tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72983125678434268292024-03-19T02:17:04.434-02:30→ Music Composition Weblog ←→ For anyone interested in music composition.Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-27984729527701875482024-01-30T19:46:00.001-03:302024-02-03T10:06:44.676-03:30Problems Writing Comments?<p><span style="color: #b4a7d6;">Some students tell me that they are unable to leave comments on blog posts. They get a message saying something like: "<b>You don't have access to this service. Contact your administrator.</b>"</span></p><p>This seems odd, but I think I may have a solution for you, courtesy of Emma Hamilton:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Log out of your MUN mail account (or log out of any MUN account, such as the one you use to get into BrightSpace). Basically, make sure that you're not logged into anything connected to MUN!</li><li>Sign into your Google account.</li><li>Go to my blog: https://clarkross.blogspot.com/</li><li>Go to the bottom of any post, and click the "comments" link; it tells you how many comments thete have been on that blog post, so it might say "6 comments," or any other number. That's what you click. Do not click the little mail icon next to the "comments" link; clicking on this icon lets you E-mail the blog post to someone, but that's not what we want.</li><li>That should take you to the page where you write you comment. <br />It should say something like: <b>Post a Comment On</b>: → <b>Music Composition Weblog</b> ←</li></ol>Please let me know if that worked.<div><br /></div><div>If it didn't work, drop by my office and we'll try to figure it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>My guess is that the cause of the problem is MUN's firewall, which prevents you from accessing potentially problematic websites. For some reason, attempting to leave a Blogger comment triggers this firewall.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you, Emma!</div>
<hr /><br /><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6;"><b>UPDATE: This works!</b></span><p></p></div>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-32969759921318283692024-01-27T21:48:00.014-03:302024-02-08T13:23:08.201-03:30Pandiatonicism 2: Examples<p>In <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2024/01/pandiatonicism.html" target="_blank">my previous post</a>, I explored what is meant by "Pandiatonicism" and found that there appears to be no widely-agreed-upon standard definition of the term. </p><p>Today's post has examples of music that some have labelled as pandiatonic.</p><p>Unfortunately, most of the examples below for which pandiatonicism is claimed seem overtly tonal, albeit with very little chromaticism, which may be why some people claim them to be pandiatonic. That said, many of these examples have at least some chromaticism, but I don't consider that minimal use of chromaticism automatically excludes the passage in question from being considered pandiatonic.</p><p>I'll try to find more examples, ideally better ones, that make a stronger case for being pandiatonic, but for now, check these out. If you want to skip down to what I consider the best example, see Stravinsky's <b>Sonata for Two Pianos</b>, towards the end of these examples.</p><p>Alfredo Casella (1883 - 1947), <i>11 Pezzi Infantili</i>, Op.35: 2-<i>Valse Diatonique</i> (1921) </p><p>• Cited in: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Aug. 2023. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2024</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0WNh6VRdd10?si=sLrtJPeK1h9INWfy" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>This shows no indication of being pandiatonic to me. It seems pretty strongly to be in C major, albeit with very little chromaticism. But the absence of chromaticism does not make a work pandiatonic. If it did, then simple nursery-rhyme tunes such as "Mary had a little lamb" would be pandiatonic, which they are not; they are tonal and diatonic.</p>
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</div><div><br /></div><div>Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), <i>Piano Concerto #3,</i> I (1921)</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />• Cited in: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Aug. 2023. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2024<div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rSrlrcpNu7o?si=4EsXEFSHjBUuoJj0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><p>This <i>hints</i> at pandiatonicism in the slow intro before switching to the faster material at rehearsal number 2 at which point it appears to be in C major for a few bars, after which it becomes more chromatic. Perhaps the intro is pandiatonic, but the rest of it isn't.</p><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Aaron Copland, (1900-1990) <i>Appalachian Spring</i> (1944)</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />• Cited in: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Aug. 2023. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2024<div><br /></div>
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<p>This has a 3-sharp signature and appears to be pretty unequivocally in A major. This work has lots of nice harmonies and key changes, but it does not appear to be pandiatonic.</p><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div><div>Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), <i>Shrovetide Fair</i> from <i>Petrushka</i> (1911)</div><div><br /></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2TQqee7ne2o?si=WUT2CP1F7rcBo3Ha" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>This has a 1-flat signature, but chords aren't necessarily progressing as they would in functional-harmony, so this seems to be a better example of pandiatonicism than previous examples. However, it also has overtly tonal sections, such as the simple folk-like melody at rehearsal number 23.</div><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div><div>Igor Stravinsky, <i>Pulcinella</i> (1920; the score is a piano reduction, but the recording is the chamber orchestra version)</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><div>• Cited in: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Aug. 2023. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2024</div><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVEcJnlHUMM?si=c9T9V7fOz04t_1nB" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>I have always enjoyed this piece, but I see nothing in the score that suggests anything other than tonality. It is mostly an <a href="https://youtu.be/GO2uW_YyeVU?si=UPDnGTNMzR234DX8" target="_blank">arrangement/adaptation of the music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi</a> (1710-1736; a tragically short life!) and several other composers. Click <a href="https://youtu.be/GO2uW_YyeVU?si=zPCWeio163xf8ghx" target="_blank">the link</a> if you are curious to hear the original versions of the baroque music Stravinsky used. To suggest that this is pandiatonic is inexplicable to me, but possibly I am missing something.</div><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div>Igor Stravinsky, <i>Sonata for Two Pianos</i> (1944)<div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-WBfwI4Gm6I?si=qGoMrodLoNP9GBMH" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><b>This one</b>! I consider this to be the best example of pandiatonicism on this page. For me, there are two criteria to establish pandiatonicism: (1) Can it be seen to be in a key? (2) Does it contain functional harmony? If the answer to either question is "yes," then it is tonal, <i>not</i> pandiatonic.</div><div><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div><div>Claude Debussy (1862-1918): <i>Preludes</i>, Book II, no. 12: <i>Feux d'artifice</i> (<i>Fireworks;</i> 1913)</div></div><div><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_VMkTggEuk?si=bvItbopSi9DQS2oU" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>This is not claimed to be pandiatonic by any sources that I have seen, but perhaps it has sections that are? It introduces chromaticism that seems to be mostly consistent within sections, but the chromatic notes differ in different sections.</p><div><hr /></div><div><br /></div><div>Claude Debussy: <i>Preludes</i>, Book I, no. 8: <i>La fille aux cheveux de lin</i> (<i>The Girl with Flaxen Hair;</i> 1910)</div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><div>• Cited in: "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 Aug. 2023. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2024</div></div><div><br /></div>
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<p>I posted an <a href="https://20thcenturyharmony.blogspot.com/2009/01/debussys-la-fille-aux-cheveux-de-lin.html" target="_blank">analytical essay</a> about this piece back in 2009, but for our purposes the salient point is that it is not pandiatonic. </p><p>It uses tonality in somewhat unconventional way – The opening is based on a Gb pentatonic scale; the first cadence is IV-I in Gb (plagal cadences were relatively unusual in classical and romantic music, although plagal extensions, sometimes called the "Amen cadence," were more common), which establishes the initial home key as Gb. However, this is followed immediately by a passage (mm. 5-7) that ends with a perfect authentic cadence (PAC) in Eb (= VI in Gb), which is surprising, but this is followed by a passage that ends with another PAC, this time back in Gb. The V chord in this cadence (mm. 9-10) has chordal extensions of a 7th, 9th, and 11th, but it is nevertheless a PAC in Gb.</p><p>It also uses chromaticism in mm. 6-9. All of these factors – establishing Gb as the tonic key through a plagal and authentic cadences in the first 11 bars, and the use of chromaticism – make this a tonal work, not pandiatonic. </p><p>That said, <span style="color: #b4a7d6;"><b>these bars do have at least one element of pandiatonicism</b></span>: There are 3rd-inversion dominant 7th chords on Gb and Ab in mm, 8-9 that do not resolve in a functional way (the second of these, the Ab dominant 7th, is followed by a Db dominant chord, making it a functional progression – V4/2 of V to V – but the voice leading is not functional; the 7ths don't resolve); these sonorities are used as colours, without regard for the need to resolve them in the traditional manner of classical tonal music.</p><div><hr /></div><div>I will periodically add more examples to this page. Please suggest other works that you think might be pandiatonic, and share your thoughts below in the Comments section!</div></div>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-64775981694904693292024-01-21T23:45:00.020-03:302024-01-29T11:11:38.132-03:30Pandiatonicism 1; Is It a Thing?<p>The term "pandiatonicism" was coined by Nicolas Slonimsky in the second edition of <i>Music Since 1900</i> (1938) to describe harmonic language that uses the notes of any diatonic scale in a non-tonal manner.</p>
<p>It is a somewhat problematic term for two reasons:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>It is partly defined by what it is not: <b>It is not tonal</b>, despite being based primarily on the diatonic notes of any key or scale.</li><li>There appears to be no widely-accepted understanding of the term beyond acceptance of the idea that it involves almost exclusively diatonic notes; it is defined differently by different writers.</li></ol><p></p>Regarding the first issue, let's explore how a composition can be based on the diatonic notes of a key or scale but <b><i>not</i></b> be tonal. I will suggest that the following conditions should apply:<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">It does not use functional harmony progressions, such as ii - V - I, IV - I, V - vi, etc., because these are the harmonic building blocks that establish a key in tonal music.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">It does not follow the voice-leading conventions of tonality that apply to the resolution of tendency tones, which include: </li><ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">Chord extensions: 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths,</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">The leading tone in dominant harmony,</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">Suspensions and retardations,</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">The 5th of diminished chords.<br /></li></ul><li>The next two voice-leading practices are common in tonal music, but I don't <i>think</i> they apply to pandiatonicism:</li><ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">The 6 & 4 of the cadential 6/4 (I don't see how pandiatonic music can have a cad. 6/4, since it is part of a progression that typically establishes a key),</li><li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Most chromatically-altered notes (this is irrelevant if only diatonic notes are used). </li></ul>
<li>Can pandiatonic music have a <span style="color: #b4a7d6;"><b>tonic chord</b></span> or <b><span style="color: #b4a7d6;">tonic note</span></b>? As you can see in the discussion below there is disagreement on this. My feeling is that it can, as long as it is not established by the means used in tonal music. Establishing a tonic note or chord through non-tonal means can be challenging, but it is not impossible</li></ul>
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Another problematic aspect is that it is defined differently by different people. For example:</p>
<p></p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Wikipedia article</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a> states that "all seven degrees of the diatonic scale [are] used freely in democratic equality."</li>
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">I believe that this idea came from Slonminsky (1938). I take this to mean that there is no hierarchy of diatonic notes and triads, unlike tonal music, in which different notes and triads often have specific roles to play, such as dominant-function chords (V, vii°), predominant-function chords (IV, ii), and tonic chords.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">The composer in me finds this to be an interesting idea. The problem with this description, however, is that I don't think that many of the works cited as examples of pandiatonicism have this quality (democratic equality of all diatonic notes).</li></ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Richard Kostelanetz, in <i>A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes </i>(2013, 465) writes: "The functional importance of the primary triads...remains undiminished in pandiatonic harmony." (Wikipedia says that this "appears to be quoting Slonminsky, FWIW.) </li>
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">I find this an odd statement. How is music in which primary triads have undiminished functional importance any different from tonality?</li></ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">On the other hand, Bryan R. Simms argues that "pandiatonicism does <b>not</b> project a clear and stable tonic" (<i>Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure</i> (1986, 63-64). </li><ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">This is closer to my understanding of pandiatonicism. </li></ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Also from Wikipedia: "Pandiatonic music typically uses the diatonic notes <b>freely</b> in <b>dissonant combinations without conventional resolutions </b>and/or <b>without standard chord progressions</b>, but <b>always with a strong sense of tonality</b> due to the absence of chromatics."</li><ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">I agree with the everything in the above statement until the last part: "<span style="color: #d5a6bd;">always with a strong sense of tonality due to the absence of chromatics.</span> </li><li>Wait… what? If you play a random series of pointillistic white notes, or white note clusters, on piano, will it necessarily result in music with a "strong sense of tonality?" Tonality isn't just about the <b>notes</b> used in a passage of music; it's about the <b>way</b> those notes are used. The only way for music to have a "strong sense of tonality" is for it to be tonal.</li></ul>
<li style="padding: 7px;">In Slonminky's 1947 edition of his <i>Music Since 1900</i> he suggested that pandiatonicism can be considered to be "a diatonic counterpart of Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, whereby melodies may be made up of seven different notes of the diatonic scale, and then be inverted, retrograded, or both. According to this system, "strict pandiatonic counterpoint" may use progressions of seven different notes in each voice, with no vertical duplication" ("<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism</a>," in <i>Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia</i>. Retrieved 21 Jan, 2024). </li><ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">This is another interesting compositional idea that might be fun to try, but I would suggest that almost no works that get cited as examples of pandiatonicism have this quality. </li></ul></ul>
<div>Here is my suggestion for composition students: I encourage you to try writing something that can be considered pandiatonic if the idea interests you.</div><div><br /></div>
<div>However, given the fact that a universally agreed-upon definition of pandiatonicism does not exist, I would like to suggest the following guidelines:</div>
<div><ol style="text-align: left;">
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Avoid anything in melodic lines or harmonic progressions that suggests tonality.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Avoid establishing a tonic. Or if this is too disturbing, establish a tonic, but not by any method associated with tonality; for example, Ti-Do and So-Do, if supported by dominant-to-tonic (or dominant to sub-mediant) harmony, are overtly tonal and should therefore be avoided.<br />
→ On the other hand, if Ti-Do is supported by non-tonic-to-dominant harmony, such as iii to ii<sup>7</sup>, or I<sup>7</sup> to IV, it is available.</li><li>Aim to use all pitches of whatever scale you use equitably and democratically. </li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Triads may be used only if they do not progress as they do in tonal music. <br />→ See the Kostka & Payne chord progression chart below for a summary of how diatonic chords <i>usually</i> progress in tonal music.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 7px;">Try to use non-triadic constructions as well, such as <span style="color: #d5a6bd;"><b>quartal</b></span> and <b><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">quintal</span></b> harmony.<br />
→ One challenge in using these types of harmonies is that, depending on what note you start on, you might end up with accidentals if trying to maintain a vertical structure of perfect fourths, such as C - F - Bb - Eb - Ab, etc. While <i>occasional</i> accidentals are fine in pandiatonicism, for the most part the objective is to avoid them.<br />
→ If you want to write quartal harmony using <i>only</i> perfect fourths and white notes (i.e., no accidentals), for example, you could build up from B: B - E - A - D - G - C - F.<br />→ If you want to try this with <b><span style="color: #d5a6bd;">quintal</span></b> harmony, build up from the last note above (F): F - C - G - D - A - E - B.</li><li>Give Slonminsky's serialist diatonicism a try if you wish, but it is not necessary to do so.</li></ol></div>
<div>You may find it challenging to write music you enjoy without borrowing common practices from tonal music; therein lies the reason tonal music is so widely embraced: Its practices have evolved over centuries to sound good to Western ears. We talk about Ti "wanting" to rise to Do in a V-I progression, or of a chord seventh "wanting" to resolve down by step to a consonance in the next chord, or a 4 "wanting" to resolve down to 3 in a 4-3 suspension, because these practices sound good or "right" to our ears, so writing tonal music in which these practices are <b>not</b> followed can feel very "wrong" to us.</div><blockquote>
<div>(On a side note, I am curious to know if the tonal music practices that sound "right" to our ears have corollaries in music of other cultures, such as South-Indian classical music, or traditional Chinese music. Do they use anything like dominant-tonic harmony?)</div></blockquote>
<div>For this reason, you may find it easier to write pandiatonic music that <i>avoids</i> triadic progressions, such as Slonminsky's serialist approach to diatonicism, or pointillistic music in which widely-spaced notes are distributed in unpredictable ways.</div><div><br /></div>
<div>I'll stop here for now; I will post some links to pandiatonic music in <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2024/01/pandiatonicism-2-examples.html" target="_blank">my next blog post</a>.</div><div><br /></div> <div>Please let me know your thoughts below in the comments section!</div>
<div><br /><hr /></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6;">How diatonic chords in classical music <i>usually</i> progress: </span><b><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-size: medium;">Chord-Flow Chart</span></b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(from Kostka, Stefan M., and Dorothy Payne. <i>Tonal harmony: With an introduction to twentieth-Century music</i>. New York etc.: McGraw-Hill, 2009. P. 111)</span>:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Usjup0g7dxToGks6eZmRWpR0_IU9usYf5kErbXYwmVJkdAr7QtOHPxNaDgO4L9F5w60FT9AQo00Spb85_fNodw-vynODX6x3GBCIvJi50rujV4tGX96tYYVCEu2_VgYlc_zqgNY0OQCD2HvcroeZCDbqtaV6iXsQ6Urn6XJLCtkXLkHuFzCicp9-pU4/s4367/000.%20Kostka-Payne-Chord-Flow-Chart.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="4367" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Usjup0g7dxToGks6eZmRWpR0_IU9usYf5kErbXYwmVJkdAr7QtOHPxNaDgO4L9F5w60FT9AQo00Spb85_fNodw-vynODX6x3GBCIvJi50rujV4tGX96tYYVCEu2_VgYlc_zqgNY0OQCD2HvcroeZCDbqtaV6iXsQ6Urn6XJLCtkXLkHuFzCicp9-pU4/w494-h173/000.%20Kostka-Payne-Chord-Flow-Chart.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><br /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><hr /><div>Check out the next post, <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2024/01/pandiatonicism-2-examples.html" target="_blank">Pandiatonicism 2</a>, to listen to various works that some have claimed to be pandiatonic.</div></div><div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><hr /></div></div><div>You may also like these posts on <i><b><span style="color: #b4a7d6;">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas:</span></b></i></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/09/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-1_18.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (1)</a></div><div><a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-2.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (2)</a></div><div><a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-3.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (3)</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-10848385905939652022023-03-12T16:40:00.003-02:302023-03-14T10:04:47.886-02:30The mad scientist of music | Mark Applebaum<div>Do you find this interesting? Is it music? No need to answer the second question, by the way, unless you feel like doing so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Check out this TED Talk by composer/creator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Applebaum" target="_blank">Mark Applebaum</a> and please share your thoughts in the comments below:</div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/46w99bZ3W_M" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>If you didn't click on the link in the second paragraph above to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Applebaum" target="_blank">Mark Applebaum</a>'s bio page in Wikipedia, the very brief version is that he is a full professor of music composition and theory at Stanford University.</div>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-73645315112631659912022-02-22T21:24:00.001-03:302022-03-01T21:42:29.237-03:30Film Music: "The Minions Do All the Writing?"<p>Interested in writing film music? Here's a link to a <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/the-ugly-truth-of-how-movie-scores-are-made" target="_blank">Vanity Fair article</a> that claims that the majority of film composers, including "big-name" composers such as Hans Zimmer, farm out much of the composing to uncredited "ghost composers," most of whom are paid very poorly and gain no recognition for their work, even when their work leads to Oscar and Golden Globe awards for the big-name composers who take all the credit. Here's the link:</p><p><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/the-ugly-truth-of-how-movie-scores-are-made" target="_blank">“The Minions Do the Actual Writing”: The Ugly Truth of How Movie Scores Are Made</a></p><p>John Williams is apparently a rare exception to this practice; he reputedly writes all his music himself. </p>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-91221831430097399412021-01-07T11:33:00.029-03:302023-03-30T20:57:20.696-02:30Daring to Dream Big – Pros and Cons (2)<p>Are you pursuing a dream?</p><p>About six years ago, I wrote a <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2015/03/daring-to-dream-big.html" target="_blank">post</a> about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_assessment" target="_blank">risk assessment exercise</a> we go through when deciding to <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2015/03/daring-to-dream-big.html" target="_blank">follow a dream</a>: <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2015/03/daring-to-dream-big.html" target="_blank">Daring to Dream Big – Pros and Cons (1)</a>. </p><p>Then, a few days ago, I saw a related question in Reddit: </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kpgl66/serious_redditors_who_gave_up_pursuing_their/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: large;"></span></a></p><blockquote><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kpgl66/serious_redditors_who_gave_up_pursuing_their/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: large;">Redditors who gave up pursuing their 'dream' to settle for a more secure or comfortable life, how did it turn out and do you regret your decision?</span></a></blockquote><p></p><p>If you have a dream, you may have asked yourself questions such as the following, or you may begin to question these things at some point in the future: </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>For how long should I continue to follow my dream?</li><li>If I give up my dream, can I be content knowing that I gave up my dream, or will I regret it for the rest of my life?</li></ol><p></p><p>The Reddit question above triggered hundreds of responses, many very thoughtful, which suggests that it resonates with many people. </p><p>For some, the answer was that giving up on their dreams turned out “great.” Here’s one example:</p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>Turned out great, just not right at the moment as I am still job hunting after having to quit my previous job. Still no regrets though.</i></p><p><i>I went to college to become a 3D animator. Something I always dreamed about. I was top of the class, constantly won awards for my work. I honestly thought I was going to make it big. Then the final semester started and all the seniors were required to go to a special hiring event where tons of big names would be. I got my portfolio and resume copies ready to go, and spent hours researching the big names and their projects as well as rehearsing lots of practice questions.</i></p><p><i>It was devastating. No one would look twice at my stuff. Introduced myself, made some awkward small talk as they were so disinterested, then as I walked away they would immediately put it in the stack with hundreds of other portfolios, and not in the special pile.</i></p><p><i>I switched up my game. I started introducing myself with a quick mention that I had a background in programming (I did). Thinking that maybe that would give me an edge. Oh boy did it work. Suddenly I was getting personal business cards, phone numbers and emails, my resume was put on the special pile.</i></p><p><i>It was at that moment I realized I went into the wrong field. I was just a tiny insignificant drop in a sea of artists, many of whom were much more talented than I could ever be.</i></p><p><i>Finished up my degree and went back to college for a BS in Computer Science. Got my first job right out of college from .an internship I did over the summer. The job itself was heaven, and I really enjoyed it. It also helped that I made bank when I was there. Paid off all my school loans within 3 years and had plenty to invest and put into savings.</i></p><p><i>While it sucks not having anything right now, I'm hoping to find something soon.</i></p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>Side note: The 3D stuff I still do as a hobby. Not nearly as good as I once was, but it is still fun and relaxing.