I always, always love the moment of shipping a new piece. It’s a great thrill to get a draft you’re happy with to the commissioning conductor and ensemble.
But I always, always watch my stress level increase, bit by bit, from the moment I ship it until the moment I get to hear it.
I don’t care about perfection, I’m just excited to hear the notes I wrote, working for the voices I intended them to be sung by.
With that in mind, last night I sent a sneak preview to a composer of the first page of his piece – not more than 45 minutes after we started sight reading it. It’s got a long way to go before we perform it, but I trust that, if he’s anything like me, he’ll be pleased to hear the piece in voices instead of in notation software MIDI output.
The commissioning process is a collaboration, and the more time I get to spend working with my collaborators, the more gratified I am with the process.