Saturday, June 11, 2011

Marketing Grimhilda...

Making good progress on the musical I've been writing: finished orchestrating the eighth scene today (eighth out of ten). There'll still be tidying up to do, and no doubt some changes, but a lot of those first eight scenes are pretty much as they'll appear in performance.

Just had a look again at the last scene's music - after a few weeks of ignoring it, I can see its faults more clearly. So there'll be some work to do there...! Still, that's the nature of the beast.

Just noticed, apropos of nothing that's gone before, that on the latest Firefox the indications about where your browser is searching for a particular site have shifted from the left side to the right. Why? you might be inclined to ask.

Meanwhile, back to Grimhilda! a title that has different effects on different people. Some pick up Wagnerian associations, some (well, one) think it old-fashioned, some just like it. (There aren't any Wagnerian associations, by the way, although I suspect the character of Grimhilda would be quite at home in a Wagnerian opera - in terms of personality, if not in terms of vocal range or power.)

Among the many things on my mind relating to the musical is the marketing of it. That's already begun, in a sense, with mentions of it on the blog, which feeds through to Facebook, where it's been discussed occasionally, and where it's known about amongst a smallish group of people.

I've got other plans: spent some of this week putting together a kind of collation of some of the music from the show. It's an 8-9 minute medley, which I'm hoping to play on any occasion that arises. (A friend of mine is planning several concerts for his singers this year, and when I'm accompanying, I should also be able to squeeze in some Grimhilda! music).

I'd like to record the medley and make it available on SoundCloud, or You Tube or one of the other openings on the Net. Because Grimhilda! is a complete unknown to most people, she'll need all the help she can get to put bums on seats...

I might even be able to persuade some of my singing friends to learn a few short sections and record those as well.

My collaborator and I have discussed the possibility of inviting people especially for the first night. Don't know that we'll print invitations but you never know! I'd also thought of having a night when people who couldn't otherwise go because of the ticket price could come. I feel it would be good to give people who can't otherwise afford to go an opportunity. Two of the shows I've been in over the last few years have been put on with a charity in mind - Habitat for Humanity - so that some of the profit goes to them. The concert person I mentioned above used to put on concerts partly to raise money for people with intellectual disabilities.

Keep an eye out for more news in this area...

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