Corner. n. A Place Out of Which It Is Hard to Get.

Well, the rewrites and the finishing and the polishing and the tinkering are all going along pretty well for The Poptimists.

One of the ways I manage to keep going during a writing or composing session is that when I hit a snag, I just jump past it, keep going, and finish the first draft of whatever it is I'm working on. I'll continue through the project and then go back and attack those stumbling blocks later, during the second pass.

Yes, it's possible to procrastinate even as you're actually sitting there and writing what it is you're trying to put off ...

Now the second pass is where I realize just how big the original problem was and I get angry with myself for not fixing it the first time through. And, of course, sufficient time has passed so sometimes I can't remember just exactly what it was I was going for at the time I originally passed over the creative bump.

Right now, it's a musical problem. I'm working on the "macho" number for the boys called B.M.O.C. It's a jazzy kind of thing that modulates up (changes to a higher musical key) near the end of each verse. The problem is, I can't figure out how to modulate back down in time for the second verse.

Fortunately, this has happened to me only a few times in nearly 40 years of composition. (Why yes, I am over 40. Thank you for the compliment.) Had I actually studied composition, I'm sure the answer would be simple and elegant. As it is now, it's abrupt and clunky ... but still musically sound.

Yes, it seems I am ... the Rocky Balboa of musical theater composition.

My arranger says he can easily "fix it" when he does the arrangement for the band. But the thing is, I need a piano score version to rehearse with, so that means I've got to fix it (which the stubborn Leo in me insists on doing anyway).

The "fix" usually ends up being so simple that I either think of it right away, or would never come to it in 500 years.

I think I have it licked, though. I just have to make sure it's smooth enough so people hearing the song don't sprain their ears and necks because it's too abrupt. Likewise, I don't want them so mystified that I end up with audience of RCA dogs. (Heads slightly cocked to one side with a confused expression their faces).

[insert cricket sounds]

So yes, I have every confidence that this problem shall be conquered.

On the third pass.