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>I have heard similar stories elsewhere, including at a fancy, large, dinner party thrown by a very very wealthy investment firm executive, and attended largely by other investment firm executives, company presidents, and the like. The occasion we were celebrating was a milestone birthday of the investment firm executive. You might be wondering why I was invited. Did I receive the invitation by accident? </p><p>No. I was invited because the person throwing the party has been one of my best friends for over 40 years. We were both in very different circumstances when we met, however; we had just finished our bachelor’s degrees from U of Toronto (mine in humanities, his in political science), and we were working as telephone information operators at Grey Coach bus lines. I was immediately impressed by his intelligence and broad, encyclopaedic knowledge, which included a strong interest in music. We became friends quickly, and we spent many hours talking about all manner of things.</p><p>His dream was to work in the foreign service, and, in pursuit of that dream, he read voluminously about history and politics in other countries, particularly in Africa, and he took the Canadian Foreign Service Exam. It is hard to imagine that he did not do well in this exam, but he was never notified of his results. After waiting for a while with no notification, he decided on a whim to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), which is required for applicants to MBA programmes in Canadian universities. He scored very well – no surprise – AND he was notified of his results (a bonus! 🥳), so he applied to some MBA programmes, and was admitted. He now runs a very successful investment firm.</p><p>He gave up his dream and decided on a different path mostly on a whim, and ended up doing so well in it that he has no regrets whatsoever. </p><p>This was similar to some of the stories told by other people seated at my table at this dinner party, some of whom had aspired to be musicians when they were young, but these aspirations had not worked out. They were all so successful in business ventures that they lived privileged and comfortable lives, and had, apparently, no regrets at all about giving up on their initial dreams.</p><p>It would appear from this that if you give up your dream but end up making a lot of money, it makes it much easier to have no regrets about your decision. I don’t know if money can buy love or not, but it can sure make life a lot more comfortable, which in turn can make it easier to find partners willing to share their lives with you.</p><p>Here’s another Redditor’s experience:</p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>This is EXACTLY why I left the VFX industry. It fucking sucks. There is no work life balance. It’s 90+ hour weeks non-stop. Then the project ends and you’re jobless. “Good luck man. Thanks for the hard work.” Now you most likely are going to find the next project in another state and have to move the family.</i></p><p><i>I was top of my game and getting paid really well. Won an Emmy and some golden globes, one of my projects got nominated for an Oscar, built a AAA game and I can tell you with zero hesitation that none of that shit means anything.</i></p><p><i>Every time I hear kids that want to get into VFX or games... I stop them dead in their tracks with advice they need to hear, not want to hear.</i></p><p><i>Oh and a word of advice to anyone in any industry but especially VFX, it’s ALL about who you know. So get used to buttering up people.</i></p><p><i>Sooooo glad I left.</i></p></blockquote><p></p><p>The message here is that sometimes your dream can turn into a nightmare, or at least into something that you weren’t expecting. Having one’s dream turn into something we weren’t expecting is probably extremely common, because we generally don’t have an accurate sense of what our dream job will entail until we actually start doing the job. </p><p>Not having an accurate sense of what our dream will entail is not necessarily a bad thing, however. I knew that being a professor would involve teaching and creative activities (composition, my case), but I didn’t realize how much committee work there is, or how onerous it can be. However, it is part of a job that I’m lucky to have, and I realize that committee work is very important too, so I’m fine with it. </p><p>Some people discover that they are <i>really</i> good at administration and they enjoy it, which can lead to a change in career path from professor to administrator (dean, associate dean, president, vice-president, etc.). The dream can change along the way, and usually does.</p><p>More problematic, however, is that for me the process of becoming a professor involved 15 years of poverty after finishing my BA, which contributed to high stress levels, the demise of my first marriage, depression, and a general sense of “why the hell am I doing this?” much of the time. I still don’t know why I stuck with it for as long as I did, except that I was convinced I could be both a good composer and a good teacher because I had had rewarding experiences in both areas. However, by the time I turned 35 I had pretty much reached the point of deciding that I could not keep doing this much longer and needed to refocus my aspirations on a plan B or C. </p><p>It’s one thing to be poor in your early twenties, but it becomes harder to live with the older you get. </p><p>Plan B, by the way, was to keep doing what I was doing, which was teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Music for below poverty-line wages while being part of a composer's collective that put on about 4 concerts a year of our music, some of which were picked up by the CBC. Plan B kind of sucked when it came to making a living, but at least I got to do things that I enjoyed. Plan C was to find out how to get a realtor's license and sell real estate.</p><p>Then, improbably, fortune smiled on me: At the age of 35 I was hired to teach composition, theory, electronic music, and orchestration at MUN, and I won prizes at a couple of composition contests that year. </p><p>This is from a Redditor who abandoned the dream of an academic career: </p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>I left after half a PhD in English. I think the moment I checked out was watching my tiny, 76YO professor totter home from the office at 10pm. She had probably taken a 16-hour work day. "You mean I have to work this hard, only to earn the privilege of working that hard?" I thought to myself.</i></p><p><i>That, and the fact that the work was colonizing every waking hour, and that I was not coping in healthy ways.</i></p><p><i>I still miss lots of things about it. I made some of my very best friends in graduate school, and I felt like I was part of a community. Now, I often feel like I'm wasting my life making someone else money.</i></p><p><i>On the other hand, I've been able to travel all over the world, thanks to the income I get. I'm married, own my own home, and I just had my first child. So things are very, very good. Maybe one day I'll find work that is fulfilling.</i></p><p><i>EDIT: </i><i>I work as a technical writer, which is a career path I can definitely recommend for those who went down the same path I did. Many are asking for friends and relatives studying English, and regardless of whether they pursue the career, studying technical writing will improve concision, audience analysis, and clarity. I cannot recommend it enough.</i></p></blockquote>
<p>For what it’s worth, the suggestion that academics normally work 16-hour days seems a wild exaggeration, at least in my experience. The normal workload for me during teaching semesters is perhaps 8- to 10-hour days, usually 7 days a week. It’s a job where, no matter how much work you do, you hardly ever go to bed at night feeling like you've finished all your work and you're fully prepared to teach the next day, at least during a semester. </p><p>On the other hand, once a semester is over and all marks have been submitted, academics have a lot of time in which to pursue our projects, such as composing, performing, learning repertoire, writing books and research papers, or starting the process of preparing for the courses we will teach in the following semester. On balance, it’s an exceptionally good deal, especially since I love teaching and preparing for classes.</p><p>But that’s only if you are lucky enough to find a full-time, tenure track job. And if, once you find it, you succeed in getting tenure. If you don't get tenure, you are fired. That's something I didn't know when I was a student.</p><p>The great majority of people with completed doctorate degrees never find full-time academic employment. The first academic job to which I applied had 290 applicants. In many cases in music, applicants have won awards and/or competitions (for composers or performers), and they may have multiple recordings, but they may never even get interviewed for a starting professor position.</p><p>On the other hand, it isn’t very hard for PhDs to be hired by universities on a <b>per-course basis</b>, but <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">per-course teaching is wickedly exploitative</span></b>: <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year" target="_blank">According to a recent study,</a><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year" target="_blank"> many </a><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year" target="_blank">adjunct professors (a fancy term for “per-course teaching slave”) make less than $3,500 per course and live in poverty.</a></p><p>I know people in their forties with PhDs, who teach twice as many courses as full-time professors for significantly less than half a starting professor’s salary. </p><p>Therein lies the dilemma for anyone aspiring to an academic career; it's mostly a great job if you can get it, but it is extremely hard to get a tenure-track job, and sometimes, even if you get such a job, you don't get tenure and find yourself either unemployed, or employed as a per-course instructor making not enough money to live on.</p><p>For all of these reasons it was probably wise for the Redditor above to change paths halfway through his PhD.</p><p>Here’s a Redditor’s response to the original poster’s question that struck a note with me (this is a terrible pun; sorry!):</p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>It was fine, but no one gives a shit if you're a professional bassoonist and there really isn't enough paying work.</i></p><p><i>I did it professionally for eight years before quitting to raise kids. Now I work in IT. If I had to do it over again I'd have just gotten a real job and not put so much time into an instrument that I don't like playing.</i></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Ouch!</p><p><b>Pro Tip:</b> <i>If you don’t like playing the bassoon, then do not pursue a performance career as a bassoonist.</i></p><p>If, on the other hand, you <i>love</i> playing your instrument but can’t find a full-time paying job as a performer, you have many options, such as:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Playing in an amateur or semi-professional (mix of pros and amateurs) orchestra/ensemble;</li><li>Making fun YouTube videos of you playing your instrument, possibly with backing tracks, or double tracking (playing two or more different parts on separate tracks);</li><li>Teaching – Private lessons;</li><li>Teaching – K-12 (for this you will need an education degree);</li><li>Consider becoming a music librarian (I know at least three people who did this, and they love their jobs);</li><li>Starting a chamber music ensemble made up of fellow music-lovers who can’t find full-time employment as performers;</li><li>Organizing a chamber music concert that involves amateur musicians, mostly;</li><li>Arrange music for your instrument and play it on-line;</li><li>Compose music for your instrument and perform it on-line, etc.</li></ol><p></p><p>Most of these are not remunerative, but some are, and they all provide opportunities to continue being musically active for those that love music.</p><p></p><hr /><p>Lest today’s post sound like a suggestion that you <i>not</i> follow your dream, remember that the quoted Reddit posts are all responses to this question: <i>Redditors who gave up pursuing their 'dream' to settle for a more secure or comfortable life, how did it turn out and do you regret your decision?</i></p><p><b><span style="color: #c99dff;">The question is addressed to those who <i>gave up their dreams</i>, and most of the responses reflect that</span></b>. </p><p>Had it been addressed to those that <i>acheived</i> their dreams, the responses would presumably been very different!</p><p>For me, this thread shows that at least some of the people who have given up their dreams have done so without regret, and, they have gone on to lead rewarding and productive lives. </p><p><b><span style="color: #c99dff;">However, many people either achieve their dreams, or, in the course of attempting to reach their initial objective discover that there are <i>other</i> dreams they would rather pursue, and they do so successfully and happily</span></b>.</p>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-16904162205885590082020-02-09T21:27:00.000-03:302020-02-19T10:05:28.373-03:30Blog Index Organized by Topic – Feb 2020This list includes <i>most</i> of my blog posts so far, organized loosely by topic.<br />
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Entries relating to class business – reminders of deadlines, concert congratulations, order of class presentation, etc. – are not included because they are likely boring to anyone who wasn't in the classes to which they were targeted.<br />
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The listed blogs below, however, are intended to be relevant to students of music composition or others interested in composition.<br />
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Inspiration</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/ars-longa-vita-brevis.html" target="_blank">Ars Longa, Vita Brevis</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/daring-to-dream-big.html">Daring to Dream Big</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2012/01/dont-fear-failure.html" target="_blank">Bob Ross, Empowering the Masses, and Fear of Failure</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/01/on-musical-genius.html">On Musical Genius</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-role-of-music-in-our-world.html">Music is Everywhere; How can Composers Benefit?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/inspiration-persperation-and.html">Inspiration, Perspiration, and Perspicacity</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-9.html">Taking your inspiration from where you find it</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/even-great-composers-can-write-flops.html">Even Great Composers Can Write Flops</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2018/07/ambition-talent-and-ego-too.html" target="_blank">Ambition, Talent, and Ego Too!</a> (about The Beatles)</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/stuck.html">Stuck?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/running-into-brick-wall.html">Running into a Brick Wall; 13 Strategies That Can Help You to Become Unstuck</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/creators-angst.html">Creative Angst... Welcome to the Club!</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/07/oh-pain-of-it-all.html" target="_blank">Oh, the Pain of it all!</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/strike-while-iron-is-hot.html">Strike While the Iron is Hot! </a><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(includes section on "writer's block")</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/composers-who-couldnt-finish-what-they.html">"Composers Who Couldn't Finish What They Started"</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/09/when-your-reach-exceeds-your-grasp.html" target="_blank">When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp</a><br />
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/finding-time-to-compose-5-tips.html">Finding Time to Compose — 5 Tips</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-perception-of-progress.html" target="_blank">On the Perception of Progress</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-love-it-when-plan-comes-together.html" target="_blank">I Love it When a Plan Comes Together</a>!<br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-8.html">The Value of a Plan</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/the-potentially-hubristic-folly-of.html">The Potentially Hubristic Folly of Planning</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-get-it-done-league.html" target="_blank">Josh Donaldson, and the "Get it Done League"</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations.html">Playing With Expectations (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations-part-two.html">Playing With Expectations (2); Rewriting Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations-part-three.html">Playing With Expectations (3); Why is a Familiar Roller-Coaster Ride Still Fun?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/11/ross-nee-heisenberg-uncertainty.html" target="_blank">The Ross (née Heisenberg) Uncertainty Principle, and Other Musical Dichotomies</a><br />
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-7.html">More Dichotomies to Ponder…</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Composition Techniques (General) </b></i></span>←</div>
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<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/09/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-1_18.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (1)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-2.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (2)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-3.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (3)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/sampling-of-ideas-and-techniques-for.html">A Sampling of Post-1900 Materials of Music; See Anything You Like?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/music-with-no-melody-discussion-and.html" target="_blank">Music With No Melody (1)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/exploring-music-with-no-melody-part-2.html" target="_blank">Music With No Melody (2; <i>Expanded in 2019</i>)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/12/harmonic-rhythm-and-hypermeter.html" target="_blank">Harmonic Rhythm and Hypermeter</a><br />
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<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/04/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-2-rite.html" target="_blank">Ostinatos – Making a Lot from a Little: 2. The Rite of Spring</a> (Stravinsky)<br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/03/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-1.html" target="_blank">Ostinatos – Making a Lot from a Little: 1. Boléro</a> (Ravel)<br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/fratres-arvo-part-tintinabuli-and.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (1) – Fratres, by Arvo Pärt (also mentions "Tintinnabuli")</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/sacred-minimalism-2-henryk-gorecki.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (2.1) — Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, by Henryk Górecki; <i>The Best-Selling Classical Recording of All Time!</i></a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/02/henryk-gorecki-three-pieces-in-old-style.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (2.2) – Three Pieces in Old Style, by Henryk Górecki</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/03/sacred-minimalism-3-john-tavener.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (3) – Two Works by John Tavener</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/spectralism.html" target="_blank">Spectralism (Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/polystylism.html" target="_blank">Polystylism (Alfred Schnittke)</a><br />
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
<hr color="Grey" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Words and Music</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2020/01/beyond-words.html" target="_blank">Beyond Words (1)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2020/02/beyond-words-2.html" target="_blank">Beyond Words (2)</a><br />
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Thematic Growth</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/allowing-your-musical-ideas-to-self.html">Thematic Growth (1)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/guest-blog-simon-re-thematic-growth.html">Thematic Growth (2; Simon's Guest Blog)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/re-post-of-composition-issues-4-5.html">Thematic Growth (3)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-5.html">How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials</a></div>
<hr color="Grey" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Nuts and Bolts; Score Details, Notation Software Issues </b></i></span>←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-musical-detail.html">On Musical Detail (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/musical-detail-addendum.html">On Musical Detail (2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-case-this-applies-to-you.html">On Musical Detail (3)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/fair-copy-due-friday-1-pm.html">What is a "Fair Copy?"</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2018/01/composition-1-pre-submission-checklist.html" target="_blank">Composition #1 – Pre-Submission Checklist</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/01/music-notation-software-pros-and-cons.html" target="_blank">Music Notation Software: Pros and Cons for Composers</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/removing-key-signature-from-transposing.html">Removing a Key Signature from Transposing Instruments in Finale</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/06/adding-multiple-ossia-measures-in.html">Adding Multiple <i>Ossia</i> Bars in Finale</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/notation-software-woes.html">Notation Software Woes</a><br />
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</div>
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<hr color="Grey" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Writing Idiomatically for Piano, Wind Band, etc. </b></i></span>←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/idiomatic-writing-for-piano-re-post.html">Writing Idiomatically for Piano</a><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/final-project.html">Writing for Wind Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/jessicas-tips-for-writing-for-youth.html">Jessica's Tips on Writing for Youth Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/writing-for-wind-band.html">Clark's Tips on Writing for Wind Band</a></div>
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</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<hr color="Grey" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Talent and Skill</b></i></span> ←</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/04/talent-skill-whats-difference.html">Talent? Skill? What's the Difference?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/04/on-laziness-and-mediocrity.html">How to Become a More-Skilled Composer, in 10 <strike>Painful</strike> <strike>Backbreaking</strike> <i>E-Z </i>Steps!</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>On Composition (Miscellaneous Topics)</b></i></span> ←</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/04/no-great-women-composers-1.html" target="_blank">No Great Women Composers? (1)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/04/no-great-women-composers-2.html" target="_blank">No Great Women Composers? (2)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-much-theory-do-you-have-to-know-in.html" target="_blank">How Much Theory do You Have to Know to be a Composer?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/on-value-of-works-by-living-composers.html" target="_blank">On the Value of Living Composers</a></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/express-yourself.html">Express Yourself? Really?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/writing-play.html">Writing a Play; an Analogy to Composition</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/keep-discard.html">Keep? Discard?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/music-works.html">Musicworks Magazine</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/how-can-non-composers-teach-k-12.html">How can Non-Composers Teach K-12 Composition?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-might-be-composer-if.html" target="_blank">You Might be a Composer if…</a></div>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Form in Post-Tonal Music</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/form-in-post-tonal-music-1.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Questions 1-7)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-2.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/question-2-from-my-form-in-post-tonal.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 2)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-4.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 3)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-5.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 4, 5, 6)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-6.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 7)</a></div>
</div>
<hr color="Grey" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Atonality; What's in a Name?</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/02/finding-your-own-voice-tonality.html" target="_blank">Finding Your Own Voice; Tonality, Post-Tonality, and the Composer's Toolbox</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-atonal-music.html">Why Post-Tonal Music?</a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/atonal-even-word-sounds-unpleasant.html">Atonal — Even the Word Sounds Unpleasant!</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/atonality-noise.html">Atonality = Noise?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/jessica-blenis-guest-blog-if-you-can.html">Jess Blenis Guest Blog on Atonality</a></div>
</div>
<hr color="Grey" style="text-align: start;" />
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Originality in Art</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-1.html">Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-important-is-originality-in-art.html">How Important is Originality in Art?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-originality-detriment-in-art.html">Is Originality a Detriment in Art?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2009/07/originality-does-it-have-any-role-in.html">Originality — Does it have <i>Any</i> Role in Art?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/if-you-can-name-it-dont-use-it-1.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (1)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/jessica-blenis-guest-blog-if-you-can.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (2)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/05/if-you-can-name-it-dont-use-it-3-my-take.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (3)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Musical Influences</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/musical-influences.html">Musical Influences (1)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/musical-influences-part-2.html">Musical Influences (2)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Kandinsky's Theories on Art</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-1.html">Kandinsky's Theories (1)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-2_30.html">Kandinsky's Theories (2)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-3.html">Kandinsky's Theories (3)</a></div>
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</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Winning and Losing; Judging and Being Judged; Reference Letter Do's and Don'ts</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/01/recommendation-letters-process-and.html" target="_blank">Recommendation Letters – How Students are Evaluated</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/winning-and-losing-as-impostors.html">Winning and Losing as Impostors</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/the-value-of-accolades-for-composers.html">The Value of Accolades, and a Personal Anecdote</a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/11/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (2)</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part_2.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (3)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/experiences-as-adjudicator.html">Experiences as an Adjudicator (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/experiences-as-adjudicator-postscript.html">Experiences as an Adjudicator (2)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Audience Response to Contemporary Classical Music and Marketing</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/audiences-hate-modern-classical-music.html">"Audiences Hate Modern Classical Music Because Their Brains Cannot Cope"</a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-hatred-of-modern-classical-music-due.html">On the "Hatred" of Modern Classical Music Due to the Brain's Inability to Cope</a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/marketing-contemporary-music.html">Marketing Contemporary Classical Music (1)</a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post.html">Marketing Contemporary Classical Music (2)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/10/spin-doctoring-101.html" target="_blank">Spin Doctoring 101</a> (self promotion)</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;">→ <i><b>Composition Issues (10-part series that started this blog)</b></i> ←</span></div>
