The fun thing about plans sometimes, especially with composing, is that they can drastically change without any given notice and at any given moment. Such was the case with the completion of "Youthful Adventures," the first movement of this new concerto for soprano saxophone called Summertime Echoes. It kind of fits in a way - vacations can sometimes run this course too. Essentially, what started as a more clear-cut recapitulation of previously written material turned into something a little more evolutionary throughout the duration of the movement.

If this is the first blog post you've across in this series, I highly encourage you to go back and read the previous two entries. In the meantime, you can hear a preview of this entire movement below:

Work is going well on Summertime Echoes. Since the first preview was published, more music has been completed for specifically the first movement, "Youthful Adventures." Although I previously began work on the other two movements for the preview posted earlier, much of my effort since then has been on the form and structure of this particular movement.

My preference for multi-movement works has always been to complete them in chronological order, especially because, in the case of this piece, certain musical material will appear throughout each movement for the sake of continuity. Even though material to be used throughout the piece (and for each movement) is planned in advance, this allows me to simultaneously compose and experience the journey of the music itself from a listener's perspective. Among other considerations, it also allows me to carefully plan and coordinate exactly how each musical phrase or section comes to its arrival point and, more importantly, how it will get there.

"Youthful Adventures," for example, plots out this material (and variations of it) that will make reappearances later on in the concerto: