Mar 23 2010

The Three Month Project

THE MISSION:

To complete a two-act album musical/operetta in the 3 month span of April 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2010 (91 days).

THE REASON:

To instil a sense of urgency in my life as a composer. To prove I can apply myself in my craft. To improve and hone my compositional skills. To demonstrate that I can produce high quality work under a deadline. And lastly, to get my name, and the names of numerous talented people I know, out there.

THE KICKER:

If I fail to have the project finished by July 1st, 2010, I will release all the work I’ve done on it into the public domain and never EVER touch it again.

THE LONG TERM GOAL:

Once all the music is composed, this baby is getting produced!

THE PLOT:

The storyline takes place around the year 2150. That’s right, I’m writing a Space Opera (and who can write a space opera without synthesizers?) It’s built around a virtuoso computer scientist and engineer who’s inventions have made huge impacts on mankind, and his dying wife, a brilliant engineer in her own right who has fallen ill with one of the few fatal diseases that science has failed to eradicate. The husband refuses to accept her death and devises a way to copy her memories and entire neural map onto a series of drives; essentially, he creates a computer program that is his wife, allowing her to cheat death.

So if you see me between those dates, and I’m not working on the above project, feel free to kick my ass. If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to leave a comment.
Also, you can e-mail me using my gmail account: travisconradr

-Travis Conrad

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Instrumentationing, Music

Mar 7 2010

The John Adams Obsession

So lately I’ve been borderline obsessed with John Adams (the composer, not the American president). His work has hit me in ways best described as inspirational. Music hits me with all sorts of emotions, but inspiration is rarely one of them. It makes me want to get out and do stuff. It makes me want to study composition more. A lot more. It makes me want to create something as beautiful and fun as what he’s created.

Start off with this one. If it alone isn’t enough to make you want to look through his other stuff then, well, I don’t know what to say.
A couple of my other favourites are the Chairman Foxtrot, Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Lollapalooza.

-Travis Conrad

ps I have a new twitter

no comments   |  tags: | posted in Music

Mar 1 2010

Iambic Pentameter II

a thought, a spark, an ill forgotten gain
a common bond that man would not sustain
though men can see the err through which he’s grown
if he will change his course remains unknown

-Travis Conrad

no comments   |  tags: | posted in Poetry