Hello Friends, I’m up early and I’m on a mission to transfer some out of control handwritten scores to the modern clarity driven computer with hopes that it’ll make life easier for those brave souls fearing into the wind driven madness of so many notes with so little time. In short, the sheet music for my String Consort group needs some LOVE.

The first incarnation of the group started back when computers weren’t making their way into the musos lifestyle. I would compose onto score paper and from there I’d hand copy separate parts for each player, tediously dealing with the quirky clef transposition for the viola. Next we’d make corrections at rehearsals, revise the flow of the piece, throw the music in the air after a show, stomp on the pages while loading up the gear, spill coffee on bars 37 through 62, erase measures 101 and 102 so efficiently that you could see sky through them, and finally just plain lose the 11^th page on the cello part completely. We didn’t really need to play the coda anyway, right?

So this papered insanity is what I present to these fine, schooled players and they, with exceptional spirit and enthusiasm, deal with it the best they can. But it was after the last concert that I declared a revolution of sorts. "I will transfer the music to the organized machine and let it proliferate gorgeous and precise pages of notes, rests, and all other directions leading to beautiful sound."

Easier said than done.

It’s an enormous effort so I got my pal PJ in the loop to deal with the first line of defense. He took the scores and manhandled the stream of notes into the computer. From there I’m proofing the notes, making corrections, adding rehearsal letters, chord cymbals, dynamic markings, page layouts, score layouts...when will it ever end?

I’m hoping to see daylight by the end of this week. All of this effort is leaning into the upcoming concert with my string group on February 1. Look below for details. If you make it to the show you’ll see some happy string players loving the world of organized sheet music making it all that much easier to open the door to beautiful song. And you’ll also see a worn down bandleader in need of sleep and eyeglasses from so many late nights and so much screen time.

Ahh, how the machine makes our life so much easier…urrggg…