ComposeCreate.com » Creativity

ComposeCreate is on Facebook!

Wendy — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:14 +0000

Yes, its true! ComposeCreate now has a page on Facebook. Once you visit the page, choose to “like” it and updates to it and this blog will be sent directly to your newsfeed.

A few teachers and I have been having a great conversation about what composers would be on Facebook if they lived in our time. It’s been quite a hilarious discussion and I’d invite you to check it out. Here are a few comments to whet your appetite!

From Susan:

The way I see it, Beethoven would never join FB; he was too unsocial. However, he would constantly email complaints about his pianos. Bach, too, would think FB was a waste of time, but he would look at his wife’s and children’s pages. He would not give out his email because he was sick of questions about ornaments.

From Ivea:

Schubert couldn’t possibly afford to be on fb. Clementi will have fb advertisements for his pianos and publications…

Dan says:

Brahms was known to go to the pub, so maybe he may get online. However, his wit was sharp and personal, so I don’t think he’d have fawning type friends…

and Dan again:

Schoenberg? hemay tryco mposi ngins omecr yptic twelv etone codei quess.

You must go read this!

April MTNA eJournal Available

Wendy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:00:45 +0000

The April MTNA eJournal is available online now. You can read these articles without registering here although you may not be able to hear and see the enhanced media (sound files, video files) unless you register. In this edition you will find two interesting articles:

The Musicians Guide to the Brain: From Perception to Performance by Lois Svard.
This is the 2nd article in the series: The Musicians Guide to the Brain. While this excellent article is targeted at performance and teaching, there are many wonderful applications to composing. Svard explains how proficiency of an instrument or technique is formed in the brain and how practice habits are formed and how they can be broken. I found that many of the explanations applied directly to developing proficiency in composing. Svard is currently at work on a book on neuropedagogy that will explore how recent discoveries in neuroscience can help musicians in their work in the teaching studio, the practice room, and on the concert stage.

Changes in Performance Style: Before the Era of Recordings by Malcom Bilson. Bilson claims,

While it is abundantly clear that musical performance 100 years ago was vastly different from what is heard today, it is my opinion that the most important changes in musical performance occurred across the 19th century before recording began around 1900.

This is a very interesting edition. I think you will find many applications to your teaching and composing.

If you would like to submit a scholarly article to be considered for publication in the journal, the editorial committee would like to hear from you:

An editorial committee has been appointed and is working with questions and observations about format and process that have arisen during this first full year of publication. We are working to refine the vision and to build a quality corpus of articles that will set the level and tone that we hope the e- Journal will embody. We are grappling with the most meaningful ways of implementing peerreview to lend credibility and weight to the writings selected for publication. We aim to attract substantive, cutting-edge thought, research, writing and philosophy in the field of music teaching and learning.

Even more than that, we want to receive your best article submissions. We aim to make the e-Journal a publication of substance, prestige and high quality. We need you to help us achieve that goal.

Submit your article here.

Vision

Wendy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:00:55 +0000

This is Lesson #8 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. I have seen so many organizations fail or falter because of a lack of clear vision and a committment to that vision. Composers and teachers must keep in mind that they are organizations in and of themselves and should work to develop and maintain a vision for optimal growth.

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)
Lesson #7 Attention (Page 48)
Lesson #8 Vision (Page 15)

Attention

Wendy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:06 +0000

This is Lesson #7 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This is great advice for those wanting to establish a presence online.

How Innovation Happens at 3M (and how it relates to music teaching/publishing)

Wendy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:19:09 +0000

I love the Wall Street Journal as an unusual source of creative and entrepreneural inspiration. On Monday, March 1st, there was an article entitled, At 3M, Innovation Comes in Tweaks in which CEO George Buckley was interviewed about his company and their innovations and creative processes. Really the whole article is interesting and worth the read, but I love what he said in this part of the interview,

WSJ: How else do you get your people to be creative?

Mr. Buckley: Everybody wants to find out how to can creativity. You can’t. Creativity comes from freedom, not control. We let all the people in the R&D community spend 15% of their time researching whatever they like.

Now, I have heard of several companies allowing their employees to spend a small percentage of their time researching their own interests with remarkable results (Google for one). It only makes sense that people are most excited about projects that interest them and in which they have vested interests.

How does that relate to the world of music teaching?

Well, I wonder what would happen if we as teachers allowed our students to spend a certain percentage of their practice time and their music selection on music that they love and pick themselves? Several years ago, I had a 9th grader who was talented but was just about to quit piano his mother told me. We worked out a deal where he could chose up yo 50% of his pieces for that year and I would choose the remaining 50%. He could spend half of his time on music he loved as long as he spent half of his time on the music I assigned. This was the only way we got through that year, but I’m so excited to say that he is now a senior and has developed into quite the musician! He continues to study music that he loves, but it is often music that I have picked now that his tastes have developed. We spent a good deal of time in his 9th and 1oth grade years on Broadway music, church music, holiday music, etc., but it was well worth it as his love of music just grew by leaps and bounds.

I wonder how this could relate and encourage more innovation in the composing/publishing world as well?

Strengths (a note from Chopin)

Wendy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

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

Wendy — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:00:43 +0000

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)

Connected

Wendy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:00:29 +0000

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

Wendy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:59 +0000

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

Wendy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:00:51 +0000

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)