For the past bunch of weeks, I’ve been partaking in a very mentally exerting, yet mundane, task…updating the scores and parts for ALL my compositions! With everything being more quiet than usual on the music-front due to the pandemic, it’s a perfect time to do it. And it’s long overdue.

Ever since I was a composition student in the mid-1990s, I have always used the music notation software, Finale, to produce all the sheet music for my compositions. As you might expect, with every new computer I’ve had in that time, I’ve had to update my version of Finale. Many of my older compositions have not seen their layout updated in all these years.

The art of putting together a score (otherwise known as music engraving) is a sophisticated art. People who are very good at this skill do only this! Because my attention has been all over the place with various musical tasks over the years, learning the details of how to make my scores look great have always been challenging.

That’s not to the say that they looked bad or they were illegible…they just could have been better. One of the great outcomes from doing what I do for all these many years is that I’ve gained experience…and that includes putting together a score. So, as mentally draining a task as it’s been these past bunch of weeks, it’s also been very gratifying to apply the skills I’ve learned over the years to make my scores look better…especially those older ones.

Other than recordings and videos, scores are my only other keepsake of my creative output. It’s important to me that they are treated with care. I’m happy that I’ve spent all this time on this important project. That being said, I’m not looking forward to the next version of Finale coming out. 😉😬😕

At the time of writing this blog post, I’m still not finished this gargantuan task. But most pieces are complete. Check out my composition portfolio to view my scores for yourself.