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1 <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-1.html">Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas</a></div>
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1.1. The <span style="font-style: italic;">quality of ideas</span> may not matter very much in assessing compositions that emerge from them; and</div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
1.2. The <span style="font-style: italic;">degree</span> to which these ideas are original may not matter very much.</div>
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2. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-2.html">How do you Develop Compositional Craft?</a></div>
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2.1. Study the music of others.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
2.2. Compose as much as you can.</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
2.3. Invite criticism from others.</div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
3. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-3.html">Understanding your Musical Idea</a></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
3.1. Live with it for a while.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
3.2. What is it about?</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
3.3. Does it change character?</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
3.4. What is its function within the context of the piece?</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
3.5. Structural Analysis.</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
3.6. Harmonic (or Pitch, Scale, etc.) Analysis.</div>
</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
4.<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-4.html">The Pros and Cons of Development</a></div>
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<div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
5. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-5.html">How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials</a>; Specific Suggestions</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
6. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-6.html">Balancing the Old with the New, the Expected with the Unexpected</a></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
7. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-7.html">More Dichotomies to Ponder…</a></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
7.1. <i>Less is more /</i> <i>More is more</i></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
7.2. <i>Always leave them wanting more </i>/<i> Give them what they want</i></div>
</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
7.3. <i>Don't treat the listener like an idiot / There's a sucker born every minute</i></div>
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7.4. <i>There can be too much of a good thing / If you have a good idea, then stick with it!</i></div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
7.5. The George Costanza approach.</div>
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<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
8. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-8.html">I think my idea has run its course. Now what?</a></div>
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<div>
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8.1. Three models for the role of a composer</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
8.2. Mastery or Mystery?</div>
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<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
8.3. The value of a plan</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
8.4. Getting stuck, and possible workarounds</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
8.5. Don't obsess</div>
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<div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
8.6. Challenges = Opportunities</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
9. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-9.html">Taking your inspiration from where you find it</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
10. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/inspiration-persperation-and.html">Inspiration, Perspiration, and Perspicacity</a></div>
</div>
<hr color="Grey" style="text-align: center;" />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Composition Projects</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/project-1-atonal-theme-variations.html">Project 1 - Atonal Theme and Variations</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-next.html">Project 1 - More Details</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/09/project-1-what-next.html">Project 1 - What Next?</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/10/project-2-fall-2012-options.html">Project 2 Options</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/10/next-project-using-musical-clichs-in.html">Project 2: Using Musical Clichés in Creating Art Music</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/using-musical-style-or-gesture-as-point.html">Project 2: Using a musical style or gesture as a point of departure</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/recontextualizing-and-atonality.html">Project 2: Recontextualizing and atonality</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/fun-with-scales-and-modes.html">Project 3: Fun With Scales and Modes</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/final-project.html">Project 4: Composition for Wind Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/music-with-no-melody-discussion-and.html" target="_blank">Project 8: Music With No Melody (1 - What is Melody?)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/exploring-music-with-no-melody-part-2.html" target="_blank">Project 8: Music With No Melody (2 - Examples, and Project Description)</a></div>
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Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-30648743345943427762020-02-01T16:11:00.003-03:302020-02-09T20:16:04.970-03:30Beyond Words – 2<span style="color: #c99dff;"><a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2020/01/beyond-words.html" target="_blank">My previous post</a> began with several quotes by authors and poets suggesting that music has the capacity to express meaning <i>beyond what is possible with words</i>.</span> Today I will delve a little further into this idea. But first, here are the quoted statements again:<br />
<br />
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”<br />
― Victor Hugo<br />
<br />
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”<br />
― Aldous Huxley<br />
<br />
“Where words leave off, music begins.”<br />
– Heinrich Heine<br />
<br />
“Where words fail, music speaks.”<br />
― Hans Christian Andersen (the actual quote is: “Where words fail, sounds can often speak”)<br />
<br />
These quotes are poetic, which makes sense since the writers all wrote poetry, but are they valid?<br />
<br />
<hr />
Exploring music's has on us, and examining the question of whether music expresses anything, but particularly emotions, has been debated for centuries. Plato wrote, “more than anything else, rhythm and harmony find their way into the inmost soul and take strongest hold upon it” (<i>Republic</i>, III, 40Id-e).<br />
<br />
Indeed!<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #c99dff;">On the one hand, there seems little doubt that many people <i>respond</i> emotionally to music</span>. I sometimes find myself moved either to tears when listening to music, not because the music is "sad," but because it is beautiful. Music can trigger in me a myriad of other emotions as well, such as <b>joy</b>, a sense of <b>calm</b>, a sense of <b>excitement</b> that can lead to a desire to move, <i>or even dance</i> (don't worry; I do not do this in public), feelings of <b>wonder</b>, <b>curiosity</b>, <b>religiosity</b>, etc.<br />
<br />
I have never really understood <i>why</i> I react in these ways, but I can say with certainty that I often feel profoundly moved by music; this was one of the main motivators that led me to become a composer./musician<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">On the other hand, some people argue that while music can <i>trigger</i> emotional responses, it doesn't actually <i>communicate</i> anything</span>.<br />
<br />
One such person was Igor Stravinsky, who, in <i>An Autobiography</i> (1935), wrote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence. If, as is nearly always the case, music <i>appears</i> to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality. It is simply an additional attribute which, by tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it, thrust upon it, as a label, a convention – in short, an aspect which, unconsciously or by force of habit, we have come to confuse with its essential being.”
</blockquote>
I took an aesthetics course during my undergraduate studies (which were not in music; I began studying music after I had finished my first degree), and I remember learning about the nineteenth century music critic Eduard Hanslick, who argued that musical beauty “is self-contained and in no need of content from outside itself.” It “consists simply and solely of tones and their artistic combination” (Hanslick, <i>On the Musically Beautiful</i>, (8th ed., 1891)).<br />
<br />
In <i><a href="https://emotionresearcher.com/how-music-grabs-the-emotions/" target="_blank">How Music Grabs the Emotions</a></i> (2014 article by Dr. Jenefer Robinson, Department of Philosophy, University of Cincinnati), the author writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Hanslick was very concerned to establish that music has no “extra-musical” content, and that, in particular, it does not express or represent emotions. One of Hanslick’s contemporary devotees goes so far as to say that “it is not essential to music to possess emotion, arouse emotion, express emotion, or represent emotion. Music, in itself, has nothing to do with emotion” (Zangwill 2004: 29). In other words, music in itself is nothing but complex structures of tones, a bit like the moves in a game of chess.”</blockquote>
<span style="color: #c99dff;">But despair not, those of you who may be wondering what childhood traumas motivated Hanslick, Stravinsky, and others, to churlishly suggest that music is <i>incapable</i> of expressing emotions! </span>There are many scholarly articles in support of the opposite point of view as well, including <a href="https://uc.academia.edu/JeneferRobinson/CurriculumVitae" target="_blank">Robinson</a> (quoted above), <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764399/" target="_blank">PN Juslin</a>, and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3332757?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents" target="_blank">Malcolm Budd (1989)</a>.<br />
<br />
Zangwill's notion that music “has <i>nothing</i> to do with emotion” seems absurd to me. I don't know that I would go as far as suggesting that music has <i>everything</i> to do with emotion – music exists on multiple plains, one of which is intellectual (wherein we analyze music, and marvel at clever and often unexpected things that great music-makers do/did), but for me at least, <span style="color: #c99dff;">the main reason I want to explore the intellectual aspects of music is <i>because</i> it moves me, and I'd love learn learn why and how this happens</span>.<br />
<br />
Do you have any thoughts on the question of whether music actually <b><span style="color: #c99dff;">communicates</span></b> emotion, or does it <span style="color: #c99dff;"><b> trigger</b></span> emotion?<br />
<br />
I lean <i>slightly</i> more to the idea that music <i>triggers</i> emotions, rather than communicates them, but my view on this could change next week.<br />
<br />
<hr />
On a related point, we sometimes hear people proclaim that music is a <span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>universal language</b></span>, but I disagree.<br />
<br />
Language can be defined as "a form of communication," so, if music <i>is</i> a language, it is extraordinarily imprecise. Even if it does communicate emotions, which is debatable, it does so in an extremely nebulous way, and it is useless at communicating the multitude of specific things we expect language to do.<br />
<br />
The "universal" part is also problematic, because we have moved to a point in history in which we acknowledge and embrace the validity and variety of all musical cultures in the world, with none having any superiority to any of the others. Only a cultural imperialist would suggest that the music of any single culture will "speak" to or be understood by all other cultures.<br />
<br />
–––––––<br />
Nick Zangwill, “Against Emotion: Hanslick was Right about Music” British Journal of Aesthetics 44 (2004). 29-43.Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-47650674222135666232020-01-04T22:51:00.000-03:302020-02-01T16:12:15.404-03:30Beyond Words – 1Here are some quotes on the relationship between music and words:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”<br />
― <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo" target="_blank">Victor Hugo</a> (1802-1885), in “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare_(essay)" target="_blank">William Shakespeare</a>,” (essay; 1864)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”<br />
― <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley" target="_blank">Aldous Huxley</a>, “The Rest is Silence,” in “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_at_Night_(book)" target="_blank">Music at Night</a>” (essay collection, 1931)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Where words leave off, music begins.”<br />
― <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Heine" target="_blank">Heinrich Heine</a> (1797-1856) [attributed; I could find no source listed for this quote, so possibly it is not actually Heine<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;">’</span>s. However, Heine had dozens of his songs set to music by great composers such as Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and others, so it seems likely that he would feel this way. It also happens to be very similar to the next quote.]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Where words fail, music speaks.”<br />
― <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen" target="_blank">Hans Christian Andersen</a> (1805-1875), in “What The Moon Saw” (from “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27000/27000-h/27000-h.htm#WHAT_THE_MOON_SAW" target="_blank">What The Moon Saw: And Other Tales</a>”). For what it's worth, the <i>actual</i> quote is: “Where words fail, <b>sounds</b> can often speak,” so music is not mentioned. However, this quote is taken from a passage that references a variety of sounds, such as “the wind (that) blew stormy and cold,” the crack of a whip, and galloping horses, as well as a “death-hymn,” and “glad notes of joy.” </blockquote>
<div>
What are your thoughts on any of these quotes?<br />
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">Does music express things that cannot be put into words? If so, try to explain your answer, using – yup – words!</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">Does music inhabit a realm that can go beyond, or is at least on a different plane, than words?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">If you feel that music “speaks,” or inhabits a realm beyond words, might this apply to other sounds as well? Consider, in particular, sounds in nature such as a bird singing, a donkey braying or cattle lowing, the wind buffeting your house in a winter storm, a babbling brook, a waterfall, rain hitting a tin roof, etc.; do these “speak?” </li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">Can you think of any other sounds that “speak,” or communicate something that is difficult or impossible to express in words? If so, how to they do this?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">Music often triggers emotions; to what degree is this due to something in the music that has a communicative function, versus the emotional state you happen to be in when you hear the music?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 6px;">Some people use the term, "musical language;" is music a language? How?</li>
</ul>
I will chime in with my thoughts on this in my next post.</div>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-3396534027064607142019-12-31T21:44:00.001-03:302020-02-09T21:15:50.973-03:30Harmonic Rhythm and Hypermeter(This is a stub; my plan is write more on this topic soon,)<br />
<br />
Harmonic Rhythm: The rate at which harmonies change.<br />
Hypermeter: Meter on a larger scale, such as when bars are felt as beats.<br />
<br />
In good or great compositions, most of us are unlikely to notice the harmonic rhythm and hypermeter, unless it does something unexpected, or there is something wrong with it.<br />
<br />
Here are some examples:Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-64805206208574882682019-04-08T16:32:00.011-02:302020-08-04T17:55:16.982-02:30No Great Women Composers? (2)This is part 2 of a series; I encourage you to read <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/04/no-great-women-composers-1.html" target="_blank">part 1</a> before reading this.<br />
<br />
Here's the backstory:<br />
<br />
In 2015, Jessy McCabe, 17, petitioned one of Britain’s biggest exam boards to include female composers in its A-level music syllabus.<br />
<br />
Ms. McCabe found that <a href="https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/Music/2016/teaching-and-learning-materials/Edexcel_AS_and_A_Level_Music_subject_guide_brochure.pdf" target="_blank">Edexcel’s A-level Music Syllabus</a> featured <b>63</b> male composers and <b>no</b> female ones. She also observed that on 8 March 2015, BBC Radio 3 managed to programme an entire day of music by female composers to honour <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day" target="_blank">International Women’s Day</a>.<br />
<br />
“Surely, if BBC Radio 3 can play music composed by women for a whole day," Ms. McCabe wrote, "Edexcel could select at least one to be part of the syllabus alongside the likes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Holborne" target="_blank">Holborne</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn" target="_blank">Haydn</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin%27_Wolf" target="_blank">Howlin’ Wolf</a>?”<br />
<br />
Edexel was initially unwilling to acquiesce to Ms. McCabe's challenge. Its head of music wrote: “Given that female composers were not prominent in the western classical tradition (or others for that matter), there would be very few female composers that could be included.”<br />
<br />
After a Change.org petition subsequently launched by Ms. McCabe received 4,000 signatures, Edexcel apparently bowed to public pressure and changed their 2016 syllabus to include works by five women: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Schumann" target="_blank">Clara Schumann</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Portman" target="_blank">Rachel Portman</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Bush" target="_blank">Kate Bush</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar" target="_blank">Anoushka Shankar</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaija_Saariaho" target="_blank">Kaija Saariaho</a>.<br />
<br />
You can read more about this story here:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/16/a-level-music-female-composers-students-campaign-jessy-mccabe-edexcel" target="_blank">The back-story about the petition, before the changes were implemented (The Guardian)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/18/female-composers-a-level-music-syllabus-petition" target="_blank">Story about the success of the petition, which led to a slightly more inclusive changed syllabus (The Guardian)</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
The inclusion of female composers/songwriters in the 2016 syllabus was celebrated by some, and criticized by others. Among the critics was Damian Thompson, who, in a 2015 article in The Spectator (a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator" target="_blank">conservative British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs</a>, according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>) entitled <i><a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/theres-a-good-reason-why-there-are-no-great-female-composers/" target="_blank">There’s a good reason why there are no great female composers</a></i>, asked the question: <i>How good is [women composers'] music compared with that of male composers? </i><br />
<br />
He discussed works by several women composers – Clara Schumann (1819–1896), Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), Amy Beach (1867–1944), Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994), and Thea Musgrave (born 1928) – to support his conclusion that women composers were <i>not</i> as good as their male counterparts, and therefore their music did not merit inclusion in the list of composers to be studied by British A-level students.<br />
<br />
The counter-argument proposed by Ms. McCabe was that the inclusion of women composers in the Edexcel A-Level syllabus was important, “so that girls are freely able and inspired to become composers, to enrich the A-level syllabus and to ultimately ensure that women’s works are valued, as they should be.”<br />
<hr />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here are a few thoughts further to this episode, and Mr. Thompson's response to it:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">As I pointed out in my previous post on this topic, the article's title, <i>There's a good reason why there are no great female composers</i>, is completely unrelated to the actual article. At no point does the author propose or discuss a reason, good or otherwise, why “there are no great female composers.” </li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">Further to the previous point, an unbiased and well-researched article exploring reasons for the extreme gender imbalance among composers of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_practice_period" target="_blank">common-practice period</a> (roughly 1650-1900) would perhaps be enlightening to those that blithely assume that women and men competed on an equal playing field throughout history. They didn't, and, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality" target="_blank">some argue</a>, still don't, although the situation has improved significantly since the 1960's. Historically, the roles available to women were severely restricted, and, within this, the roles of women in any field within music were even more restricted. Yes, Clara Schumann managed to develop a career as a concert pianist, but <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/when-did-women-join-orchestras/" target="_blank">women were barred from European orchestras</a>; the Vienna Philharmonic did not accept a female member until 1997; The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra did not hire its first female musician until 1982 (violinist Madeleine Carruzzo). I would be curious to know how often these all-male orchestras performed works by women prior to 1900; if it occurred at all, I suspect it was extremely uncommon. </li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">Only one of the five women composers selected for criticism by Mr. Thompson was included in Edexcel's syllabus: Clara Schumann. He therefore spent the bulk of his article arguing against the inclusion of women composers whose music was not subsequently included in the revised syllabus, but perhaps Edexcel's syllabus was published after Thompson's article.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">All works discussed in Mr. Thompson's article were selected by him. It seems possible that musicologists with expertise in the music of the named composers might have been able to find other, stronger works by these composers for discussion; when one's intention is to prove that music by women composers is not very good, it can hardly be a surprise when the examples chosen to illustrate this point do so rather well.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">The threshold for inclusion in the Edexcell Syllabus is clearly <i>not</i> "all-time greatness," as in "equal in quality to the best music of Bach, Beethoven, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles." Ms. McCabe's letter, quoted above, mentions <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Holborne" target="_blank">Anthony Holborne</a> (late renaissance British composer of music primarily for lute, 1545-1602), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin%27_Wolf" target="_blank">Howlin' Wolf</a> (much-acclaimed blues singer and guitarist, 1910-1976). A quick perusal of Edexcel's 2016 syllabus reveals names such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtney_Pine" target="_blank">Courtney Pine</a> (British jazz musician, b. 1964), <b>La Familia Valera Miranda</b>
(A family of musicians from the Oriente region of Cuba that play a mid-tempo form of ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_cubano" target="_blank">son</a>’, a Cuban traditional musical style), as well as Vivaldi, Vaughan Williams, and Berlioz. <font color="#c99dff">The initial exclusion of works by <b>all</b> women from the Edexcell Syllabus sends a clear message that no women in the history of composition were as worthy of inclusion as <i>any</i> of the male musicians on the list, a position that is indefensible</font>. Popular music artists are on the Edexcel list, but despite decades of great music by Kate Bush (subsequently included), Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Nina Simone, Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Memphis Minnie, Laura Nyro, and countless others, not one was initially included. Film music composers are another category, and here again no females were initially chosen (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Portman" target="_blank">Rachel Portman</a> was included following Ms. McCabe's successful petition), despite the successful careers in this field of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Gubaidulina" target="_blank">Sofia Gubaidulina</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildur_Guðnadóttir" target="_blank">Hildur Guðnadóttir</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Barber" target="_blank">Lesley Barber</a>, or any of the other names on Wikipedia's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_film_score_composers" target="_blank">list of female film composers</a>.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 10px;">I'm not sufficiently familiar with Edexcel's history to know if they make a special effort to include British composers in their syllabus, but I noticed quite a few British musicians in the 2016 syllabus. If they do give British composers/musicians any kind of preferential status, which they have every right to do, why not make the effort to be inclusive of other groups within British society as well, such as women composers? Thanks to Ms. McCabe and a successful publicity campaign, the 2016 syllabus now does, albeit to a limited degree.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 4px;">As I mentioned above, Ms. McCabe argued in favour of the representation of women composers on the Edexcel syllabus, “so that girls are freely able and inspired to become composers, to enrich the A-level syllabus and to ultimately ensure that women’s works are valued, as they should be.” This in itself is an interesting argument – I don't know if there are any studies that prove that exposure to music by members of a target population empower or encourage other members of that target population to pursue careers in music, but it certainly seems possible. And if it is possible, then it seems worth doing. But mostly it's worth doing based purely on artistic merit.</li>
</ul>
That's all for now, but please leave a comment if you agree or disagree with any of this. If there are women composers in any genre to which you would like to draw our attention, please do so, ideally with a link if possible.<br />
<br />
Once again (I posted some recordings in my previous entry as well), here are a couple of recordings of music by Clara Schumann, with scrolling scores:<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sHnYlORpL5Q" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzTcsluFxU4" width="480"></iframe></div>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-75346115784961977322019-04-01T16:18:00.002-02:302021-11-14T15:20:05.497-03:30No Great Women Composers? (1)I recently came across a <a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/theres-a-good-reason-why-there-are-no-great-female-composers/" target="_blank">provocative article</a> from 2015 in The Spectator, called "<a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/theres-a-good-reason-why-there-are-no-great-female-composers/" target="_blank">There's a good reason why there are no great women composers</a>," by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Thompson" target="_blank">Damian Thompson</a>, who is described in Wikipedia as an English journalist, editor and author with a Ph.D in the sociology of religion from the London School of Economics. He writes a monthly column about classical music for The Spectator.<br />
