I’m back home in Toronto after a 3-week artist residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in southern California. It was nice to have a change of scenery though my daily routine stayed pretty much the same, which satisfied my obsessive-compulsive A-type personality:)! It was an extremely productive 3-weeks composing-wise. The main objective of the trip was to get a head start on the sequel to my piano composition, Earth Hour. That was achieved! I even recorded some audio of nature sounds in the surrounding area that I’m hoping to incorporate into the new piece.
Before the trip, I thought the only piece I would compose was ‘Earth Hour 2’, but it ended up that the inspiration flowed out of me because I also finished another hour-long ambient electronic composition, continued work on another electronic composition that’s quite experimental sound-wise and tinkered with a piece I’m composing for violin and marimba.
In the past bunch of months, I’ve been jumping from creative project to creative project without finishing any. That’s rare for me as I usually get motivated by the get-to-the-finish-line mentality in my creative output. But I’ve enjoyed doing things this way lately. It’s been invigorating to listen and work on works-in-progress as everything seems to be much fresher. New perspectives. New ideas. Giving the brain and ears a break is such a good thing!
Visiting Dorland was the first time I ever attended an artist residency. Would I ever do it again? Absolutely! As much as I’m a homebody, there’s nothing more important in life than changing it up a bit. That being said, I’m glad to be home.