2 pages of comments.. wow.
"This is perhaps the most mechanical/ robotic/ stiff/ unrevealing essay that you have written during the past 2 quarters"
"you seem to be going through a mini-slump"
shit

This is hum, not science, don't apply formulae, they don't work.. Mechanical, robotic, sticking to a formula.. what am I doing? But why can't I think of something worth talking about at all this quarter? How to get out of this slush??

On a separate note, quoting Geoff
"When you're onstage and the audience is all quiet and the cellos and basses start a piece with a soli, it's very scary." True, I've never played a piece where the soli lasted more than 2 bars.. actually I have, but it's simple things like Stand By Me or Canon. Here it's 16 bars of sleazy melody with glisses everywhere without anything else entering. Good luck to us.