<br />
Not familiar with The Spectator? Here is an excerpt from its description in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, which I've abridged slightly, indicated by the ellipses (…):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The Spectator is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828... Its editorial outlook is generally supportive of the Conservative Party, although regular contributors include some outside that fold... The magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, and film and TV reviews."</blockquote>
If you align yourself ideologically as a liberal or progressive, you may be reluctant to pay much attention to a conservative journal, but I believe in making your own mind up about things on a case-by-case basis, and not simply based on the degree to which others are expressing views that align with your own – so let's examine what the article actually says.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 8px;"><br /></span>
For starters, the article's title is misleading; at no point does it propose "a good reason why there are no great women composers;" it does not explore that question at all. In many publications, an article's title is not written by the article's author – there are others whose job it is to write headlines – so perhaps the author is not to blame for the misleading, "click-bait style" title.<br />
<br />
Here's what the author writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Last week a 17-year-old girl forced the Edexcel exam board to change its A-level music syllabus to include the work of women composers. Jessy McCabe, a sixth former at Twyford Church of England High School in London, started a petition after studying gender inequality. Good for her, you might think. But is it good for A-level students?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A delicate question lies at the heart of the subject of female composers, and it’s not ‘Why are they so criminally underrepresented in the classical canon?’ It’s ‘How good is their music compared with that of male composers?’"</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Is this a legitimate question? It is, as the author acknowledges, a "delicate" one – simply asking the question might offend some – but is it fair game to ask questions such as this? Before answering, consider whether it is okay to ask other similar questions involving comparisons, such as the following:<br />
<ul>
<li>How good is British music of the 18th and 19th centuries, compared with that of German and Austrian composers?</li>
<li>How good is French music of the 18th and 19th centuries, compared with that of German and Austrian composers?</li>
<li>How good is American music of the 18th and 19th centuries, compared with that of German and Austrian composers?</li>
<li>How good is Salieri's music, compared with Mozart's?</li>
</ul>
And so on…<br />
<br />
We tend to assume that the canonical works of classical music history are the result of a Darwinian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy" target="_blank">meritocracy</a> – we perform and study Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, etc., because they represent the artistic pinnacle of human achievement within their periods in the art form that is classical music.<br />
<br />
So, you might ask, why not ask questions such as those above?<br />
<br />
I have no objection to any of these questions, but I wonder (a) where they get us, and (b) what the motivation is behind them?<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 8px;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">Where do these questions get us?</span></b><br />
<br />
Let's propose for the sake of argument that the answer to <b>all</b> of the above questions, is "less good." That is, Salieri's music is less good than Mozart's; American, British, and French music of the 18th and 19th centuries is less good than that of German and Austrian composers; and women composers of these periods composed music that did not rise to the level of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, which I'll group as "A-List" composers.<br />
<br />
So what?<br />
<br />
Does that mean we jettison the music of "lesser" composers – Berlioz, Bizet, Borodin, Bruckner, Dvorak, Elgar, Grieg, Holst, Liszt, Mahler, Felix Mendelssohn, Rossini, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Robert Schumann, Sibelius, Smetana, etc. – from the repertoire?<br />
<br />
Well, <i>of course not! </i>Each of the "lesser" composers listed above wrote wonderful music that has moved generations of classical music lovers, and the musical landscape would be considerably poorer without their contributions.<br />
<br />
<i>But wait,</i> you might shout! The "lesser" composers above were still excellent composers!<br />
<br />
I agree! They were indeed excellent composers, whose only misfortune was failing to achieve the exalted artistic heights of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms.<br />
<br />
So, let's make a list of composers whose level of artistic achievement does <i>not</i> come very close to the level of the "lesser" composers above; these are composers I have heard of, and in all cases, whose music I have actually heard, and I selected them from lists of classical composers found in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers" target="_blank">List of Classical-era composers</a>).<br />
<br />
For every name listed below, there were probably about 10 other names on the Wikipedia list I did not include because I was unfamiliar with them. These might be considered "C-List" composers because they are a level or two below the composers on my previous list (Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mahler, etc.), who themselves might be considered "B-List" composers, because they were a level (or so) below the all-time greats – Bach, Mozart, & Beethoven, at least in what I suspect is the opinion of many people, but I recognize that some would not agree with this assessment.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal”; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–1784)<o:p></o:p></div>
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William Boyce (1711–1779)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz (1717–1757)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Antonio Soler (1729–1783)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795)</div>
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Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet Charpentier (1734–1794)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Michael Arne (1740–1786)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Samuel Arnold (1740–1802)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Carl Stamitz (1745–1801)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joseph Quesnel (1746–1809)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749–1818)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Josef Reicha (1752–1795)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Vicente Martín y Soler (1754–1806)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anton Stamitz (1754–1798 or 1809)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760–1812)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anton Reicha (1770–1836)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sophia Corri Dussek (1775–1847)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fernando Sor (1778–1839)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anton Diabelli (1781–1858)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829)<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Field (1782–1837)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Louis Spohr (1784–1859)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Carl Czerny (1791–1857)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Incidentally, those listed above all had active compositional careers, and they all wrote works that have been recorded and performed frequently by many performing artists. In the case of the guitar composers on the list (Carullil, Sor, Giuliani), I have played their music, and professional guitarists continue to play their music regularly.<br />
<br />
They may not have reached the lofty heights of Brahms and Beethoven, but they nevertheless accomplished much in their compositional careers.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 8px;"><br /></span>
Making lists such as those above is a bit of a silly game, perhaps – if I have Brahms on my B-list, and you have him on your A-list, it doesn't matter much, does it? – but there are <i>potentially</i> interesting/instructive aspects of debating these questions, such as the following:<br />
<ol>
<li>They might lead us to discover works with which we were previously unfamiliar, some of which we might enjoy hearing;</li>
<li>They might challenge us to reconsider composers whose music we had previously dismissed or not valued highly, with the potential benefit of discovering good music that we previously did not know, or not know well, or discovering that a piece we had previously dismissed is actually a pretty good composition;</li>
<li>They force us to examine the basis on which we evaluate music, and that seems like a beneficial exercise to consider, at least periodically. <i>Why</i> do I like what I do? Why do I think less of some pieces than others? Am I a musical snob? Am I truly open to new composers and new styles of music?</li>
</ol>
As composers, I believe the third aspect above is essential to improvement. If I can identify some of the attributes that make music great, then perhaps I can incorporate those aspects into my music.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 8px;"><br /></span>
I wrote a post about five years ago on <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-2.html" target="_blank">Form in Post-Tonal Music</a> (the first in a series of three on this topic) in which I mentioned the guitar Sonata in C, op. 22, by Fernando Sor, a piece I used to play. I regard it as a pleasant piece, but not up to the level of repertoire by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven that we study in my musical form class.<br />
<br />
Having played and heard a fair amount of his music, I think of Sor as a C-list composer, someone who made a career from composing and performing his own music, someone who knew what he was doing in terms of composition, but ultimately, someone who did not manage to reach compositional greatness.<br />
<br />
What was interesting to me was that while I am quite clear about my views on Sor's music, it was surprisingly difficult to come up for reasons to support my opinion. <span style="color: #c99dff;">Anyone can have an opinion, but articulating the reasons behind that opinion in an intelligent and considered way can be very challenging</span>.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 8px;"><br /></span>
Returning to The Spectator article cited above, the author asks the question: How good were women composers in comparison with their male counterparts? He then provides examples of works by several women composers – Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach (1867–1944), Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994), and Thea Musgrave (born 1928) – to support his conclusion that – surprise! – women composers were not as good as their male counterparts, and therefore their music does not deserve inclusion in the list of composers to be studied by British A-level students.<br />
<br />
To me, a more pertinent question is not whether women composers were <i>capable</i> of writing music that matched the quality of the greatest male composers, but whether the best women composers wrote <i>any</i> music that compared favourably with the music of any of the composers from the lists above.<br />
<br />
Everyone can come to their own conclusion on this question, but if you were to suggest that Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn failed to match the artistic level of Paisiello, Stamitz, Carulli, <i>et al</i>, I would suggest otherwise, and yet the music of Paisiello, Stamitz, and Carulli, et al, continues to be performed and recorded without any extramusical justification (e.g., "we're performing music by composers based in Milan from 1750-1800 on tonight's programme!), whereas I suspect some people feel that the <i>only</i> reasons Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn get performed nowadays are (a) they shared the same last name as more famous composers, and (b) they were women, and if they were men we would have forgotten about their music long ago.<br />
<br />
And I would suggest that while (a) might have some validity, (b) does not; had they been men, I don't think anyone would question why their music continues to be recorded and performed today, any more than people question why the music of many of the "C-List" composers above gets recorded and performed.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">What is the motivation behind these questions?</span></b><br />
<br />
So, in the case of the article from The Spectator mentioned at the outset of today's post, the motivation seems pretty clear: To discredit women composers. They were not, the author argues, as good as the great male composers, so we should therefore stop all this political correctness nonsense and not include their music on the Edexcel exam board A-level music syllabus.<br />
<br />
And yes, this is my own summary of the Spectator article, but you should read it yourself to see if am being unfair or overly harsh.<br />
<br />
This motivation, if I have represented it fairly, is not in itself bad – if I were motivated to write an article about why the first movement of Beethoven's Waldstein sonata is considerably more sophisticated than the first movement of his first published sonata, op. 2 no. 1, I would like to think that the motivation is fine, as long as I were able to support my conclusion with clear and unbiased evidence.<br />
<br />
Where this kind of motivation is problematic, however, is that the writer is starting with a conclusion that is largely dismissive of an entire group of composers, and then hand-picking evidence to support the conclusion. This is the level of discourse you see on phone-in sports shows on radio or television ("I think Mike Trout [major-league baseball player, considered by many to be the best of his generation] SUCKS! I watched a game the other night where he make an error and struck out TWICE! Hell, <i>I</i> could have done that!"), or in bar discussions by drunken folk (I still remember one such discussion from many years ago between two people I knew, about whether dogs were better than cats, or <i>vice-versa.</i> At first it was mildly amusing, but it became very stupid very quickly, and the opponents almost came to blows).<br />
<br />
Ideally, we'd all find a way to look at evidence objectively and then write and/or talk intelligently about what we learned from the experience, but, as a society, we appear to be far from any kind of ideal when it comes to discourse on anything, especially on controversial matters.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
As so often happens in my blog posts, I have gone on <i>much</i> longer than planned… I was going to look at and listen to some of the works by women composers and see if the author of The Spectator article was being fair or not, but I will save that for another post.<br />
<br />
In the mean time, here are a couple of recordings of music by Clara Schumann, with scrolling scores:<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sHnYlORpL5Q" width="480"></iframe>
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<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzTcsluFxU4" width="480"></iframe>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-53620191814054832512019-03-04T17:05:00.000-03:302019-03-04T17:12:40.509-03:30Sacred Minimalism (3): John TavenerThis is the third of my short forays into the music of composers associated with the term "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_minimalism" target="_blank">sacred" (or "holy") minimalism</a>. The previous two posts in this series touched on <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/fratres-arvo-part-tintinabuli-and.html" target="_blank">Aarvo Pärt</a> and <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/sacred-minimalism-2-henryk-gorecki.html" target="_blank">Henryk Górecki</a>.<br />
<br />
A third composer associated with this term is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tavener" target="_blank">John Tavener</a>, described in Wikipedia as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"During his career he became one of the best known and popular composers of his generation, most particularly for <i>The Protecting Veil</i>, which as recorded by cellist Steven Isserlis became a bestselling album, and <i>Song for Athene</i> which was sung at the funeral of Princess Diana."</blockquote>
Here are recordings of the two mentioned pieces; have a listen, and share your thoughts in the "Comments" section below, if you wish.<br />
<br />
Let me know if you have any suggestions of other favourite Tavener pieces to add to these recordings; I'll happily post more recordings if I get suggestions.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iTS-uYUZJFI?start=5" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ma_Ouv74_8" width="560"></iframe>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-61302150418263717942019-02-24T13:03:00.001-03:302022-04-03T09:16:00.520-02:30The "get it done" leagueOne of my favourite sports quotes comes from Josh Donaldson, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays, who, following a frustrating loss on May 16, 2015, said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<span style="color: #c99dff;">This isn't the "try" league, this is the "get it done" league</span>. And you know, eventually they're gonna find people who are going to get it done."</blockquote>
These are unsettling words, especially to anyone who isn't getting "it" (their job) done, but Mr. Donaldson was, I believe, correct.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #c99dff;">In major league baseball, or the highest-level of any profession, if you aren't "getting it done" – i.e., if you aren't doing your job at a satisfactory level – you will likely be demoted to the minor leagues (or equivalent thereof), or even out of a job entirely, irrespective of how hard you were trying</span>.</blockquote>
The "try" league refers to people who are <b>not</b> getting it done, but claim to be <i>trying</i> very hard (and perhaps they do try very hard!). I obviously can't claim to know exactly what Donaldson meant by this quote, but I <i>think</i> that his point was that <i>the amount of effort you put into doing your job, or accomplishing a task of any kind, is irrelevant if you aren't succeeding</i>. The only thing that matters is results, at least at the highest level of sports (and probably other professions as well). Saying you are trying hard when you are not producing the results expected of you can sound like an excuse.<br />
<br />
Strangely enough, Donaldson's words are somewhat similar to something said by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoda" target="_blank">Yoda</a>, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_Strikes_Back" target="_blank"><i>Star Wars, Episode V:</i> <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i></a>:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"<span style="color: #c99dff;">Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try</span>."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
As it turned out, both Josh and the Blue Jays did indeed get it done that year – Mr. Donaldson, perhaps channelling his inner Yoda, won the American League <i>Most Valuable Player</i> award, and his team came first in the American League East Division for the first time in twenty-two years.<br />
<br />
Today's post will explore the relevance of this idea to composition, and more specifically:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><i>• Does the idea of "get it done, or we'll find someone else to get it done for you!" apply to the world of professionalism composition? </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #c99dff;"><i>• Does it apply to compositional training?</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><i>• Does the effort we put into a task matter if we aren't getting it done?</i></span></div>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
The answer to the first question, is, in a word, yes. If you are a professional composer and not getting it done – i.e., not finishing compositions by deadlines, or perhaps not finishing them at all, or meeting a deadline but not producing the <i>kind</i> of piece you were commissioned to write, or the kind of music that the movie needs, in the case of a film composer, you will not last long in the profession.<br />
<br />
It's not a <i>completely</i> <a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Draconian" target="_blank">Draconian</a> world out there – if you have built a good reputation by consistently delivering high-quality compositions on time for years, being a day or two late with a project will probably not derail your career. But if you are late multiple times, then much of the good reputation you spent years earning will likely erode, which will eventually lead to fewer opportunities, and eventually, <i>no</i> opportunities at all.<br />
<br />
So, yes, professional composers do need to find a way to "get it done," no matter how challenging this may be, or what their personal struggles might be.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
If you are in the process of <i>developing</i> your compositional skills, however, different rules apply, at least to some extent. You are basically in the <span style="color: #c99dff;"><i>"learning <b>how</b> to</i> get it done" league</span>, which is hopefully more forgiving, unless you find yourself in the kind of vicious and heartless music school depicted in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiplash_(2014_film)" target="_blank">Whiplash</a></i>, the 2014 film about the relationship between an ambitious jazz drumming student and a sadistic and abusive instructor.<br />
<br />
Luckily, most music instructors are nurturing and genuinely care about the musical development of their students, at least in my experience, although I have had a few notable exceptions as teachers along the way.<br />
<br />
At our university, and at many others, students who are unable to accomplish tasks due to personal struggles of any kind can request accommodations to avoid academic penalties. Valid excuses do matter, and are taken into consideration. The same may be true in many other professional environments as well.<br />
<br />
But, even in the training process for aspiring composers, there are aspects of the "get it done" league that apply, such as:<br />
<ol>
<li>Finishing a composition.</li>
<li>Doing the above by a deadline.</li>
<li>Doing the above, and being satisfied that the composition is as good as you can make it in your current stage of development, and given your time constraints.</li>
<li>Doing the above, and making sure that all score details and other matters of score presentation are logical, musical, clear, and as unambiguous as possible; also, doing the same for parts.</li>
<li>Doing the above, and getting the score and parts to performers in plenty of time for them to learn it, assuming you want it to be performed in an upcoming concert. </li>
<li>Doing the above, plus doing whatever it takes to address any concerns the performers (or commissioner) have, including modifying sections of the score if necessary. This is something I plan on writing a post about in the near future, by the way.</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<br />
At times I have taken an absurd amount of time – in some cases, weeks – working and reworking the ending of a composition. The objective is always the same – come up with an ending that works best for that particular piece – because I never want people to think, after hearing my composition, <i>what the hell just happened there at the end? It was all going pretty well up to the last minute or so!</i> Or, perhaps more importantly, <i>I</i> don't want to think such thoughts when I hear my own piece in a concert.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">There is plenty of justification for taking the time necessary to "get it right," not just in the ending, but in every section of your composition</span> (I guess, if you want to keep using sports slogans, we can call this the "get it right" league), <span style="color: #c99dff;">but, most of the time, composers face the challenge of both finding a way to both <b>get it done</b>, <i>and</i> <b>get it right by a</b> <b>deadline</b></span>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #c99dff;">Sometimes, however, the "get it right" part may need to be slightly compromised in order to meet a deadline</span>.</blockquote>
Put another way, we <i>always</i> want to get it right, but <b><span style="color: #c99dff;">getting it right should never trump the objective of finishing by our deadline</span></b>.<br />
<br />
Why? There are many possible negative outcomes that may result if you "get it right" but miss your deadline, such as:<br />
<ol>
<li>The performers may not play your piece. This may not seem very likely, especially if the performers are friends, but, not only <i>can</i> it happen, I have personally experienced this, and I know of others who have as well. And it can be devastating.</li>
<li>The performers may resent you, justifiably, for not giving them sufficient time to learn the piece well, which in turn can make them disinclined to ever play a piece of yours again.</li>
<li>Your reputation will probably take a hit, particularly if writing for professionals.</li>
<li>If it is a commission and you signed a contract to deliver the music by a certain date, you may not get paid (!).</li>
</ol>
Developing the habit of finishing by a deadline is, I would therefore suggest, <i>essential</i> for composers, even in the training stages of our development.<br />
<br />
If you are experiencing angst because, in order to finish by a deadline, the ending or another section is not as good as you would like, I feel your pain, but perhaps you can take comfort in this thought:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>You can make further changes to the composition <b>after</b> the first performance, but, <b><span style="color: #c99dff;">if you miss your deadline, the piece may not get a first performance</span></b></i>, at least not by the musicians originally scheduled to perform it.</blockquote>
<br />
If you can find/create an opportunity for a second performance (which itself can be a challenge), aim to make <i>that</i> version of the piece the one with which you are fully satisfied.<br />
<br />
When faced with a deadline, try to channel your inner Josh Donaldson, your inner Yoda, or, if you prefer, your inner Queen Elsa from <i>Frozen</i> (!), and <i>let it go</i>. (Sorry ☺️; I will herewith stop the slogans and catch-phrases, I promise!).<br />
<br />
If, in order to meet a deadline, you had to "let it go" before reaching a point of complete satisfaction with your composition, just remember that you can get it back after the premiere and revise it further, if you wish.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Incidentally, I have no idea who first used the term "let it go" in a song, but a long time before 2013's <i>Frozen</i>, in 1980, John Lennon wrote <i>I just had to let it go</i> in a song called <i>Watching the Wheels</i>. The concept itself goes back millennia, and is associated with Buddhism, among other faith/philosophical traditions.</span>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-55642223311899372342019-02-18T22:10:00.003-03:302019-02-18T22:10:40.123-03:30Henryk Górecki: Three Pieces in Old StyleAnother Górecki piece (with scrolling score), quite different in character from the <i>Symphony of Sorrowful Songs</i>. Here's the write-up of this piece posted at the publisher's website:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Three Pieces in the Old Style were written in 1963, in answer to a friendly accusation on the part of Tadeusz Ochlewski, then director of PWM Edition, who stated that Górecki's works were lacking in melody. Work on the new composition lasted from 28 November to 23 December 1963, and its premiere took place on 30 April 1964 in Warsaw. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This work was a sort of novelty - for here in the art of a young composer who had already openly declared himself as supporter of the avant-garde, there suddenly appeared three miniature pieces combined in one small cycle, characterized by a very strong reference to the style of Renaissance music. The composer himself mentioned years later that they had been an antidote for him, an attempt to go beyond the aesthetic of sonorism and post-serialism flourishing at the time. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Written for string orchestra, this little work encompasses three segments, maintained in different tempi and differing in character. The outer movements of the cycle, reminiscent of lively dances, surround the nostalgic second piece. About this piece, Tadeusz Zieliński wrote in 1975: The purposefully simple, but at the same time tasteful dosage of purely sonorist values of string sound, variation and contrast in its density and dynamics, lead us to the very essence of Góreckis individual style. These pieces represent a modest (as it were, simplified, adapted to the archaic theme), but effective and charming sample of this style and the typical aesthetic-technical issues of their creator. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Duration: 10 minutes</blockquote>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eJmRItZ_aN8" width="560"></iframe>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-59665069979824204702019-01-14T16:59:00.003-03:302020-02-09T20:20:12.991-03:30Blog Index — Organized by Topic (®Jan/2019)A list of most of the blog entries posted so far, organized loosely by topic.<br />
