Sleep

Ahh sleep.

This has been the house of mixed-up sleep patterns for the past couple of weeks.

Lillian has decided that napping in the daytime is an option for whenever she feels like it. And she's been waking at night again. I blame the teeth. I've been watching her little choppers and what I thought would be tooth no. 6 is still under the gum up top, but today I noticed that actual tooth no. 6 has popped though in her lower jaw. So there it is. Six teeth and no. 7 almost sprouted. Last night was the best night's sleep she's had in ages. 7.15pm to 6.45am - heaven! Wish I'd been asleep for that long.

David and I have been staying up too late catching our breath, as it's such a whirlwind with two young bunnies in the house who occupy every waking moment. What do I do staying up after the kids have gone to sleep? Well, I do the dishes and make the lunches. I tidy the lounge and kitchen, as it's really difficult to relax when there is chaos around me. I might fold clean laundry and put it away. Occasionally I iron shirts. Sometimes I mop dirty floors. I watch a bit of tv, but not every night. And of course I pop onto the computer to check messages and catch up with online friends, and I also write some little black dots.

Speaking of which, I think we have good progress. I'm up to just over 3 minutes (15 min max) and past halfway though the first text. I wish the person from Penguin would get back to me about rights to the poem, as the author's son has given his approval for its use, which is very kind. Just need the official 'yes', otherwise the piece is going to have to have a lobotomy. Eep.

I'm pleased with how it's going so far. A lot of it is in my head, which is a little alarming when I look at the blank staves, but as I work in short score with lots of jottings for orchestrations etc, it does come back to me. As a necessity the most important part is the text setting and resultantly the harmonic and rhythmic language, which, in SATB setting, creates itself anyway so there's my kick-off for the rest of the score. And actually I'm enjoying the bits of pre-composition I've got going on a sheet of manuscript in front of me. Chord sequences in various inversions, relationships from one chord to another, little diagrams of interval patterns, and some a-rhythmic vocal writing. Nice to be at this stage of the piece where it's starting to flow. I just need more time and more sleep.

The only person who's been getting good sleep at night is Alexander, bless his cotton socks.

Anyway, I'm off to bed.