It’s an oddity of writing that in the gray, purple heart of Lent I am hard at work on Christmas pieces.
During Advent I got the idea to write a collection of Christmas carol arrangements. However, being overburdened with time (HA!), I managed to complete exactly one, and that one not until after we had taken down the Christmas tree–mind you, we leave our tree up all the way through Epiphany.
Now I’m setting a goal of writing one every other month for a year. That way I’ll have my collection ready by next Christmas. Ready to play, anyway.
Incidentally, we now have copies in hand of “Times and Seasons” for flute/piano (GIA)and “Go In Peace” for assembly use (WLP). I have to admit, when I saw my name on the covers of those two publications, it actually took my breath away for a moment–cliche as that sounds. It was akin to holding your baby for the first time. You know a lot about the baby before it gets here–but there’s nothing quite like that first sight, that first touch.
Christian is a superb publicist. He has gotten me in the newspaper. Technically, that will be next weekend, but we’ve done the interview already.
I’m doing a lot more publicity for my music than I did for “The Beggar’s Queen.” I’m in my element here–I sound intelligent when I talk about music. And I know a whole lot more people, so I’ve been able to send emails around the country. Whether that makes a difference in sales remains to be seen.
Kathleen M. Basi 