I spent the bulk of today sitting at the only table left in the house working on the Laramie Variations (our desks are disassembled and stacked in the corner of the dining room).  It’s been surprisingly smooth; the original music lends itself pretty well to both solo flute and the string orchestra accompaniment and I’ve done enough reworking and developing to satisfy my composerly instincts.  Last night I did something I often do at the outset of a piece: I made a fairly detailed flow chart of the work: which materials would appear where, which instruments would play what, high points, low points, salient points about the work.  Then today I did something I rarely do: I stuck to the chart with little vexation or second guessing.  Increased confidence in my ability to handle large-scale form?  The pressure of other projects and time constraints?  Who knows…but it’s working so I’m not going to question.  All in all I arranged about 100 measures, starting with the opening “Wyoming” theme, followed by the first two of the “Fence” variations.  Up next some obbligato passages for the soloist, a big arpeggiated bit for the tutti orchestra, the “Parents’ Concern” theme, and a cadenza for the flute.  The best feeling in the world is the one when the whole piece opens up before you!

Things I always keep close at hand: bubble wrap, Cuisinart.

In other news, Rico and I spent the evening planning lunch stops on the Great Academic Cross-Country Tour of 2010.  Roadfood.com came in handy, as did Yelp! Our trip at this point takes us through eleven states, stopping in eight, across the southern edge of the Great Lakes.  The places we’ve picked for our midday stops include a joint in Lincoln, NE that specializes the runza, an eastern european staple of dough, ground meat and cabbage, as well as a place that serves the “best Chinese food in Northwestern Indiana.”  I’m going to try to blog about each leg of our trip with lots of pics of stops along the way, friends we’ll be visiting, and of course our trip’s mascot, Joey.