Archive for category Composing
Strengths (a note from Chopin)
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on March 8th, 2010
This is Lesson #6 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. While there is a lot of truth to this little adage, I don’t know that I would completely discount the importance of working on our weaknesses. Especially for a young composer, it’s helpful to identify weaknesses and strive to improve them since one does not always know their strengths. Young composers need to “outfit their arsenol” of techniques. But, I do understand the point being made here since doing what you are good at will certainly produce more in the area of your strength. Before sharing this little tidbit from the What Matter Now series, I’d like to share some thoughts from someone who has a bit more clout in the musical world.
In my reading of Aaron Copland’s Music and Imagination, part of the Charles Eliot Norton lecture series from Harvard, I found an interesting passage about Frederick Chopin. It seems Chopin’s friends tried over and over again to get him to broaden his portfolio by writing for other instruments and groupings. From a letter to one of his friends, we can hear his thoughts on the matter:
I know my limitations, and I know I would make a fool of myself if I tried to climb too high without having the ability to do it. They plague me to death, urging me to write symphonies and operas, and they want me to be everything in one, a Polish Rossinni and a Mozart and a Beethoven. But, I just laugh under my breath and think to myself that one must start from small things. Im only a pianist, and if I’m worth anything this is good too…I think it’s better to do only a little but to do that as well as possible, rather than try to do all things and do them poorly.
Should you need a bit more encouragement in this area, here is the little adage from the What Matter Now series that made me think of that great Chopin quote.
Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Lesson #3 Change (page 50)
Lesson #4 Connected (Page 12)
Lesson #5 Productivity (Page 68)
Lesson #6 Strengths (Page 22)
Productivity
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on March 1st, 2010
This is Lesson #5 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. I’ve referenced this one at the beginning of the year when I was making 1 year goals. I love her last line, “Don’t worry about getting things done. Make things happen.” This is great advice for a composer.
Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Lesson #3 Change (page 50)
Lesson #4 Connected (Page 12)
Lesson #5 Productivity (Page 68)
Why I Love Being a Composer
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Composing as a Career, Piano Teaching on February 24th, 2010
I love hearing from students who have played my pieces! This is the 2nd group of pictures I have received from a student who learned my Twister piece for his recital last year. I had the privilege to hear this student play the piece for me for a state music test and he was magnificent! It was so exciting to hear a performance from a student who was passionate about the piece, tornadoes, and playing the piano. I hope he keeps sending me pictures and perhaps soon I’ll have another piece to share with him at his level, though I’m sure he has advanced significantly by now! Here is the picture he sent me last year.
It is such a privilege to live in 2010 where email and the internet makes connecting with a composer very easy. I hope all students take the time to connect with the composer of a piece that they love. I know that composers are thrilled to be contacted about their pieces.
What a honor it is to have your piece loved by a student. Thanks for sending this!
Music, Meaning, and Morality
Posted by Wendy in Composing, General, General Music on February 24th, 2010
When I was an undergraduate, I was fascinated with the question about whether music had meaning, was moral, and whether it was effective in communicating meaning or morality. I wrote several papers about this, but when I crossed over into the world of composition, this question became even more important to me. I remember my composition professor expressing that music is not terribly effective in communicating a specific idea but rather the effect of that idea, especially on a person’s emotions. Needless to say, this helped me in choosing subjects for composing.
When I was reading Music and Imagination by Aaron Copland, I noticed he tackled this question as well. On the subject of what a listener understands when listening to music, he writes,
Were you absorbed? Was your attention held? That, then, was it; for what you heard were patterns of sounds that represent the central core of the composer’s being–or that aspect of it reflected in the particular work in question. One part of everything he is and knows is implicit in each composer’s single work, and it is that central fact of his being that he hopes he has communicated.
Copland then goes on to tackle the deeper question:
Are you a better person for having heard a great work of art? Are you morally a better person, I mean? In the largest sense, I suppose you are, but in the more immediate sense, I doubt it. I doubt it because I have never seen it demonstrated. What happens is that a masterwork awakens in us reactions of a spiritual order that are already in us, only waiting to be aroused. When Beethoven’s music exhorts us to ‘be noble,’ ‘be compassionate,’ ‘ be strong,’ he awakens moral ideas that are already within us. His music cannot persuade; it makes evident. It does not shape conduct: it is itself the exemplification of a particular way of looking at life. A concert is not a sermon. It is a performance–a reincarnation of a series of ideas implicit in the work of art.
I feel I must let his words speak for themselves. I hope this gives you something to think on this week.
Connected
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on February 22nd, 2010
This is Lesson #4 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This one reminds me that while I need to embrace the benefits of new technology, I need to remember that there are parts of what has worked well in the past that I need to still maintain. Human nature will always be human nature and the ways that some companies have tapped into what appeals to us as humans in the past will continue to appeal to us in the future. (I think specifically of things like a genuine interest in people that leads to better customer service, a follow up conversation, etc. )
Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Lesson #3 Change (page 50)
Lesson #4 Connected (Page 12)
The Sensitive Amateur Listener
Posted by Wendy in Composer Tools, Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on February 16th, 2010
Like most composers, I am always testing my music. I test it for the following reasons:
- To know what works and what doesn’t.
