Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: Martello Towers.James Joyce. Mental Disorders and Creativity. Writing to order sucks. Forcing the magic.

Roger CortonAnd yet another new snippet. You’re on a roll!

Martello Towers (Snippet)

JCHWith jelly, baby.

RCAre you on track to finish soon?

JCHI’m not sure. Right now I’m fighting the fact that I’m starting to get sick of it.

RCDude!

JCHWhat? I’m not allowed to say that?

RCNO!

JCHWhy?

RCAre you serious? You’re impossible. You go all in on this thing and then half way through, it’s like, “I’m getting sick of it.”

JCHKinda whiny, huh?

RCYa think?

JCHLook, you started this whole weekly ‘reality show’ gimmick. I’m supposed to ‘share’, right? (laughs). But in my defense, what they don’t tell ya in opera composers school is that writing a show means writing on deadline. Because you have to write all […]

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: Sea Shanty. Transitions. Connective tissue. Agent Smith. Yo ho ho and a bottle o’ rum. Greater Truths. Cooking fires.

Roger CortonAnd yet another new snippet. And so many JC’s! (laughs)

Transition: Sea Shanty (Snippet)

JCHAs Agent Smith used to say. Me, me, me.

RCMe too. So this is what you call a “transition”?

JCHIndeed. It answers the age old question, “What do you do in the spaces between scenes where you have to change sets?”

RCOK, so what do you do?

JCHWell, you can simply bring the curtain down whilst everyone scurries round moving bits of scenery. But that’s typically only done between acts.

RCBut The Boats is a one act opera so…

JCHSo what composers often do is put some sort of […]

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: You’ll Never See The Like Of Me Again. Hurricanes and waterfront property. Recitatives vs. Arias. Genesis. It. Wagner. Choosing the proper length of time for an performance is half the battle.

Roger CortonA new snippet!

You’ll Never See The Like Of Me Again (Snippet)

JCHForget that. Inquiring minds wanna know: how’d the hurricanes treat ya?

RCWhere we live it was OK. But I went with a group to help out south of here. And it was unbelievable. Whole towns will have to be rebuilt for hundreds of miles.

JCHSo much for (ahem) ‘the myth of global warming’.

RCWell regardless of politics and beliefs I’m sure people are thinking differently about building near the shore.

JCHMaybe. We have this Irish expression which I will translate freely, “The Good Lord provides sweet forgetfulness after childbirth. Otherwise, we’d never have more than one […]

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats, the big finale: You Can Dream With Me. Escaped salmon. Career opportunities. Crisis and Chinese expressions. Playable mockups. Creative at the wrong time. Performance therapy. Woody Allen.

Roger CortonA new snippet!

You Can Dream With Me (Snippet)

JCHSnippet my arse.

RCI misspoke. It’s a substantial piece of music. What gives?

JCHI dunno. I guess my thinking is that the opera stuff is such a stretch for regular listeners that there’s no need to be ‘stingy’. It’s not like I’m gonna sell racks of these things.

RCSo what you’re saying is that because it’s less of what people want, you’re making up for it with larger portions?

JCHI never thought about it like that. We lose money on every sale, but boy do we make it up in VOLUME! (laughs).

RCVolume–that’s good. OK, so what’s it all about?

JCHWell, it’s the finale. And […]

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats called Starting Over. Even more masturbation. Trogdor. Metal as Pro Wrestling. Spinal Tap. Going to Eleven. The arc of opera.

Roger CortonA new snippet. Dare I say it seems a bit ‘power-poppish’?

Starting Over (Snippet)

JCHDare. Dare.

RCSo where are we in the story now?

JCHSo… in an opera every character has to have their own song. Typically, it tells you how they are or what they’re trying to do. This is Tomás’ story–the middle brother. The three brothers realize that they’re gonna have to leave. The eldest brother is the least reluctant and the younger is the most jazzed. So Tomás’ feelings are the pivot for the story. Every time he goes out to work he feels like he’s in his element. But his wife is not entirely thrilled–he’d make her a lot happier if they left the life. So he’s having this inner struggle.

RCI […]