<br />
This is not completely comprehensive; entries relating to class business – reminders of deadlines, concert congratulations, order of class presentation, etc. – are not included.<br />
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Inspiration</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/ars-longa-vita-brevis.html" target="_blank">Ars Longa, Vita Brevis</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/daring-to-dream-big.html">Daring to Dream Big</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2012/01/dont-fear-failure.html" target="_blank">Bob Ross, Empowering the Masses, and Fear of Failure</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/01/on-musical-genius.html">On Musical Genius</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-role-of-music-in-our-world.html">Music is Everywhere; How can Composers Benefit?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/inspiration-persperation-and.html">Inspiration, Perspiration, and Perspicacity</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-9.html">Taking your inspiration from where you find it</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/even-great-composers-can-write-flops.html">Even Great Composers Can Write Flops</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2018/07/ambition-talent-and-ego-too.html" target="_blank">Ambition, Talent, and Ego Too!</a> (about The Beatles)</div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Exploring the Creative Process; Struggles and Solutions</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/stuck.html">Stuck?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/running-into-brick-wall.html">Strategies for Becoming Unstuck</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/creators-angst.html">Creative Angst... Welcome to the Club!</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/07/oh-pain-of-it-all.html" target="_blank">Oh, the Pain of it all!</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/strike-while-iron-is-hot.html">Strike While the Iron is Hot! </a><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(includes section on "writer's block")</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/composers-who-couldnt-finish-what-they.html">"Composers Who Couldn't Finish What They Started"</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/09/when-your-reach-exceeds-your-grasp.html" target="_blank">When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp</a><br />
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/finding-time-to-compose-5-tips.html">Finding Time to Compose — 5 Tips</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-perception-of-progress.html" target="_blank">On the Perception of Progress</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Planning</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-love-it-when-plan-comes-together.html" target="_blank">I Love it When a Plan Comes Together</a>!<br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-8.html">The Value of a Plan</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/the-potentially-hubristic-folly-of.html">The Potentially Hubristic Folly of Planning</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Playing With Expectations; Musical Dichotomies</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations.html">Playing With Expectations (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations-part-two.html">Playing With Expectations (2); Rewriting Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/playing-with-expectations-part-three.html">Playing With Expectations (3); Why is a Familiar Roller-Coaster Ride Still Fun?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/11/ross-nee-heisenberg-uncertainty.html" target="_blank">The Ross (née Heisenberg) Uncertainty Principle, and Other Musical Dichotomies</a><br />
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-6.html">Balancing the Old with the New, the Expected with the Unexpected</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-7.html">More Dichotomies to Ponder…</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Composition Techniques </b></i></span>←</div>
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<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/04/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-2-rite.html" target="_blank">Ostinatos – Making a Lot from a Little: 2. The Rite of Spring</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/03/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-1.html" target="_blank">Ostinatos – Making a Lot from a Little: 1. Boléro</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/09/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-1_18.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (1)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-2.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (2)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-3.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (3)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/sampling-of-ideas-and-techniques-for.html">A Sampling of Post-1900 Materials of Music; See Anything You Like?</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/fratres-arvo-part-tintinabuli-and.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (1) – Fratres, by Arvo Pärt (also mentions "Tintinnabuli")</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/sacred-minimalism-2-henryk-gorecki.html" target="_blank">Sacred Minimalism (2) — Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, By Henryk Górecki; The Best-Selling Classical Recording of All Time!</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/spectralism.html" target="_blank">Spectralism</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/polystylism.html" target="_blank">Polystylism</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/music-with-no-melody-discussion-and.html" target="_blank">Music With No Melody (1)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/exploring-music-with-no-melody-part-2.html" target="_blank">Music With No Melody (2; <i>Expanded in 2019</i>)</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Thematic Growth</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/allowing-your-musical-ideas-to-self.html">Thematic Growth (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/guest-blog-simon-re-thematic-growth.html">Thematic Growth (2; Simon's Guest Blog)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/re-post-of-composition-issues-4-5.html">Thematic Growth (3)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-5.html">How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Nuts and Bolts; Score Details, Notation Software Issues </b></i></span>←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-musical-detail.html">On Musical Detail (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/musical-detail-addendum.html">On Musical Detail (2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-case-this-applies-to-you.html">On Musical Detail (3)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/fair-copy-due-friday-1-pm.html">What is a "Fair Copy?"</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2018/01/composition-1-pre-submission-checklist.html" target="_blank">Composition #1 – Pre-Submission Checklist</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/01/music-notation-software-pros-and-cons.html" target="_blank">Music Notation Software: Pros and Cons for Composers</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/removing-key-signature-from-transposing.html">Removing a Key Signature from Transposing Instruments in Finale</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/06/adding-multiple-ossia-measures-in.html">Adding Multiple <i>Ossia</i> Bars in Finale</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/notation-software-woes.html">Notation Software Woes</a><br />
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Writing Idiomatically for Piano, Wind Band, etc. </b></i></span>←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/idiomatic-writing-for-piano-re-post.html">Writing Idiomatically for Piano</a><br />
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/final-project.html">Writing for Wind Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/jessicas-tips-for-writing-for-youth.html">Jessica's Tips on Writing for Youth Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/writing-for-wind-band.html">Clark's Tips on Writing for Wind Band</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Talent and Skill</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/04/talent-skill-whats-difference.html">Talent? Skill? What's the Difference?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/04/on-laziness-and-mediocrity.html">How to Become a More-Skilled Composer, in 10 <strike>Painful</strike> <strike>Backbreaking</strike> <i>E-Z </i>Steps!</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>On Composition (Miscellaneous Topics)</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-much-theory-do-you-have-to-know-in.html" target="_blank">How Much Theory do You Have to Know to be a Composer?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2015/03/on-value-of-works-by-living-composers.html" target="_blank">On the Value of Living Composers</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/express-yourself.html">Express Yourself? Really?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/writing-play.html">Writing a Play; an Analogy to Composition</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/03/keep-discard.html">Keep? Discard?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/music-works.html">Musicworks Magazine</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/how-can-non-composers-teach-k-12.html">How can Non-Composers Teach K-12 Composition?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-might-be-composer-if.html" target="_blank">You Might be a Composer if…</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Form in Post-Tonal Music</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/form-in-post-tonal-music-1.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Questions 1-7)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-2.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/question-2-from-my-form-in-post-tonal.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-4.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 3)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-5.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 4, 5, 6)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/form-in-post-tonal-music-6.html">Form in Post-Tonal Music (Answers: 7)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Atonality; What's in a Name?</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/02/finding-your-own-voice-tonality.html" target="_blank">Finding Your Own Voice; Tonality, Post-Tonality, and the Composer's Toolbox</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-atonal-music.html">Why Post-Tonal Music?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/atonal-even-word-sounds-unpleasant.html">Atonal — Even the Word Sounds Unpleasant!</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/atonality-noise.html">Atonality = Noise?</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/jessica-blenis-guest-blog-if-you-can.html">Jess Blenis Guest Blog on Atonality</a></div>
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<hr color="Grey" style="text-align: start;" />
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Originality in Art</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-1.html">Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-important-is-originality-in-art.html">How Important is Originality in Art?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-originality-detriment-in-art.html">Is Originality a Detriment in Art?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2009/07/originality-does-it-have-any-role-in.html">Originality — Does it have <i>Any</i> Role in Art?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/if-you-can-name-it-dont-use-it-1.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/03/jessica-blenis-guest-blog-if-you-can.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/05/if-you-can-name-it-dont-use-it-3-my-take.html">If a Technique Has a Name, Don't Use It! (3)</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Musical Influences</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/musical-influences.html">Musical Influences (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/musical-influences-part-2.html">Musical Influences (2)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Kandinsky's Theories on Art</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-1.html">Kandinsky's Theories (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-2_30.html">Kandinsky's Theories (2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/kandinskys-theories-part-3.html">Kandinsky's Theories (3)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Winning and Losing; Judging and Being Judged; Reference Letter Do's and Don'ts</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/01/recommendation-letters-process-and.html" target="_blank">Recommendation Letters – How Students are Evaluated</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/winning-and-losing-as-impostors.html">Winning and Losing as Impostors</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/the-value-of-accolades-for-composers.html">The Value of Accolades, and a Personal Anecdote</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/11/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (2)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/02/judge-me-by-my-composition-do-you-part_2.html">Judge Me By My Composition, Do You? (3)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/11/experiences-as-adjudicator.html">Experiences as an Adjudicator (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/12/experiences-as-adjudicator-postscript.html">Experiences as an Adjudicator (2)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Audience Response to Contemporary Classical Music and Marketing</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/audiences-hate-modern-classical-music.html">"Audiences Hate Modern Classical Music Because Their Brains Cannot Cope"</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-hatred-of-modern-classical-music-due.html">On the "Hatred" of Modern Classical Music Due to the Brain's Inability to Cope</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/marketing-contemporary-music.html">Marketing Contemporary Classical Music (1)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post.html">Marketing Contemporary Classical Music (2)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/10/spin-doctoring-101.html" target="_blank">Spin Doctoring 101</a> (self promotion)</div>
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</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;">→ <i><b>Composition Issues (10-part series that started this blog)</b></i> ←</span></div>
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1 <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-1.html">Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas</a></div>
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1.1. The <span style="font-style: italic;">quality of ideas</span> may not matter very much in assessing compositions that emerge from them; and</div>
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1.2. The <span style="font-style: italic;">degree</span> to which these ideas are original may not matter very much.</div>
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2. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-2.html">How do you Develop Compositional Craft?</a></div>
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2.1. Study the music of others.</div>
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2.2. Compose as much as you can.</div>
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2.3. Invite criticism from others.</div>
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3. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-3.html">Understanding your Musical Idea</a></div>
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3.1. Live with it for a while.</div>
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3.2. What is it about?</div>
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3.3. Does it change character?</div>
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3.4. What is its function within the context of the piece?</div>
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3.5. Structural Analysis.</div>
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3.6. Harmonic (or Pitch, Scale, etc.) Analysis.</div>
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4.<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-4.html">The Pros and Cons of Development</a></div>
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</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
5. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-5.html">How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials</a>; Specific Suggestions</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
6. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-6.html">Balancing the Old with the New, the Expected with the Unexpected</a></div>
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7. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-7.html">More Dichotomies to Ponder…</a></div>
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7.1. <i>Less is more /</i> <i>More is more</i></div>
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7.2. <i>Always leave them wanting more </i>/<i> Give them what they want</i></div>
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7.3. <i>Don't treat the listener like an idiot / There's a sucker born every minute</i></div>
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7.4. <i>There can be too much of a good thing / If you have a good idea, then stick with it!</i></div>
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7.5. The George Costanza approach.</div>
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8. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-8.html">I think my idea has run its course. Now what?</a></div>
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8.1. Three models for the role of a composer</div>
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8.2. Mastery or Mystery?</div>
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8.3. The value of a plan</div>
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8.4. Getting stuck, and possible workarounds</div>
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8.5. Don't obsess</div>
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8.6. Challenges = Opportunities</div>
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<div style="padding-bottom: 9px;">
9. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/08/composition-issues-9.html">Taking your inspiration from where you find it</a></div>
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10. <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/inspiration-persperation-and.html">Inspiration, Perspiration, and Perspicacity</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Composition Projects</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/project-1-atonal-theme-variations.html">Project 1 - Atonal Theme and Variations</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-next.html">Project 1 - More Details</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/09/project-1-what-next.html">Project 1 - What Next?</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/10/project-2-fall-2012-options.html">Project 2 Options</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/10/next-project-using-musical-clichs-in.html">Project 2: Using Musical Clichés in Creating Art Music</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/using-musical-style-or-gesture-as-point.html">Project 2: Using a musical style or gesture as a point of departure</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2008/11/recontextualizing-and-atonality.html">Project 2: Recontextualizing and atonality</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/fun-with-scales-and-modes.html">Project 3: Fun With Scales and Modes</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/final-project.html">Project 4: Composition for Wind Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/03/jessicas-tips-for-writing-for-youth.html">Project 4: Jessica's Tips on Writing for Youth Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/writing-for-wind-band.html">Project 4: Clark's Tips on Writing for Wind Band</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/writing-for-piano.html">Project 5: Write Three Character Pieces for Solo Piano</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/11/project-2-choice-of-text-setting-or-b.html">Project 6: Choice of Text Setting, or Genre Recontextualization</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/02/writing-for-chamber-ensemble.html">Project 7: Writing for Chamber Ensemble</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/music-with-no-melody-discussion-and.html" target="_blank">Project 8: Music With No Melody (1 - What is Melody?)</a><br />
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2016/01/exploring-music-with-no-melody-part-2.html" target="_blank">Project 8: Music With No Melody (2 - Examples, and Project Description)</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Course and Blog Information</b></i></span> ←</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/class-blogs-student-blogs-why.html">Class Blog and Student Blogs Explained</a></div>
</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/group-composition-lessons-pros-and-cons.html">Group Composition Lessons; Pros and Cons</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcoming-concert-information-and.html">Concert Protocol</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/welcome-message-january-2014.html">Welcome Message (January, 2014)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2012/09/welcome-september-2012.html">Welcome Message (September, 2012)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-semester-new-course.html">Welcome Message (January, 2010)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/09/welcome-fall-2009.html">Welcome Message (September, 2009)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-year-new-composition-blogs.html">Welcome Message (January, 2009)</a></div>
</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/if-mu4100-students-want-to-comment-on.html">Class Business — Odds and Ends (January, 2009)</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Opportunities</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/04/kims-composers-kitchen-blogs.html">Kim's "Composer's Kitchen" Blogs</a></div>
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→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>Newfound Music Festivals (and Other Concerts)</b></i></span> ←</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2014/01/2014-newfound-music-festival-starts.html">2014 Festival Overview</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2013/01/newfound-music-festival-starts-today.html">2013 Festival Overview</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/reflections-on-newfound-music-festival.html">2010 — Student Reflections</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/newfound-music-festival-8-pm-concert.html">2010 — Evening Concert Programmes</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/01/newfound-music-festival-thursday.html">2010 — Thursday Daytime Events</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/12/cmc-50th-anniversary-concert-friday.html">2009 — CMC 50th Anniversary Concert</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/01/newfound-music-festival-thursday.html">2009 — Thursday Daytime Events</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/02/festival-feedback.html">2009 — Festival Feedback</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">
→ <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #c99cff;"><i><b>My Music</b></i></span> ←</div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2009/07/domenico-1-2.html">Domenico 1° (Scarlet Daybreak) & Domenico 2° (Scarlet Nightfall)</a></div>
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<a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.com/2010/02/n.html">Funky Flute Groove Experience</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-85421651274465457042019-01-13T09:38:00.000-03:302019-01-13T10:01:55.819-03:30Sacred Minimalism (2): Henryk Górecki, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/fratres-arvo-part-tintinabuli-and.html" target="_blank">Last week I wrote about one of the most popular works written in the last fifty years</a> – <i>Fratres</i>, by Arvo Pärt – and a compositional approach/ideology that is known by many names, two of which are Sacred Minimalism, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_minimalism" target="_blank">Holy Minimalism</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_G%C3%B3recki" target="_blank">Henryk Górecki</a> (1933-2010) was another composer associated with this movement, and he wrote what is without any doubt the most popular classical composition of the past 50 years: <span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>Symphony No. 3</b></span>, known as the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(G%C3%B3recki)" target="_blank">Symphony of Sorrowful Songs</a>" (1976; just one year prior to Pärt's <i>Fratres</i>).<br />
<br />
How popular did it become? Consider this:<br />
<ul>
<li>It became a "smash hit" in 1992 when it was released on the Elektra-Nonsuch label, featuring soprano soloist Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Zinman; <span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>this recording has sold over a million copies to date</b></span>;</li>
<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">This recording reached number 6 on the <b>mainstream</b> UK album charts</span> (note: these are the pop music charts, not classical);</li>
<li>It reached <span style="color: #c99dff;">number 1 on the US classical charts, and stayed there for 38 weeks</span>;</li>
<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">It remained on the US classical charts for 138 weeks</span>. </li>
<li>Wikipedia reports that "it probably counts as <span style="color: #c99dff;">the best selling contemporary classical record of all time</span>." </li>
</ul>
All of these achievements pertain to just one recording, but it has also been released on many other discs; it would not surprise me if the overall number – the one that includes ALL recordings sold of this work – is in the neighbourhood of 1.5 million, but this is just a wild guess on my part.<br />
<br />
I don't know of any analysis that explains <i>why</i> this work became so popular, and I'm not sure that such an analysis is even possible. <span style="color: #c99dff;">The reasons behind anything going viral to this degree are a combination of <b>things you can analyze</b></span> (e.g., "it's a beautiful work;" see more listed below), <span style="color: #c99dff;">and <b>momentum</b></span>, like a snowball rolling down a hill becoming increasingly bigger, to the point where it can wipe out anything in its path.<br />
<br />
But at least <i>some</i> of the reasons for its popularity may be: <br />
<ol>
<li> The work really is very beautiful – the harmony is always tonal/modal, albeit with lots of "blurring" (sustained notes, layered on top of one another) – so listeners unfamiliar with classical music (and those that are) are not hearing anything that might come as a sonic shock to them;</li>
<li> It has a calm, soothing quality, for the most part – a quality associated with other works in the "Sacred Minimalism" style (including last week's example, "Fratres");</li>
<li> Being a type of minimalism, there is lots of repetition, but nowhere near to the degree you find in pulsed minimalist works by, say, Steven Reich, or in static minimalist works by Morton Feldman (although, there are elements of stasis in Górecki's piece as well);</li>