- To know what is difficult for the performer and what is easy.
- To know if the piece sounds as I intended it to sound.
But above all, I need to know if my piece makes a connection with the musician. This is especially true in writing pedagogical music. If it does not connect with a student at some level, then I know I need to rethink the piece and perhaps even toss it in the “just practicing pile.” Though my pedagogical pieces are first seen and approved by an editor, then evaluated through the eyes of a teacher, my first responsibility is to write music that connects with the student! A good editor of course will be an expert at knowing what music connect with students.
As I was reflecting on this evaluative process that I go through for my music, I also thought of the unique perspective that a non-musician can bring to the evaluative process. I count it a privilege to have a husband who is not a musician and his perspective on my pieces is often the most valuable to me in understanding what connects with people as human beings, not merely as musicians. Through the years of going to concerts together and having many deep talks about the nature, creation, and value of music, he has become what I would consider a “sensitve amateur listener.” He is exactly who I thought of when I read this great statement by Aaron Copland in his Music and Imagination lecture:
The sensitive amateur, just because he lacks the prejudices and preconceptions of the professional musician, is sometimes a surer guide to the true quality of a piece of music.
This just further validates to me that I do well when I pay attention to the amateur, for what connects with him or her as a human being gives me insight into what connects with all human beings, musical or not. The amateur does not feel the need to hide behind the knowledge that he knows he is supposed to have. Their response is usually from a connection with the music rather than musical analysis or judgement. And at least in my case, this honesty is invaluable to my evaluative process.
Change
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on February 15th, 2010
This is Lesson #3 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This one is great for both composing, teaching, and life in general.
Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Lesson #3 Change (Page 50)
Knowing
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on February 8th, 2010
This is Lesson #2 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This inspiration is directly relevent to music teachers!
Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Passion
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, Inspiration on February 1st, 2010
Gina Trapani is the founder and a writer for a blog that I follow called Lifehacker. At the beginning of the year, she blogged about a wonderful little ebook called What Matter Now from which I have received a number of thoughtful pieces of advice. I’d like to share one of these little tidbits with you at the beginning of every week for a few months in hopes that they might be a help to you as you live, teach, or compose.
Lesson #1 Passion: (Page 51)
This is obviously great advice for a young person or student. But, if you can’t think of how this might apply to your life as a composer, then I’ll share how it has spoken to me of late.
I almost always write with a purpose. I like to have something to write about musically, so I am always brainstorming about new ideas. I find that though I can write decently for assignments given to me, my most creative writing comes when I write about that which I am passionate. I have found that “finding my passion” is not some abstract, difficult thing to do, but rather just finding out what excites me and places me in a state of wonder or fascination. I like that Derek defines passion as that which excites you and scares you every day! This is not always obvious to me, but when I search with those criteria, I almost always find something to write about and usually with good results.
Famous Lectures about Music
Posted by Wendy in Composing, Creativity, General, General Music, Inspiration on January 20th, 2010
When I was in my undergrad program, I discovered a book entitled The Unanswered Question by Leonard Berstein. I found it at a book store, bought it, then discovered that it was actually the text from a lecture Bernstein gave at Harvard University. I found videos of the actual lecture at my university library and thoroughly enjoyed watching, listening and reading this intellectual discussion of “whither music?”. As a matter of fact, I made my Theory I class watch the segment that talked about the harmonic series…Berstein was so passionate about what he was presenting and I wanted my class to see a first rate composer talk about the amazing harmonic series!
I think any good composer has to wrestle with the difficult questions of music’s origins, its affects, its meaning, etc. I find that while my right brain is free to intuitively make choices as I compose, it becomes more informed and educated by my left brain’s discoveries about these difficult questions. If you have never read or seen Berstein’s presentation, I would highly recommend doing so.
After discovering this treasure in school, I found that Aaron Copland had also been a lecturer at the Charles Eliot Norton Lecture series at Harvard and had delivered his famous “Music and Imagination” lecture in 1952. This year, I received this lecture in book form and am loving the intellectual stimulation that many of his points bring.
So, I decided that I would look to see which other composers have presented lectures on music as part of this series and was so excited to find lectures by Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Roger Sessions, John Cage, etc. Here is a list of the musicians that have presented:
1942–Igor Stravinsky Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons (I found a site with a free PDF and Kindle download available!)
1952–Paul Hindemith: A Composers World: Horizons and Limitations (another free PDF and Kindle dowload)
1952–Aaron Copland: Music and Imagination (another free PDF and Kindle download)
1961–Carlos Chavez: Musical Thought
1964–Leo Schrade: Tragedy in the Art of Music
1970–Roger Sessions: Questions about Music
1976–Leonard Berstein: The Unanswered Question
1990–John Cage: I-VI
1999–Joseph Kerman: Concerto Conversations
2008–Daniel Barenboim: Music Quickens Time
If anyone wants to know what to get me for my birthday, any of these books would be great (I already have Copland, Stravinsky, and Bernstein)! ;) In the meantime, I’ll be blogging more and more about the thought provoking things in these books and would love to hear any thoughts you have in response.
Off to read more thought provoking essays on music and composing….
