapters and numerous sub-chapters. They could not be written sequentially and basically it was all a big f*cking mess in Word. Scrivener made sense of it. You can just get on with the writing and the organisation part comes at any time in the project. It's difficult to describe until you use it but you can essentially keep your eye on the big picture and the details at the same time.
Years after Scrivener I started using its stable mate Scapple.
It's not quite mind mapping software -- I dunno what you'd call it -- but it's sort of mind mapping software. I use it all the time for two things that suit me:
1) just getting down a load of bullet points in no particular order -- that comes later as you physically drag the points around the screen, and connect any that are connected, draw boxes around them, add colours, etc. Massively useful for making sense of long, rambling life stories!
2) making "overview" trees of concepts for presentations -- very pretty and, hopefully, easy to interpret