Hey, I'm still here!   Time flies.  I have been hard at work on the music of "Gus" for the past few weeks, and I'm happy to say that I completed the first piece (for now).   The piece, as it was sent to me, was about minute long, with a nice oboe melody over some rhythmic and ever-changing string parts.  I think the string parts may have been played on some kind of guitar synth, possibly using an arpeggiator.  Maybe it's just keyboard.  I'm not really sure, but there was a lot going on!   I went through the rather painstaking process of transcribing it note-for-note, which was especially hard because the structure was pretty linear (not a lot of repeats).    In order to make my own version, I picked the first six bars or so as a kind of repeated chorus, and developed the oboe melody over several different chord changes.   I thinned out the arrangement when the melody is introduced, and each time it is restated until the very end.  I added a few different sections to create a bigger and more logical structure, which ended up at about two and a half minutes.  I scored it for two violins, viola, cello, bass, and oboe.    I really had to rework the chord voicings in order for the individual parts to make sense.  It was a lot of work, but it seems to be worth it.  It definitely has a "classical" chamber music vibe to it.  I'm very happy with the results, and "Gus" seems to like it, too!   He made a suggestion of adding another modulation in the middle, so I'll be working that out this week.  I think it will probably end up at about three minutes.

Anyway, loyal readers, I thought you'd like to know!  More to come....