<li> The text is about things that anyone with any degree of empathy in their makeup can relate to; it consists of three laments, told from the perspective of a mother grieving dying (in the first movement) or dead (in the third movement) son, or, in the second movement, told from the perspective of an 18-year old girl imprisoned in a gestapo prison in 1944, and later killed. The text is below.</li>
</ol>
First Movement<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>My son, my chosen and beloved<br />Share your wounds with your mother<br />And because, dear son, I have always carried you in my heart,<br />And always served you faithfully<br />Speak to your mother, to make her happy,<br />Although you are already leaving me, my cherished hope.</i><br />
(Lamentation of the Holy Cross Monastery from the "Lysagóra Songs" collection. Second half of the 15th century)</blockquote>
<br />
Second Movement<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>No, Mother, do not weep,<br />Most chaste Queen of Heaven<br />Support me always.<br />"Zdrowas Mario."</i> (*)<br />
(Prayer inscribed on wall 3 of cell no. 3 in the basement of "Palace," the Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane; beneath is the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944.")<br />
(*) "Zdrowas Mario" (Ave Maria)—the opening of the Polish prayer to the Holy Mother</blockquote>
Third Movement<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Where has he gone</i><br />
<i>My dearest son?</i><br />
<i>Perhaps during the uprising</i><br />
<i>The cruel enemy killed him</i><br />
<br />
<i>Ah, you bad people</i><br />
<i>In the name of God, the most Holy,</i><br />
<i>Tell me, why did you kill</i><br />
<i>My son?</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Never again<br />Will I have his support<br />Even if I cry<br />My old eyes out<br /><br />Were my bitter tears<br />to create another River Oder<br />They would not restore to life<br />My son<br /><br />He lies in his grave<br />and I know not where<br />Though I keep asking people<br />Everywhere<br /><br />Perhaps the poor child<br />Lies in a rough ditch<br />and instead he could have been<br />lying in his warm bed<br /><br />Oh, sing for him<br />God's little song-birds<br />Since his mother<br />Cannot find him<br /><br />And you, God's little flowers<br />May you blossom all around<br />So that my son<br />May sleep happily</i>(Folk song in the dialect of the Opole region) </blockquote>
It is a very long piece –54 minutes – so be prepared; it gets off to a very slow and quiet start, so quiet that, if you are listening to this through your computer speakers, it is very difficult to hear anything for the first few minutes. For this reason, I have the video below cued to start shortly before the soprano enters, but obviously you should feel free to go back to the start of the piece and listen to the whole thing if you wish.<br />
<br />
Its length, stasis, and repetitiveness have led some to wonder how many of the people who bought this disc actually listened to the whole thing, and, for those that did, how many listened to it more than once (this question is referenced in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._3_(G%C3%B3recki)#Critical_and_cultural_reception" target="_blank">Wikipedia article</a>). <br />
<br />
As always, share any thoughts you may have in the comments section below.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mcfy3UmnyDY?start=767" width="560"></iframe>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-16966011599825299292019-01-09T15:59:00.009-03:302022-01-11T11:57:47.184-03:30Sacred Minimalism (1): Fratres, Arvo Pärt, and "Tintinnabuli"If this interests you, consider checking out three other blog posts on this topic: <br /> <br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/01/sacred-minimalism-2-henryk-gorecki.html" target="_blank"> Sacred Minimalism (2): Henryk Górecki, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs</a>
<br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/03/sacred-minimalism-3-john-tavener.html" target="_blank"> Sacred Minimalism (3): John Tavener</a>
<br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2019/02/henryk-gorecki-three-pieces-in-old-style.html" target="_blank">Henryk Górecki, Three Pieces in Old Style </a>
<br /><br />
<hr>
<br />
There's a pretty good chance you've heard <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fratres" target="_blank">Fratres</a> (1977) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvo_P%C3%A4rt" target="_blank">Arvo Pärt</a>, because it's a <b>hugely</b> popular piece. There are many different versions of it, because it was written with <i>no specific instrumentation</i>. It has been described as a “mesmerising set of variations on a six-bar theme combining frantic activity and sublime stillness that encapsulates Pärt’s observation that ‘the instant and eternity are struggling within us.’” (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fratres" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)<br />
<br />
Pärt considered this to be an example of a compositional style he called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli" target="_blank">Tintinnabuli</a>" (which in Latin means "bells") described as follows by Wikipedia:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This simple style was influenced by the composer's mystical experiences with chant music. Musically, Pärt's <i>tintinnabular</i> music is characterized by two types of voice, the first of which (dubbed the "<i>tintinnabular</i> voice") arpeggiates the tonic triad, and the second of which moves diatonically in stepwise motion. The works often have a slow and meditative tempo, and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance. Pärt's compositional approach has expanded somewhat in the years since 1970, but the overall effect remains largely the same."</blockquote>
Have a listen, and please share any reactions you may have in the comments section below:.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wcMFQ8-r_cU" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Pärt's music is considered by some be exemplify a post-1970 movement in composition called "Holy Minimalism," also known as "Mystic Minimalism," "Spiritual Minimalism," or "Sacred Minimalism." Here's how this is described in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_minimalism" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"With the growing popularity of minimalist music in the 1960s and 1970s, which often broke sharply with prevailing <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_aesthetics" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Musical aesthetics">musical aesthetics</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialism" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Serialism">serialism</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleatoric_music" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Aleatoric music">aleatoric music</a>, many composers, building on the work of such minimalists as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Riley" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Terry Riley">Terry Riley</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Glass" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Philip Glass">Philip Glass</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Reich" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Steve Reich">Steve Reich</a>, began to work with more traditional notions of simple melody and harmony in a radically simplified framework. This transition was seen variously as an aspect of musical <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-modernism" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Post-modernism">post-modernism</a> or as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoromanticism_(music)" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Neoromanticism (music)">neo-romanticism</a>, that is a return to the lyricism of the nineteenth century.<br />
<br />
"In the 1970s and continuing in the 1980s and 1990s, several composers, many of whom had previously worked in serial or experimental milieux, began working with similar aesthetic ideals<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="font-size: 11.199999809265137px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_minimalism#cite_note-3" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;">[3]</a></sup> – radically simplified compositional materials, a strong foundation in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonality" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Tonality">tonality</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(music)" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Mode (music)">modality</a>, and the use of simple, repetitive melodies – but included with them an explicitly religious orientation. Many of these composers looked to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_music" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Renaissance music">Renaissance</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_music" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Medieval music">medieval music</a> for inspiration, or to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_music" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Liturgical music">liturgical music</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_Church" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Eastern Orthodox Church">Orthodox Churches</a>, some of which employ only <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_cappella" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="A cappella">a cappella</a> in their services. Examples include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvo_P%C3%A4rt" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Arvo Pärt">Arvo Pärt</a> (an Estonian Orthodox), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tavener" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="John Tavener">John Tavener</a> (a British composer who converted to Greek Orthodoxy), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_G%C3%B3recki" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Henryk Górecki">Henryk Górecki</a> (a Polish Catholic), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Hovhaness" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Alan Hovhaness">Alan Hovhaness</a> (the earliest mystic minimalist), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Gubaidulina" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Sofia Gubaidulina">Sofia Gubaidulina</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giya_Kancheli" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Giya Kancheli">Giya Kancheli</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Otte" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Hans Otte">Hans Otte</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%93teris_Vasks" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Pēteris Vasks">Pēteris Vasks</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladim%C3%ADr_God%C3%A1r" style="background-image: none; color: #c99dff; text-decoration: none;" title="Vladimír Godár">Vladimír Godár</a>.<br />
<br />
"Despite being grouped together, the composers tend to dislike the term, and are by no means a "school" of close-knit associates. Their widely differing nationalities, religious backgrounds, and compositional inspirations make the term problematic, but it is nonetheless in widespread use, sometimes critically, among musicologists and music critics, primarily because of the lack of a better term."</blockquote>
Check out some of these composers' music, and share any suggestions you may have for pieces to listen to in the comments section below!
<br />
<br />
In the mean-time, here's another beautiful work by Pärt: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_im_Spiegel" target="_blank">Spiegel im Spiegel</a></i> (1978). Here's the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_im_Spiegel" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> write-up for this piece:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_im_Spiegel" target="_blank">Spiegel im Spiegel</a></i> in German literally can mean both "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror", referring to an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_mirror" target="_blank">infinity mirror</a>, which produces an infinity of images reflected by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. The structure of melody is made by couple of phrases characterized by the alternation between ascending and descending movement with the fulcrum on the note A. This, with also the overturning of the final intervals between adjacent phrases (for example, ascending sixth in the question - descending sixth in the answer), contribute to give the impression of a figure reflecting on a mirror and walking back and towards it."</blockquote>
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJ6Mzvh3XCc" width="560"></iframe>Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-44139562923381331052019-01-03T11:14:00.001-03:302019-01-03T11:31:43.037-03:30Welcome to 2019!Welcome to my advanced composition students! I look forward to working with you this term.<br />
<br />
At the end of this morning's class, I played an example of a <span style="color: #c99dff;">short, character piece for piano and flute in which all chords were classifiable as "poly-harmonies,"</span> which means the superimposition of different tonal harmonies to produce a non-tonal (i.e., post-tonal) result.<br />
<br />
Be aware that <span style="color: #c99dff;">some chord superimpositions do not produce a non-tonal sonority</span>, however. For example, if you superimpose an F chord over a G chord, the result is a G<sup>11</sup> chord, not a new, post-tonal sonority. If you want to try writing a piece using poly-harmonies, make sure the resulting chord is not classifiable as an existing tonal harmony, and, more importantly, <span style="color: #c99dff;">make sure that a chord that might <i>possibly</i> be classifiable as an existing harmony does not <b>function</b> or <b>progress</b> in the way that chord would in tonal music.</span><br />
<br />
One of the most famous examples of poly-harmonies is the so-called "<span style="color: #c99dff;">Petroushka Chord</span>," in which F# major and C major triads are superimposed; this was the starting point of the piece played in this morning's class.<br />
<br />
If this topic interests you, check out the three blog posts I wrote on Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas; each has audio examples and score examples to follow:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/09/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-1_18.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (1)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/10/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-2.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (2)</a><br />
<a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2016/09/post-tonal-harmony-ideas-1_18.html" target="_blank">Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (3)</a> – This is the post that contains the piece played in this morning's class.<br />
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Finally, although this next link takes you to one of the posts I wrote on a different topic (ostinatos), it has examples of a related topic – <span style="color: #c99dff;">bitonality</span> – from <i>The Rite of Spring</i>: <a href="https://clarkross.blogspot.com/2017/04/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-2-rite.html" target="_blank">Ostinatos; making a lot from a little (2. Rite of Spring)</a>. This too may interest you.<br />
<br />
If you read any of the above blog posts and find them interesting, <span style="color: #c99dff;">please leave a comment</span> in the "<span style="color: #c99dff;">Post a comment</span>" section below (you have to be signed-in to your Google account in order to post comments).Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-28357117695688161462018-07-23T17:15:00.004-02:302023-04-05T15:44:59.544-02:30Ambition, Talent, and Ego Too! 😻<span style="color: #c99dff;">"The Beatles … had HUGE ambition, and talent, and ego too."</span><br />
<br />
– British journalist and author Ray Connolly, interviewed in <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6440916/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt" target="_blank">It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper & Beyond</a> </i>(2017; documentary)<br />
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Has anyone has ever reached the pinnacle of their profession without these qualities? The answer probably depends on how you define them, of course, particularly the last one.<br />
<br />
And, if it is true that no one reaches the top without these qualities, does that mean that aspiring composers should become egomaniacs?<br />
<br />
I'd like to explore these questions, but I'll start with ambition.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: large;">Ambition</span><br />
<br />
Ambition is <span style="color: #c99dff;">a strong desire to achieve a goal, typically requiring determination and hard work.</span> The goal is usually at least <i>somewhat</i> lofty – I think that is how it is used in the above quote – but it need not <i>necessarily</i> be so – one's ambition might be to get married, start a family, be a good parent, teacher, or friend, etc. Examples of loftier goals are fame, fortune, power, higher status, or excellence.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure there is such a thing as a human being with <i>no</i> ambition at all, although people are sometimes characterized as such, being labelled <i>slackers, lazy bums, deadbeats, goldbricks, </i>or<i> goof-offs</i>, amongst other strongly-negative terms. <br />
<br />
But even if a person wishes to go through life doing as little as possible, that in itself is a kind of ambition, is it not? 😸 I once asked a guitar student of mine what their ambitions were, and the student said their main ambition was to win a lottery. He has thus far not achieved this, but he subsequently spent many years studying in Germany to become a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewery#Head_brewer/brewmaster" target="_blank">brewmeister</a>, and is now making a very good living as such, I understand.<br />
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I am not sure if anyone reaches the top of their profession without a strong ambition to do so, but perhaps some people get there by simply aspiring to be as good as they can be, and if that gets them to the top, so be it.<br />
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Aspiring to be as good as you can be has the advantage of being a motivational goal – everyone can aim to become as good as they can be, although no one really knows where that point is. Perhaps if we begin to feel like we are as good as we can be, we are probably not. The aspiration to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization" target="_blank">self-actualize</a> (which is related to being as good as we can be) is like the figurative carrot at the end of a stick, motivating us to pursue it, but remaining forever just beyond our reach.<br />
<br />
Aspiring to reach the absolute pinnacle of one's profession is, in art, a difficult objective to define. If you're a boxer, and you are the undisputed champion of the world in your weight class, then congratulations; you've reached the top of your profession! Tennis and golf have ranking systems that determine who is number one in their sports. Track athletes become number one in the world when they break world records.<br />
<br />
For composers, however, while there are various ways of measuring success, there aren't any universally-recognized criteria that <i>clearly</i> establish someone as "the best of the best," the "Queen" or "King" of the composing world. Incidentally, the word "King" has been applied to Elvis ("the King of Rock 'n Roll"), LeBron James of the NBA ("King James"), and <a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth" target="_blank">Babe Ruth</a> ("the King of Crash," although he was more widely known as "the Sultan of Swat," and "the Bambino"). No one has applied it to classical composers; there is no King Bach, or King Beethoven. This is good; it means the title is still up for grabs! 😸<br />
<br />
A challenge in aspiring to reach the absolute pinnacle of one's profession is dealing with factors beyond our control. Becoming as good as you can be is something to which anyone can aspire and work toward, but becoming better than everyone else is not, simply because, even if you attain your peak level of achievement, there will nevertheless likely be a lot of people who are better than you.<br />
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Some people in both the real world and fiction have opted to cheat or otherwise commit crimes in order to eliminate or gain an advantage over the competition, but, to quote Shakespeare's King Lear, <i>that way madness lies</i>. 😳<br />
<br />
(Okay, I will stop it with the emojis now. Apologies to those annoyed by them!)<br />
<br />
Shakespeare seems to have been particularly prone to creating characters who committed vile acts for personal gain, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet" target="_blank">Claudius killing King Hamlet</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth" target="_blank">Macbeth</a> killing King Duncan, but there are many examples of <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/murder-conspiracy-and-execution-six-centuries-of-scandalous-royal-deaths/" target="_blank">similarly-motivated regicides</a> and otherwise dastardly deeds committed throughout actual history, such as physically or verbally attacking one's competitors (<i>cf</i>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/olympics1998/history/timeline/timeline.htm?noredirect=on" target="_blank">U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding</a>, many politicians (for whom <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem" target="_blank">ad hominem</a></i> attacks appear to be the norm), and business people (e.g., hostile takeovers, crushing one's competitors)).<br />
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Less extreme, perhaps, but still wrong is cheating for personal gain, such as the long list of athletes who have used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) or blood doping to gain an edge over their competitors. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlatan" target="_blank">Swindlers</a>, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick" target="_blank">confidence men</a>" (which became shortened over time to "con-men"), and some forms of telemarketing also fall under this category.<br />
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But, happily, somewhere between wanting to be the best you can be, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism" target="_blank">Machiavellian</a> (or Shakespearian) schemes to eliminate those that stand in your way, lie other, more honourable (and less mad) options, which brings us back to composition.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
Let's say <span style="color: #c99dff;">your ambition is to become an excellent, <i>and</i> well-regarded composer</span>. The first part is hopefully something you are always working on on (and something about which I write frequently), but the second part can be something of a mystery for many, myself included.<br />
<br />
Start by<span style="color: #c99dff;"> being clear on your motivation; </span><i style="color: #c99dff;">why</i><span style="color: #c99dff;"> do you want to be a well-regarded composer?</span><br />
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The motivation for me is practical; if many people like your music and think highly of you as a composer, then you are more likely to get commissions, performances, and recordings of your music. And if more people are performing and recording your music, the odds improve that the performances and recordings will be of higher quality. These in turn will better reflect how good a composer you are, and more people will have opportunities to hear your music, which in turn can lead to more commissions and programming of your music on concerts. If performances of your work are infrequent, and by weak performers, then the opposite is true; you are <i>less</i> likely to get good opportunities for commissions and performances. Therefore, in my view, <span style="color: #c99dff;">becoming a well-regarded composer is just as important a goal as becoming a good composer.</span><br />
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Once you have identified a goal and become clear on your motivation, the next challenge is figuring out what it takes to achieve that goal; in this case it would be:<br />
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<span style="color: #c99dff;">Make a list of strategies to become better known as a composer.</span><br />
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For most composers, I suspect that this is the tricky, or at least potentially uncomfortable part. Take all my suggestions below with a grain of salt; after all, if I were <i>really</i> good at this, I would be better known.<br />
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Here are some ideas:<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Build relationships with performers (1)</span>. Start by taking a friendly interest in performers you already know, such as fellow music students, but <i>make sure you don't come across as someone interested only in what others can do for you</i>.
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There are different ways to proceed; if you want to write for a specific instrumentation, such as clarinet and piano, you could approach a clarinetist you know and ask if they'd be interested in playing such a piece; if they say yes, then try to line up a pianist (or ask the clarinetist if there's a specific pianist they like to perform with). It helps to have a specific performance opportunity in mind, such as an upcoming student composer's concert. If you are no longer in school, you could organize a concert of new works by young composers, or better yet, involve a bunch of your colleagues in the organization of such a concert (see #7 below). If you already have a completed work, such as a piece for clarinet and piano, you could offer scores and parts to performers of these instruments and ask if they would be willing to have a look at them, and let you know if they would be willing to perform the piece.<br /><br />
</li>
<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Build relationships with performers (2)</span>. Attend recitals and try to meet the performers backstage afterwards to congratulate them, and let them know how much you enjoyed the concert. <span style="color: #c99dff;">Do this sincerely</span>! if you come across as insincere or otherwise disingenuous ("I loved your concert! Here, take some of my music! See ya!"), you can be pretty sure that the performer(s) will not only never play your music, but they may speak badly of you to others. If you did <i>not</i> enjoy the concert, I do not recommend doing this approach.<br /><br />
If, at some point in the conversation, the performer asks about you, <i>then</i> you can let them know you are a composer, and, if they ask if you've written anything for their instrument, <i>then</i> you can say yes, and you just happen to have a score you'd like to give them, which hopefully you brought to the concert with you. Just in case.<br /><br />
All of these things don't usually happen, by the way, so, if they don't, use your judgement as to whether the performer might be interested in having a look at a score of yours. The main thing, it seems to me, is to express interest in them, because without it, they are unlikely to be interested in you. <br /><br />I don't do this much, but when I did, I would often meet performers backstage and <i>not</i> give them my music, because it just didn't feel right, and I didn't want to come across as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckster" target="_blank">huckster</a>. Occasionally, however, we would seem to hit it off and I <i>would</i> give them my music. In a few cases, it worked out spectacularly well for me. <br /><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">The absolute best-case example of this approach working out for me was</span> meeting guitarist Daniel Bolshoy backstage after one of his concerts, and then heading out for a post-concert beverage with some mutual friends, and getting to know him better that way (and vice-versa, which is <span style="color: #c99dff;">without question</span> more important! A performer is much more likely to be interested in your music if they like you). At some point he asked about me, and asked if I had written for guitar. Sure enough, I "happened" to have a copy of a long, solo guitar piece with me, which I gave to him, and he seemed interested. I sent him an occasional E-mail follow-up, again saying how much I had enjoyed the concert (which was true) and asking how things were going in his life. Do <b>not</b> bombard the performer with E-mails! one E-mail every few months is plenty. Eventually he had a look at my piece, liked it, learned it, and started to perform it.
