I wrote shortly ago about my new years resolution to only work on one project at a time. In addition to that I’ve added a maxim, “complete or delete.”
I’ve posted a lot of content over the last decade, but as someone who gets far more ideas than he has time for, I’ve also hoarded the remnants of many an incomplete project. This last year as I was starting to get my health in order, I also started to clean out my extranious posessions to simplify-declutter my life and surroundings. The time has come to do the same with my backlog.
To begin with, getting into the spirit of the project, I organized the vast collection of digital sheet music that I’ve collected over the years. Now, if I want to find something to perform for a specific set of voices, I stand a chance of actually finding it. Done.
Now, I’m on to the far more important and daunting task of tackling my Finale folder (Finale is the program I use to notate music). There are hundreds of compositions and arrangements in that folder: completed and published, completed and unpublished, as well as many false starts and ideas for works that have yet to be fully realized. Over the years I have tried to keep this area organized, but my system of filing (based solely on type of the piece or instrumentation) has always made this folder feel like a black hole. NO MORE!
To break of cycle of false starts and forgotten forays (remember that I’m trying to stick to one project at a time now until it is completed) I have now started to organize my Finale files by where the works are published. I have folders (containing categorized sub-folders) for MRyanTaylor.com, ChoirWorks.com, ThirteenforHalloween.com and OldFatherChristmas.com – all places I self-publish my music. Anything that is not on one of these sites has been relegated to the ‘homeless’ folder.
The goal now is to move projects from the ‘homeless’ folder into one of the ‘published’ folders. Already, I have posted 21 sight-reading song sheets that I’ve made for the American Fork Children’s Choir to ChoirWorks.com. This was the work of a very long day, but it feels so good to get them posted – something I’ve been meaning to do for months.
The beauty of this ‘homeless’ vs. ‘published’ filing system is that I don’t have to hunt for the pieces that ‘need my help.’ They’re all there, together, waiting for me to do something with them. Among the ‘homeless’ are:
- My opera Abinadi, which I really need to make available in some kind of format (update: now available on this site).
- My new opera, three-fifths completed, The Giant’s Heart – which needs to be finished, of course, before I can publish it.
- Two of my Children’s songbooks, which were once available, but are now not linked to any of my sites.
- New pieces for tuba, string quartet, and various songs.
Anyway, lots of work to do, but I’m very excited about it. Complete or delete.
