More Musings

OK, while still on the subject...


The top 10 (or 11...or 12) most influential composers of my compositional life up to this point:
(note: in no particular order)

1. J.S. Bach
2. W. A. Mozart
3. Morten Lauridsen
4. Arvo Part
5. Eric Whitacre
6. Gustav Mahler
7. Sergei Rachmaninoff
8. Franz Schubert
9. Moses Hogan
10. Anton Bruckner
10a. Leonard Bernstein
10b. Aaron Copland

While I know I left off some of my favorites, as well as some giants of the musical world...it was these ten that really inspired me, for one reason or another, to want to compose. All of these composers are special to me in a way, for opening my ears and my mind to trying new things, as a listener and as a composer, daring me to work harder at my craft. They still do. Every time I listen to them I get a tingle of nostalgia, as well as find some new kernal that I can use to make myself better.

Musings on my "style"

Arvo Part, the Estonian composer, writes some of the most amazing and seemingly simple choral music I can think of. When I was afreshman in college, I sang his Solfeggio and was very interested in this almost elementary style of musical composition. The music flows freely, as a melodic line passes through different voices, overlapping at points, reaching areas of beautiful harmony and extreme dissonance. Tintinnabulation , Part's compositional style based on the mysticism of chant, is a big influence on my musical style, both directly and indirectly. Directly, it has effected some of my pieces, where I overlay voices, each singing one at a time, so that the difference in voice type is more extreme than the shift of melody. The melodic line remains very similar while the voicing becomes extremely different. The opening lines of my "Nunc Dimittis" is a great example of the overlapping of musical phrases. But even when the musical lines are more tradtional, I still think of music in this overlapping harmonic style. While I don't stick to the strict rules that sometimes follows this style, I use it as a starting point for many of my pieces. I overlap my melody between more than one voice, often letting the melody drift between all four (or more) voices. Perhaps in one phrase I'll start with the altos on the melody, only to have it descend down into the tenor part, only to have it rise up over to the sopranos, to be finally grounded by the basses. Other times I try to create 4 melodies all at once, each one just as important as the others, to create a truly intertwined feeling of the voices. In my mind, no singular voice should be more important than the others. Even if other voices are acting as harmony for a line, I try to make the harmony an interesting one for the ears. It was after discovering Part that I began to realize how voices could sing all at once, four different things, yet at the same time convey the same idea (actually, this applies to Bach as well, but in a different way). By making the power of each voice equal, I try to make music that can be approached from many different directions, while all reaching the same conclusion.

A funny thing...

OK, so I've learned something very valuable about being an elementary music teacher...it's nearly impossible to grade about half of each class. There is an easy distinction between those who love music and try very hard and want to learn, and those who are distracted, disruptive and don't want to be there. Those grades are very easy to figure out, but there is about half the class where they are sometimes participating, or sometimes disruptive, sometimes working hard and sometimes care. Those students...the ones on the fence about everything, are not only the hardest to reach, but they are the hardest to grade...so grading is not as easy as I thought it was, when I was sitting in class on the other side of the glass.

An Interesting idea for a project

So something came to me today while I was planning lessons/ doing grades in my room. I was walking around the building (as I am wont to do when I can't sit still) and in front of one of the other teacher's rooms, she had put up the first lines of the Preamble of the United States constitution (the one that starts "We, the People..." for those who can't remember). Now that gave me a very interesting idea. I'm thinking about doing a very strange thing...composing a piece for a cappella choir that uses the text of the Preamble as the lyrics for the piece. It would definitely be a mood piece, with a lot of text painting, and rather patriotic. Now it's just an idea, but I'll definitely try to kick it around a bit.

In other news, I'm looking for a mezzo-soprano, soprano with a nice low register, or an alto with a nice higher register to sing the now 5-song long cycle e.e. cummings poems, titled God(love) Songs. It is for voice and either piano or harp (I'd love to hear it on harp, but I know some things are hard to coordinate) and I think they're ready for recording. While not especially operatic in scope, I would love to hear someone else sing them other than myself. I would just really love to put some actual voices up on my myspace music site...the midi recordings are rather ridiculous. Also, if you know of a choir looking for pieces of music, I am available to either compose new works, and I have an ever-expanding catalog of completed works. I'm willing to negotiate things, anything to get my foot in the door.

A feeling of frailty

Every once in awhile I have these feelings of deep inadequecy. As a composer, I am always in awe of my contemporaries, even if they are 15 years older or more. The best I can do is immerse myself in as much music as possible and find my own way of saying things with my music. Last year, I performed The Ecstacies Above, a brilliant piece for choir and string quartet by the amazing young Scottish composer Tarik O'Regan. The first time I heard the music I was floored. The premise is so simple, but his ability to mix layers and just his overall ear for harmony is impeccable. I was just so jealous of the talent he posesses, and it makes me work harder to develop works that I feel would even come close to the beauty that these modern works evoke. In high school, I was taken aback by the brilliant work of Morten Lauridsen, and he's still one of my biggest influences. When I first got to college, I discovered the work of Eric Whitacre and was blown away by his innate grasp of how to make things sound beautiful. These composers are still working today, putting out the masterpieces that will be played 100 years from now. I want to have the depth of emotion that they have, I want to be able to write a piece of music that stirs the soul of a person who listens. I want to write a chord that will make the hair on your neck stand up, give you goosebumps, and make you fall in love with music all over again. I don't know if I ever will, but I will spend my life trying to condense my experience into my music. I have a good start, but where do I go next? I guess this is where the inadequecy steps in...how do I take the next step? Where is the difference between genius and hard work? Is my inspiration as good as anyone else's? I think the only thing I can do is pour my soul into the music, and let whatever happens...happen.