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The upshot is that he recorded it onto a CD named "McGillicuddy's Rant," which is the title of my composition, and performed it close to 100 times around the world. He subsequently commissioned a new guitar piece with string quartet from me, which he performed with the Penderecki Quartet. As a result of his performances, other guitarists have heard my music and written me asking for copies of the score, which in turn has led to more performances of this piece. So, this approach can work!</li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Contact performers and music directors you <i>don't</i> know</span>. This is a crap shoot; most won't even listen to or look at your music if they've never heard of you. Frankly, I'm not sure how useful this is, but, unlike in the old days when you'd have to print and bind a large quantity of scores, and then send them to people who don't know you with the likely result that they'd toss your score directly in the trash, at least nowadays you can E-mail PDF copies of your scores to as many prospective performers as you like, along with audio links, which is a lot cheaper and easier. "Cold calls" presumably sometimes produce positive results, or else we wouldn't be bombarded with calls from telemarketers, but the success rate is probably extraordinarily low.</li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Win competitions</span>. Enter often! Sure, it's a lottery, but if your music is really good, and it <i>looks</i> really good (something we spend a lot of time talking about in composition classes and lessons), you might win something. This does not necessarily lead to anything, but it might, especially if <b>you</b> make it work for you. </li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Try to get your music played on the radio</span>. This is obviously a challenge, especially in an era in which the CBC, in my country of Canada, plays significantly less classical (and especially contemporary classical) music than they used to. But <i>all radio stations have air time to fill, and they need to fill it with something, so why not your music? </i>This only works if you have professional-level recordings of your music, of course, but even then it's a long shot that it will actually work.</li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Make your music readily available on the Internet</span>. Start your own website, and post scores and recordings of your best compositions, along with programme notes in each case. Once search engines find your web pages, musicians searching for, say, "music for clarinet and piano," may land on your website where they can look at and listen to your piece for clarinet and piano. Make it obvious how to contact you, should they wish to perform your music.</li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Organize concerts of your music, and invite other local composers to participate</span>. Basically, <span style="color: #c99dff;">make things happen</span>, and <b>get others to help</b>. This involves a fair amount of work, especially if you want to do a good job of it and get people to show up. But it's potentially an extremely valuable way of getting your music performed. <br /><br />When I was a graduate student in Toronto, my fellow students and I formed an organization called "Continuum Contemporary Music" back in the mid 1980's, and we became very successful, eventually having many of our concerts picked up for broadcast by CBC radio. I recommend paying your performers, and hiring the best musicians available, because a concert of poorly-performed contemporary music is not anything that anyone wants to sit through, not even your family.</li>
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<li><span style="color: #c99dff;">Perform your own music</span> – this was common practice for almost all composers throughout music history – or even form your own ensemble, like Tim Brady's "Bradyworks," and organize concerts, or explore possibilities of performing on others' concerts.</li>
</ol>
One of the points I have made in other blog posts is that composers can't simply work in isolation and hope to be discovered. We need to get our music to people in positions to perform it, programme it, commission it, and otherwise advocate for it, and for most of us, I suspect, that is the hardest and least comfortable aspect of being a composer. It is, however, of such tremendous potential benefit that we <i>have</i> to challenge ourselves to overcome any reluctance we may have to promote ourselves and our music in this way.Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-91292533617332905272018-01-25T12:42:00.003-03:302018-01-26T12:57:27.529-03:30Composition #1 – Pre-Submission ChecklistA belated welcome to all MUS 3100 "Intro To Comp" students! And welcome as well to all Comp Seminar students. I have already enjoyed working with you during the first 3 weeks of the winter semester of 2018, and I look forward to hearing more of your compositions, and helping you to develop your compositional skills as we move forward.<br />
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Today's post is relevant to all composition students, but it will likely be more useful to the Intro students, only because more experienced comp students have probably heard all these things already.<br />
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So, with that in mind, as 3100 students approach the due date of your first projects, please review this checklist to make sure you've done all you can to present your score professionally.<br />
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50% of your composition grade is based on presentation issues, so make sure you have done, or at least considered, each of the following:<br />
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<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
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<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">
For Starters…
</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Come up with an imaginative and evocative title, centred on the top of page 1. "Project 1," or "Atonal Chords Project" are not imaginative titles. "The Pompous Ass, The Mule, and The Donkey" is imaginative. So much so that I feel compelled to write a piece with this title now…<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">😄</span></li>
<li>Your name should appear in a smaller font, aligned with the right margin (Finale/PrintMusic should have aligned this information automatically if you used "Set-Up Wizard" to create your score).</li>
<li>Avoid any temptation you may have to use ALL-CAPS for the title or your name. All-caps is the print equivalent of shouting, which is generally considered poor etiquette.</li>
<li>Always include a <b>standard metronome value</b>, expressed in relation to the <b>basic beat value</b> (e.g., quarter, dotted quarter, etc.); this should appear above the top staff's opening metre indication in bar 1. These are standard values:</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
40 42 44 46 48 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
50 52 54 56 58 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
60 63 66 69 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
72 76 80 84 88 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
92 96 100 104 108 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
112 116 120 126 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
132 138 144 152 </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
160 168 176 184</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
192 200 208</div>
<ul>
<li>Also include a mood/character indicator (e.g., <i>misterioso</i>, <i>con fuoco</i>, joyful, meditative, etc.), aligned horizontally with the metronome marking, and <b>directly next to it</b>. It doesn't matter which is first – the metronome marking or the mood/character indicator.</li>
<li>All subsequent tempo or character changes, including <i>rit</i>. and <i>accell</i>., should also appear above the top staff. If writing for a large ensemble, this information is placed above the top staff in each "choir," such as above the strings, above the brass, and above the woodwinds.</li>
<li>Mood/character indicators are generally <b>adjectives</b>, not adverbs (e.g., <i>quick</i> instead of <i>quickly</i>, <i>allegro</i> instead of <i>allegramente</i>, etc.) .</li>
<li>You can use Italian, English, or any other language for these terms, but bear in mind that terms should be easily understood by performers. In classical music, Italian terms have traditionally been most widely used, and hence are more readily understood by performers who speak many different languages. </li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">Italian Mood Indicators – Just some of the many options available:</span><br />
<ul></ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>affettuoso</i> — with affect (i.e., with feeling/emotion)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>agitato</i> — agitated, with implied quickness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>animato</i> — animated, lively</div>
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<i>appassionato</i> — to play with passion</div>
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<i>brioso</i> — vigorously; with brilliance (same as con brio)</div>
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<i>bruscamente</i> — brusquely</div>
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<i>con affetto</i> — with affect (that is, with emotion)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con amore</i>: with love; with tenderness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con bravura</i> — with boldness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con brio</i> — lively, literally, "with brilliance"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con calore</i> — with warmth</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con dolore</i> — with sadness</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con fuoco</i> — with fire</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>con gran espressione</i> — with great expression</div>
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<i>con molto espressione</i> — with much expression</div>
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<i>con moto</i> — with motion</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>dolce</i> — sweet</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>espressivo</i> — expressive</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>furioso</i> — with anger; with fury</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>giocoso</i> — merry; funny; lighthearted; playful</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>lacrimoso</i> — tearful, sad</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>lamentando</i> or <i>lamentoso</i> — lamenting, mournful</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>leggiero</i> — play lightly, or with light touch</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>lugubre</i> — lugubrious; mournful and slow</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>luminoso</i> — luminous</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>maestoso</i> — majestic or stately (generally indicates a solemn, slow movement)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>misterioso</i> — mysterious</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>morendo</i> — dying</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>pesante</i> — heavy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>saltando</i> — jumping; buoyant</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>scherzando</i> — playful</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>soave</i> — smooth, gentle</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>sognando</i> — dreaming</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>solenne</i> — solemn</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>sonore</i> — sonorous</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>sostenuto</i> — sustained</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>spiccato</i> — with a marked bounce; </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>tranquillo</i> — tranquil</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>vivace</i> —quick, lively</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>vivacissimo</i> — as quickly as possible</div>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">Dynamics</span><br />
<ul>
<li>There should be a <b>starting dynamic</b> for each performer. Ideally it would not be a "mezzo" dynamic <i>(</i><b style="font-style: italic;">mp</b><i>,</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> mf</b><i>)</i> – some consider this a weak (as in, lacking conviction) way to start a piece – although this is more of a convention than a hard rule. I personally see nothing wrong with it.</li>
<li>Dynamics for the piano, or any instrument that uses two staves, such as harp, or marimba, should appear <i>between</i> the two staves, unless both staves require different dynamics simultaneously, in which case each staff can have its own dynamics below it.</li>
<li>Dynamics for all single-staff instruments go below the staff.</li>
<li>Dynamics for the voice usually are placed above the staff, so as to avoid colliding with the text, which goes under that staff.</li>
<li>There should be a generous amount of subsequent dynamic shaping for each performer, including hairpins. </li>
<li>Be aware that intelligent, logical, and effective <b>dynamic choices require much thought and planning</b>; do not wait untill the last minute to make your dynamic choices, because it is unlikely that those last-minute decisions will be the best ones for your composition (and careless, last-minute decisions are usually self-evident, which will affect your mark); make them as you go, trying different possibilities before making your final decisions. Feel free to change them periodically once you have lived with them for a while.</li>
<li>A <b>destination</b> (i.e. terminal) <b>dynamic</b> is needed for all hairpins. </li>
<li>A starting dynamic is only necessary if the starting dynamic is not obvious (i.e., if you have a <b><i>p</i></b> in the previous bar, there is no need for another <b><i>p</i></b> at the start of the hairpin <b><i>cresc</i></b>.</li>
<li>Dynamics must be centred under the notes to which they apply. <b>Exception</b>: if you have a <i><b>cresc</b></i>. or <b><i>dim</i></b>. under a long note, such as a whole note, the destination dynamic can be placed at the end of the bar, immediately following the end point of the hairpin.</li>
<li>If dynamics are used with hairpins, the two should be horizontally aligned with one another. </li>
<li>Don't make the width of the hairpin any wider (or narrower) than the Finale default.</li>
<li>More generally, all dynamics within a system tend to be horizontally aligned, but there are many exceptions to this. Fortunately, this is easy to do in Finale: Highlight all the bars in the system in which you want dynamics to be aligned (and just do this one system at a time), click the "Plug-ins" menu, select "TG Tools," then choose "Move/Align Dynamics." It will give you a few choices, so just pick one, and, if you don't like the result, undo it and pick another.</li>
<li>Dynamics should not be placed under rests. </li>
<li>Hairpins do not normally extend through a section that has both notes and rests, although one exception to this would be a section in which every eighth note is followed by an eighth rest, during which a cresc. or dim. is desired.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">System and Staff Spacing; Pagination; Bar Spacing within Systems</span><br />
<ul>
<li>"Set-Up Wizard" usually does a reasonable job with the vertical spacing of staves and systems, but you may need to add extra space between, say, the solo instrument and the piano, to avoid a cramped appearance on the page. Sometimes you may need to adjust the separation of the RH and LH piano staves too. You can adjust vertical staff spacing by using the "Staff Tool" in Finale; click to the left of the beginning of the first staff in the score whose spacing you want to alter, which selects all bars of that staff for the entire score, then adjust the spacing as desired by clicking and dragging the spacing handles up or down. If you want to adjust only one staff within a single system, then just click on the spacing handle for that staff only.</li>
<li>Vertical spacing of staves and systems is normally the same on every page.</li>
<li>Pagination: Avoid a final page with only one or two systems of music. Published scores usually have final pages that are complete, meaning that the systems extend all the way to the bottom of the page, no matter how long or short the composition is. This can be tricky to achieve some times, but at least aim for this.</li>
<li>The number of bars per system can change depending on how much content each bar has. A dense texture with many rapid notes in bars will naturally require wider bars than bars with only one whole-note chord. That said, if the number of notes within bars is relatively similar, then the number of bars within a system should be the same. Finale uses its own algorithm to adjust the width of bars proportionately, but you can control the number of bars within a system. You do this by selecting the bar(s) you want to move to another system, then press the up arrow to move it to the previous system, or the down arrow to move it to the subsequent system. </li>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">AVOID COLLISIONS!</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Apologies<b> </b>for shouting (i.e., the use of all-caps), but this is important. Collisions refer to any contact between different elements of the score (except for information that MUST appear within staves, such as notes, metres, and bar lines, which are allowed to contact lines within the staff, of course), such as: Hairpins, dynamics, articulations, notes, accidentals, slurs, and ties.</li>
<li>Logical enharmonic spellings. "Logical" means that intervals should be spelled as they sound; F up to Bb is a perfect 4th, but if you spell it F to A#, it looks like a third, which may confuse performers. Cb, E#, B#, and Fb, are occasionally logical, especially in tonal music, but if you can avoid them, it's usually a good idea to do so.</li>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">Logical Enharmonic Spellings; Avoiding TMI</span><br />
<ul>
<li>"Logical" in this case means that <b>intervals should be spelled as they sound</b>; From F up to Bb is a perfect 4th, but if you spell it F to A#, it looks like a third, which can confuse performers (and trust me, composers do not want to confuse performers; it may cause them to turn on you!). </li>
<li>Avoid different chromatic inflections of the same note name within a chord, where possible. A D up to Db, for example forms a diminished octave, which we would recognize more quickly if spelled D up to C#.</li>
<li>If writing for a two-staff instrument, like piano, try to make the enharmonic spellings logical within each staff, e.g., an A7 chord in the LH, played simultaneously with an Eb7 chord in the RH; one uses a sharp, the other uses flats, but both chord shapes are very familiar to pianists, and would therefore be logical spellings. There is no need to only use flats, or only sharps, in both hands simultaneously, unless there is a logical reason for doing so (Bb7 chord in the LH, Eb7 chord in the RH, for instance).</li>
<li>There are occasions in which Cb, E#, B#, and Fb, are logical spellings, especially in tonal music, but for the most part, it is better to avoid them if you can, because these notes are usually spelled B, F, C, and E, respectively.</li>
<li><b>All sharps, or all flats</b>? Students over the years have occasionally asked if it might be a good idea to use <i>just</i> sharps, or <i>just</i> flats, within a composition, because it would be more consistent that using a mixture of both. The answer is that, while it would indeed be more consistent, it is virtually never a good idea, because you'd end up with illogical spellings, such as F to A# instead of F to Bb, C to G# instead of C to Ab, B to Gb instead of B to F#, etc. Have you come across the saying, <i>A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds</i>? This kind of consistency is an example. </li>
<li><b>Be consistent! But not foolishly so!</b> :-) By which I mean that if an idea is spelled E-Eb-C-Bb in one section of a composition, don't spell it differently the next time it appears, such as E-D#-C-A#. Just make sure that the spelling you choose is logical each time. </li>
<li>Sometimes a logical spelling involving two consecutive notes leads to a sub-optimal spelling between the second note and the note that follows it. Sometimes there may be more than one logical spelling. In both cases, you just have to use your best judgement and make a call.</li>
<li>If it <i>really</i> is equally logical to spell a note either of two different ways (e.g., D#, vs. Eb), then consider this rule of thumb: Brass players sometimes have slightly greater comfort reading flats, whereas string players sometimes are more comfortable reading sharps. Experienced performers, however, are equally adept at reading sharps or flats, no matter what instrument they play.</li>
<li><b>Sharps ascend, flats descend</b>: If you are writing any portion of a chromatic scale, use sharps to ascend, flats to descend. Doing otherwise necessitates the use of naturals to cancel the sharps or flats, such as A - Bb - Bnat - C - Db - Dnat - etc., or F# - Fnat - E - D# - Dnat - etc., which basically (a) results in <b>TMI</b> (the naturals are unnecessary if you follow the "sharps ascend, flats descend" guideline), and (b) creates visual clutter; the bar becomes wider than necessary, and this in turn sometimes creates collisions.</li>
<li><b>TMI</b>, part 2: If moving back and forth between notes a semitone apart, use different note names (C-Db-C-Db-C, etc.), not the same note name with a lot of naturals (C-C#-Cnat-C#-Cnat, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">Articulations</span><br />
<ul>
<li>I strongly encourage the use of articulations, where appropriate (obviously!). One of the great benefits of using the MIDI playback in music notation software is that it will (or at least should) play articulations, like staccato dots, or accents, and, as with dynamics, using articulations in a smart and considered way can really improve the sound of a composition.</li>
<li>I generally encourage a limited palette of articulations: Staccato dot (.); Accent (sideways wedge: >); tenuto line (–); and any combination of these (staccato accent, for example). There may be a case to be made for the use of other articulations, such as a hard accent vs medium accent, but, frankly, I think students sometime pick one kind of accent because they like the way it looks more than another kind of accent, not because they mean different things, and, even if used deliberately and correctly, not all performers realize that different accent indications can mean different things. </li>
<li>The other problem I often encounter in student work is inconsistent use of articulations; either different accents or different staccato marks used in different places but intended to mean the same thing, or articulations used with an idea in one place that don't get used the next time we hear that idea, or, if they do get used, are not used in the same way as previously. There may of course be cases where we deliberately want the articulations within a musical idea to change when it is heard again, but much of the time, if the articulations of a musical idea are different in different sections, it is due to an oversight on the part of the composer, and not a deliberate choice. </li>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">Slurs, Breathing Opportunities, and Bowing</span><br />
<ul>
<li>When writing for winds, use slurs to group notes that you want to sound connected; if you don't, every note will be tongued, which is something like using a "T" syllable to start every note you sing in a melody. While tonguing every note may be desirable in a particular section of a composition, it is unlikely to be a sound that you really want for the entire composition (although perhaps you would want it if the entire composition had a heavily accented, percussive character), so make sure to include slurs as appropriate.</li>
<li>Do not equate a slur with a phrase mark, however. They <i>may</i> mean the same thing, but they usually don't. Slurs in wind instruments are usually shorter than a phrase, often covering just 2-4 notes.</li>
<li>Where will the wind player (or singer) breathe? Make sure to periodically include rests of sufficient length to allow this. Never assume that a wind player can "circular breathe;" most can't, especially when writing for a community band, student ensemble, or semi-professional ensemble. And, even if you KNOW a particular player can circular breathe, it doesn't mean that they'd appreciate getting a score to play that contains few or no breathing opportunities.</li>
