But yesterday proved to be productive. I spent the majority of Tuesday reorganizing my basement music workroom. Not only did I move the piano from one wall to the other (allowing for full reach of the keyboard and easy access to the desk), but shelves containing a treasure trove of musical scores were relocated to assume the spot where the piano had been sitting. The surface of my desk had accumulated a pile of miscellaneous papers and artifacts about a foot and a half deep. It took time to go through it all and sort objects out into various locations – including the trash. I now have a large box filled with pencil sketches for the beginnings of about a dozen different pieces written over the past years – all unorganized and raw (barely comprehensible) musical meanderings. These need to be reviewed.
The small room is now organized, clean, and ready for me to begin work. I will need to have the piano tuned (it has been years since the last one). Hopefully Hayg can do it this week. I’m going to make a sign to put on the basement music room door:
It’s dark, gloomy, cut off from the world, and a little musty – the perfect place to compose contemporary music.
And if I get lost, it's on Route 64...
Yesterday was also a day of waiting on hold to speak to an Unemployment Specialist. My application for unemployment is in the system, but it seems like a complex decentralized process with claims adjusters I’ve never met conferring with third party agents representing my former out-of-state (and out-of-mind) employer. But, as of yet, the system seems to work despite being bureaucratically Baroque. Although I will seriously be looking for a job, I’m grateful that unemployment insurance and some severance pay will hold me over until I do. I also intend to use the “time” to compose some music, and in a way it’s a little like being awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/
