I have found this to be music in the sky, and at times rather specific. These are compilations of some of the more dramatic, (without music!) and offer some inspiration in terms of sound mass and interaction among symphonic instrument families.
A useful technique.

“There are some people who live in a dream world,

and there are some who face reality;

and then there are those who turn one into the other.”

Douglas Everett

 The stress and the pain of creating, of just finding the stuff that’s deep inside and then finding a way to translate that out onto the page is a very difficult process.

It’s staring yourself in the face and dealing with all those things you don’t like to.  That’s really the part that’s hard.

Some days it goes well and other days it doesn’t, so it’s like anything.

Bubbles and Smoke
This is a good representation of dissolution

2 views of Bubbles for Organic Shapes


1

2

Some More Organic Shapes and Swarms:

Leonard Bernstein at The MacDowell Colony, 1962.
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) was already famous when he first stayed at The MacDowell Colony in 1962.  He returned in 1970 and 1972.  “All of those times I was writing works which had, at least in intent, a vastness, which were dealing with subjects of astronomical if not mystical and astrological dimension,” Bernstein reminisced in 1987.  “This vastness is inherent somehow in this place.”

I received praise and notoriety from the award of a MacDowell fellowship last week, but I tend to see this in a different light.
I see this as a well placed bet on me to succeed, or at least produce some enduring and imaginative work. It would be a large waste of time, money, and individual effort on the part of many people involved at the MacDowell colony, if they were not exceedingly careful in selecting artists who are likely to produce, and in a timely manner.

A residency is a highly regarded and much coveted honor. To belong to this group of fellows is to sense the outside support now as well as the inner drive and passion within. My wish is that these posts, as they progress, will shed light on the “muses”, both individual, and collective, among composers.