Epic conclusion to a so-so essay

I'm just finishing up my Yale DMA Application (which is due in, oh, three hours), and I had to upload an example of "scholarly writing." I decided to go with a paper that was my final for a very interesting BoCo grad. seminar on the history of the Mass. In the essay, I broadly trace the way composers and audiences have treated the famous liturgy through the years. The essay itself isn't anything special, but, in rereading it, I think the concluding paragraph might be. It could also be corny. You decide.

Our human evolution—spiritually, artistically, intellectually—is a continuum in which small changes, accumulating through time, thrust up to irrevocably change the world we experience. There are few, if any, artistic traditions that survive as true to their original form as the setting of the Mass to music, for even in denying its ancient format we are reacting to its lineage. Just as our art has grown exponentially richer and more diverse through millennia, our concepts of religion and tradition have constantly changed, revolved, bifurcated, reconstituted, and reappeared in infinitely engaging and exciting ways. Our world is vastly more secular than that of the early Christians, but we still have the same questions in need of answers. The Ordinary of the Catholic Mass, fundamentally unchanged since its formation, is the perfect chronicle of our ever-expanding, ever-enriching, ever-evolving human experience.

Rapido! 2010 - New England Winning Composition

This piece is eligible for the Audience Favorite Award at the Rapido! National Competition in January. Help me out by voting at the official website!

... Or at least I hope they do

And so it begins!

I've never been one to blog, and I've seldom been one to Tweet. I enjoy a casual relationship with Facebook---I drop in, on occasion, but I don't make any promises of a long-term commitment. I have a website (infrequently updated), a MySpace page (which I logged into once, and that was just to register), and an eBay account (with just over 100 feedback ratings in nearly a decade).

In short, I've always held the internet at arm's length.

I think it's time I gave something back to my great big electro-network-ical buddy. And so, I present you ("you," as of 8pm on a Wednesday in late 2010, being my only audience member) with a little bit of me.

But who am I, you ask?

My name is Patrick.

I was born twenty-five years ago in New Haven, Connecticut. Nowadays, I live in Boston with my girlfriend Micah (an immensely talented singer and actress), our cat Peanut (immense in his own right), and an assortment of predatory fish (don't worry, this will make sense (or, perhaps, not) after future blog posts).

I make music.

I'm a composer of contemporary art music (or 'classical' music, or 'serious' music, or 'concert' music, although none of these really hit the mark, and all of them make whomever is saying/writing them look kind of like a douchebag). I'm also a singer, instrumentalist, conductor, theoretician, musicologist, etc., but I think "maker of music" best sums it all up.

I'm on the short side (5'6"), the hairy side (most of which is concentrated in my eyebrows, which make me extraordinarily well adapted to sunny regions (or crumbly environments)), and the left side (because to be anywhere right of center is, in my opinion, to be incorrect (but more on this later, and feel free to argue)).

I speak quickly (and quite well, I think), but I've slowed down through the years. I've been certifiably hyperactive and attention-deficient for almost a decade and a half, but somehow manage to be anal-retentive about various and sundry things.

I deal with my overabundance of energy by letting it loose. I have a ridiculous list of hobbies and interests, and pride myself on my ability to talk with just about anybody about just about any topic. I also pride myself on my ability to write the word "about" three times in a single sentence.

THEY WILL REMEMBER US will be a repository of my thoughts and digressions, but it'll also have at least a semblance of structure. I'd like to walk you through my compositional processes---partly to share what's going on in my head, and partly so I don't forget someday. I'll have an ongoing series, tentatively titled "Music Notes" (hahaha, I know, I know) that'll detail what I'm working on and through.

So here I am, Mr. Internet, adding my own goofy little cog to your majestic machinery.

My name is Patrick, and I'm pleased to meet you.