<li>When writing for bowed instruments such as the cello, include bowing slurs, whose meaning is similar to wind instrument slurs in that without them, the cellist will change bow direction on every note. There are many cases where this is desirable, but many more cases where it isn't. </li>
<li>One factor in to consider when using bowing slurs or wind instrument slurs is the <b>dynamic</b> of the notes in question; louder note require more breath, and tend to require more bow, which means smaller slurs are usually called for.</li>
</ul>
<hr style="color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 20px;">More?</span><br />
<ul>
<li>This is a classic example of a blog post that I initially intended to be short and succinct, and ended up being much longer. I will undoubtedly add to this as I think of more information to add, but I think I'll leave it there for now. I hope you find it useful.</li>
<li>Please ask questions about any of the above, or suggest topics that are missing or incompletely addressed above, and I'll try to provide more information.</li>
</ul>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-9805749224731630462017-04-02T00:03:00.001-02:302017-04-04T22:32:51.096-02:30Ostinatos; making a lot from a little (2. Rite of Spring)<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 17px;">Further to my <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2017/03/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-1.html" target="_blank">previous blog entry</a>…</span>
<br />
<div style="padding-top: 10px;">
If the 339 consecutive repetitions of a 2-bar rhythmic <i>ostinato</i> pattern in Ravel's <i>Boléro</i> (1928) don't constitute overuse of an idea, then what does?</div>
Or, to rephrase the question in a less acerbic way, Ravel's <i>Boléro</i> is his most popular work (according to Wikipedia), yet from start to finish it repeats a 2-bar rhythmic pattern without change or interruption; how does <i>Boléro</i> maintain our interest? Why are most listeners not bored, troubled, or <i>driven mad</i> by the 339 incessant repetitions of this <i>ostinato</i> rhythm?<br />
<br />
The explanation is that there are <i>other</i> musical aspects that change and evolve continuously throughout the work, and these are what sustain our interest, such as: <br />
<ol>
<li>It begins almost inaudibly (<i>so</i> quietly that, when I worked as a record department sales clerk as a student, many people who purchased the album tried to return it, thinking there was something wrong with the audio), and grows steadily and inexorably over its 15-16 minute length to become as loud as possible at the end; <span style="color: #c99dff;">it is a study in how to write an extraordinarily-long <i>crescendo</i> for orchestra</span>; </li>
<li>As such, <span style="color: #c99dff;">it is a masterpiece of orchestration</span>, filled from start to finish with colour and texture changes that reflect Ravel's brilliance as an orchestrator. The two-part theme is repeated many times, but each presentation uses a different orchestration (and hence a different colour), and the orchestration also changes <i>within</i> thematic presentations as well.</li>
<li>Its form is essentially a theme and variations, and just as in the best examples of this form, <span style="color: #c99dff;">our interest is sustained by hearing many permutations of the main theme</span>, instead of becoming annoyed that a given theme is played over and over again. The unusual aspect in <i>Boléro</i> is that the <b>pitch content</b> of the theme is never varied (except for a modulation in the final 40 seconds), just the colour (orchestration and texture) and dynamics. </li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>This idea is not original to Ravel, however; another mono-thematic work that begins quietly and, over the course of multiple thematic repetitions, eventually becomes very loud, is Grieg's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King" target="_blank">In the Hall of the Mountain King</a>," from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt_(Grieg)" target="_blank">Peer Gynt</a> (1875), composed 53 years earlier.</li>
</ul>
<ol>
</ol>
If <i>Boléro</i> consisted <i>only</i> of 339 repetitions of a short idea, and nothing else, I'll go out on a limb and speculate that the composition
would be less popular. 😄<br />
<br />
Or perhaps it would have become celebrated as the grand-daddy of minimalism… 😴<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff; font-size: 17px;">Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring</span>
<br />
<div style="padding-top: 10px;">
Igor Stravinsky's <i>The Rite of Spring</i> (1913) makes extensive use of <i>ostinati</i>, and, more generally, repetitive elements, so today we will look at some of the ways Stravinsky used one particular <i>ostinato</i>, the repeated four-16<sup>th</sup>-note idea in the excerpt below.</div>
<br />
It is introduced at the end of the first section (Introduction) of Part 1, played by pizzicato violins, while a clarinet sustains a lengthy trill (this is at about the 3-minute mark in the YouTube video at the end of this post; all other timings indicated below refer to this video):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSf8lo2hlPRYipTQF6HmJCA-OHVt0XvdtrHJklZEDFrxVtqWEWg7HrRtXtMBmD_Py0SnJ10ubGHZjuTNRC2jG1PNx3wsPVBGdf9hL1aIcdnfEAe0PMl0JL154S3s5kDIJipKsE5v3BFSY/s1600/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSf8lo2hlPRYipTQF6HmJCA-OHVt0XvdtrHJklZEDFrxVtqWEWg7HrRtXtMBmD_Py0SnJ10ubGHZjuTNRC2jG1PNx3wsPVBGdf9hL1aIcdnfEAe0PMl0JL154S3s5kDIJipKsE5v3BFSY/s400/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato1.jpg" width="400" /></a>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="" preload="auto">
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring1.ogg" type="audio/ogg"></source>
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring1.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source>
If audio player not visible, <a href="http://www.clarkross.ca/Dreary_Dystopia.mp3">click here to listen</a>
</audio></div>
<br />
It is a pretty simple idea by itself, but its simplicity makes it useful, because it works well with many other ideas. Therein lies one of the keys to writing a good, multi-purpose, <i>ostinato</i>: <span style="color: #c99dff;">While good music can be written with longer and more complex <i>ostinati</i>, a short, simple idea is probably more flexible, because it can support a variety of other ideas</span>.<br />
<br />
The above excerpt introduces the <i>ostinato</i> somewhat hesitantly, instead of introducing the idea and <i>immediately</i> continuing with almost incessant repetitions, as we found (see <a href="http://clarkross.blogspot.ca/2017/03/ostinatos-making-lot-from-little-1.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>) in <i>Boléro</i>. Stravinsky is saving more regular repetitions of this idea for the next section. He is "planting a seed," giving us a <i>taste</i> of an idea that will become increasingly prominent and repetitive.<br />
<br />
Sure enough, about 10 seconds later, he gives us a <i>somewhat</i> longer version of the <i>ostinato</i>, which leads to the strongly-rhythmic bitonal (E (enh.) in the lower strings, Eb7 in the upper strings) chord repetitions that are one of this work's most memorable features, which mark the start of the next section, <i>Augers of Spring/Dances of the Young Girls</i>. This starts at 3:20 in the video below:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2FEzPsCs_BcIKZUBY4FmtvQBQ6B4Iqv8H26tJniZWjQ8CgNmCvHg_ahG35mjeaqXrPE9b46uipPWznfB96vxE358eiv_vrSUlGfUlfLNtv-8SGjVM96mhpKKUllskG7horD9eltrhrU/s1600/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2FEzPsCs_BcIKZUBY4FmtvQBQ6B4Iqv8H26tJniZWjQ8CgNmCvHg_ahG35mjeaqXrPE9b46uipPWznfB96vxE358eiv_vrSUlGfUlfLNtv-8SGjVM96mhpKKUllskG7horD9eltrhrU/s640/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato2.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="" preload="auto">
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring2.ogg" type="audio/ogg"></source>
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring2.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source>
If audio player not visible, <a href="http://www.clarkross.ca/Dreary_Dystopia.mp3">click here to listen</a>
</audio></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Incidentally, for those interested in "<a href="ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio" target="_blank">golden mean</a>" ratios, note that in its first three presentations, the <i>ostinato</i> is heard twice, once, (thus three times so far), and Five times, adding up to eight times, all of which are numbers in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number" target="_blank">Fibonacci series</a> (1, 2, 3, 5, 8…). Sadly, the <i>next</i> time we hear the idea (see excerpt below) it is only presented four times, which is not a Fibonacci number. 😢 It is used eighteen times consecutively the time after that (part of which is two excerpts below), and this too is not a Fibonacci number. 😭 This is a work clearly in need of a revision! 😎 [Okay, I promise to insert no more emoticons in today's post. The <i>are</i> very useful, though…] </blockquote>
Very soon after the previous excerpt, at about 3:35 in the video below, the heavily-accented repeated chords are interrupted, and we hear the first presentation of the <i>ostinato</i> figure with counterpoint, consisting of an arpeggiated chord in the bassoons, which is itself repeated. Notice that the bitonality continues, this time between the <i>ostinato</i> (Eb7) and the counterpoint below it (E enh.):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxMlNVBqcTyXvszR7KpxtMJw8m92Xb-AaEN6qxzKbvgJUxMhpsSTZ3uBk7N2xCKwHZGhdxE8pqkUJ6ax_Az4YMnieUTd3vwNpRyw7k0p894ZY-rubu4tRmPgOVwyv3z9LQ2kZlz_5dwQ/s1600/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxMlNVBqcTyXvszR7KpxtMJw8m92Xb-AaEN6qxzKbvgJUxMhpsSTZ3uBk7N2xCKwHZGhdxE8pqkUJ6ax_Az4YMnieUTd3vwNpRyw7k0p894ZY-rubu4tRmPgOVwyv3z9LQ2kZlz_5dwQ/s640/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato3.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="" preload="auto">
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring3.ogg" type="audio/ogg"></source>
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring3.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source>
If audio player not visible, <a href="http://www.clarkross.ca/Dreary_Dystopia.mp3">click here to listen</a>
</audio></div>
<br />
This next excerpt, which starts at about 3:45 of the video, gives us another melody, once again with repetitive elements, this time <i>above</i> the <i>ostinato</i>. Note the frequent colour changes in Stravinsky's orchestration of the melody; the reduction below does not accurately reflect this, but there are 6 colour changes to the melody in 6 bars. When you listen to the full orchestra version (in the video below), note as well that the <i>ostinato</i> at this point is buried in the texture, almost inaudible within the heavily accented chord repetitions (not shown in this example, but the chords are the same as in the last 2 bars of the previous example):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheel7thGytBWSH9cVa0IQWG8PtxUqo0nugxTsuhDQ-t3PnW7kwPBVpRm8rrKg0wksjv2HdEuKg3wvTFRHiY8efqs6idFupK-vFcd9KlxQjVerTGMGtp_AY5ZTG7tZJM6QH7vW51uWcAVs/s1600/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheel7thGytBWSH9cVa0IQWG8PtxUqo0nugxTsuhDQ-t3PnW7kwPBVpRm8rrKg0wksjv2HdEuKg3wvTFRHiY8efqs6idFupK-vFcd9KlxQjVerTGMGtp_AY5ZTG7tZJM6QH7vW51uWcAVs/s640/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato4.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="" preload="auto">
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring4.ogg" type="audio/ogg"></source>
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring4.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source>
If audio player not visible, <a href="http://www.clarkross.ca/Dreary_Dystopia.mp3">click here to listen</a>
</audio></div>
<br />
New melodic fragments are superimposed on the 4-note <i>ostinato</i> over the two minutes that follow the previous excerpt, one of which is this one, which is again repetitive, and occurs at about 5:25 of the video:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDA4fH2uwze9-vRux1GnMcvGYblIJbNiCap9KkDoeXeAWTfqElHayjmRh5m93A5RgsQHshSQAl5DMfW0WYQPA7xVkBvGz4EjovfvjpOkvT3KwTECVj51JtLqa5CBnkiqyVHkdPYkKPkwc/s1600/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDA4fH2uwze9-vRux1GnMcvGYblIJbNiCap9KkDoeXeAWTfqElHayjmRh5m93A5RgsQHshSQAl5DMfW0WYQPA7xVkBvGz4EjovfvjpOkvT3KwTECVj51JtLqa5CBnkiqyVHkdPYkKPkwc/s640/Rite_of_Spring_Ostinato5.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="" preload="auto">
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring5.ogg" type="audio/ogg"></source>
<source src="http://www.clarkross.ca/Rite_of_Spring5.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source>
If audio player not visible, <a href="http://www.clarkross.ca/Dreary_Dystopia.mp3">click here to listen</a>
</audio></div>
<br />
<b>Please suggest other works that make prominent use of <i>ostinati</i></b> – one such piece is Stravinsky's, L'Histoire du Soldat – and I will <i>possibly</i> (see explanation at the end of this post) discuss them in future blogs… <b>At the very least, I can compile a list with your suggestions</b>. If you can, try to be specific about where the <i>ostinati</i> occur within the work you are citing. In the mean-time, I already have an idea for a third post in this series.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
Below is a recording of <i>The Rite of Spring</i> on a video that shows the score. Try to find other uses of the <i>ostinato</i> discussed above. As well, try to listen to it more than once, in order to <b>find other <i>ostinati</i></b>, and <b>the degree to which repetition of musical ideas is
used</b>. If you don't have enough time to hear the entire piece, listen to at least the first 6 minutes; all of the above examples occur within that time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FFPjFjUonX8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FFPjFjUonX8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<hr />
<i>Explanation of my use of the word "possibly" with regards to doing more blogs on this topic:</i><br />
<br />
My only hesitation is that the amount of time involved doing a post
such as this one is daunting. It involved making score reductions in Finale of the sections I wanted to use as
examples, saving them as GIFs and importing them into this blog,
recording the musical examples, importing them into Audacity and
splicing them into sections that corresponded with the notated examples,
saving them in two different audio formats (MP3 and OGG) because not
all web browsers read MP3s, uploading the audio files to my website, and
then inserting the code that lets the Blogger website read and play
audio files on all major web browsers. Plus the time spent fixing things that didn't work along the way. Not complaining, mind you! I enjoy doing this, but it is time consuming.<br />
<br />
That said, and to repeat what I wrote above, I do have another post in the works on this topic, so there will be at least three in the series, and possibly more if people make suggestions regarding other works with prominent use of <i>ostinati</i>. Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-36732835008707945682017-03-30T22:05:00.002-02:302017-04-03T19:39:03.656-02:30Ostinatos; making a lot from a little (1. Boléro)An <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostinato" target="_blank">ostinato</a> is a musical idea that repeats immediately (as opposed to returning later in the composition) and persistently (it usually is repeated more than once). It can be melodic or rhythmic, and is usually fairly short – one to four bars – but it can be longer. Kids love 'em.<br />
<br />
And not just kids; it is widely used in many musical styles and periods.<br />
<br />
The attractiveness of ostinati for composers is easy to understand; you can generate a lot of material from a relatively short musical idea, and, if you do it well, audiences may respond well to the music.<br />
<br />
With the advent of computer-notation software, and, more specifically, the "copy" and "paste" commands in those programmes, it has become extremely easy to use ostinati in compositions. And, with programmes like GarageBand, which comes bundled with every Mac computer, you don't even need any musical knowledge to write loop-based music; in this context, "loop" and ostinato mean the same thing.<br />
<br />
The downside of repetition, however, is that too much can make a composition overly predictable, unless the composer finds ways of <b>varying</b>, <b>interrupting</b>, <b>growing</b>, <b>evolving</b>, or <b>otherwise adding interest</b> to repeated patterns; music that is overly predictable can lose the listener's interest.<br />
<br />
An example of how to <b>successfully</b> repeat an idea to an almost absurd degree is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro" target="_blank">Ravel's <i>Boléro</i></a>. It uses the two-bar rhythmic ostinato figure below throughout the work; this two-bar rhythmic unit never stops repeating until the work's (very loud) conclusion, about sixteen minutes later:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolRt1Nu_XojbsCg6aPA18XvCNzY6B3DwomsJxsVddYQk6noG-hyShNDF0dl7C5u4sgNoZiV3zvxqyJ5fEs3D6H8eMLfEXNH7hFLev5wtAmT-JCCmkSL7d09AF3uSGfzQdmRCGqq8M3Q4/s1600/Bolero_Ostinato.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="58" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgolRt1Nu_XojbsCg6aPA18XvCNzY6B3DwomsJxsVddYQk6noG-hyShNDF0dl7C5u4sgNoZiV3zvxqyJ5fEs3D6H8eMLfEXNH7hFLev5wtAmT-JCCmkSL7d09AF3uSGfzQdmRCGqq8M3Q4/s400/Bolero_Ostinato.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
There is even further repetition <i>within</i> this two-bar ostinato: The rhythm on beat one is used on the first two beats of each bar; <b>four of the ostinato's six beats are identical</b>. This is repetitiveness <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum" target="_blank">ad absurdum</a></i>, and <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">I won't stand for it</span>!!! [Just kidding, of course; the piece is awesome.]<br />
<br />
The above pattern is repeated <b>339</b> consecutive times in <i>Boléro</i> (yup, I counted), which means that the rhythm on beats one and two of each bar is heard <b>1,356</b> times.<br />
<br />
That's a lot of repetition! <br />
<br />
One can argue that the uninterrupted repetition of the same short rhythm for sixteen minutes in a composition is a bit much – or a lot much – but <i>Boléro</i> is Ravel's most popular piece, so clearly, millions of people have no issue with it. Indeed, its popularity may in part be <i>due</i> to this rhythmic ostinato!<br />
<br />
So, the question I have for you is this: <i>What makes it work?</i> What does Ravel do to keep our interest despite the 339 ostinato repetitions? Why do audiences cheer enthusiastically following the conclusion of the work, rather like sports fans cheering an exciting overtime win by their favorite team, instead of standing up to boo the repetitiveness?<br />
<br />
I once listened to a radio documentary on Ravel's <i>Boléro</i> in which orchestral musicians were asked to give their thoughts on the work. Many said that they don't look forward to performing it because they perform it so often, there is such a high degree of repetitiveness, and, in some cases, once the piece starts they have to wait an extremely long time before they get any notes to play. However, once rehearsals begin, they gradually feel their resistance melting and become ensnared by the hypnotic power and beauty of the work, to the point where they feel like standing up and cheering along with the audience after reaching the triumphant final chord.<br />
<br />
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. <br />
<br />
Here's a performance of <i>Boléro</i>, conducted by an unshaven man with a toothpick instead of a baton, if you wish to have a listen:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dZDiaRZy0Ak" width="560"></iframe>
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-83983355734784396552017-01-24T21:48:00.001-03:302017-02-12T10:41:52.441-03:30Music Notation Software – Pros and Cons for ComposersThere are several music notation programmes available for computers and
tablets, but the brands that I suspect most composers use are <a href="https://www.finalemusic.com/" target="_blank"><i>Finale</i></a> and <a href="https://www.avid.com/en/sibelius" target="_blank"><i>Sibelius</i></a>. Another excellent notation product is <a href="http://debussy.music.ubc.ca/NoteAbility/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Notability Pro</i></a> (for Mac only), which some composers I know swear is the best product out there, and is now free.<br />
<br />
In today’s post, I will explore how the use of notation software can
affect the composition process, in ways we may not realize, both
positive and negative. The first seven points below list many of the
unambiguously-positive aspects of using notation software, and the
remaining points concern some of the potential challenges that can arise
from its use, some of which we may be unaware of.<br />
<br />
If any readers can think of pros and cons <i>not</i> listed below, please let me know via the "comments" area, and I'll add them to the list if merited.<br />
<br />
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<td colspan="20" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>Music Notation Software</b></span></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8"><div align="center">
<b>Pros</b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="12"><div align="center">
<b>Cons</b> (or <b>commentary</b> on pros)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">1. Can produce polished, publication-ready scores.</td>
<td colspan="12">1. This is indeed true. However, it takes
considerable skill, and the knowledge of all the minutiae of notation conventions, to produce publication-ready scores,
whether one uses notation software or not.<br />
<br />
Because a score produced with notation software generally looks far better than a hand-copied score (although some highly-skilled hand-copyists can also produce beautiful scores), we may be seduced into thinking our score is as good as it needs to be, when in fact it may need a lot more detailed work to reach a point of
being truly publication ready.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">2. Scores look better than hand-copied scores.</td>
<td colspan="12">2. This is generally true. I doubt that many students are trained in the
art of hand-copying music any more (I was, which reflects the period in which I was trained (cretaceous)) – but it
isn’t <i>always</i> true; a sloppy computer-notated score looks far worse than a beautiful and meticulous hand-copied score.<br />
<br />
Again, this is more a product of the user's limitations than of the software, however.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">3. Pitches and accidentals are notated clearly and correctly.<br />
<br /></td>
<td colspan="12">3. No disadvantages! Here are some of the reasons this is such a valuable advantage for notation software:<br />
<br />
• Sometimes, in hand-copied scores, pitches are less than 100% clear
because they are notated in such as way as to "spill" into the territory
of an adjacent pitch.<br />
<br />
• Notation software also notates 2nds correctly. Sometimes, in a
hand-copied score, students attempt to vertically align
notes that are a second apart, which looks very messy.<br />
<br />
• Notation software also aligns accidentals correctly (again, students
sometimes try to fit them on top of each other, causing collisions and
all manner of visual mayhem).
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">4. Other score information, such as text and articulations, is clear
(hand-written text can be somewhat challenging to read if a composer has
poor calligraphy skills).</td>
<td colspan="12">4. This again is generally true, unless the composer uses a font or font-size that is difficult to read.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">5. You can remove or add bars without recopying entire pages.<br />
<br />
• It is also easier to change/add/remove notes and any other score
information (such as dynamics, slurs, articulations, text, etc.<br />
<br />
• Software also lets you do A/B comparisons, listening to a version with bars <i>added</i>, and then comparing with a version with those bars <i>removed</i>.
</td>
<td colspan="12">5. This is a <i>huge</i> advantage of notation software; having to
recopy an entire page by hand in order to add or subtract a few bars is
such a hassle that it can become a disincentive to make such changes.
Anything that gets in the way of making even small improvements in your
compositions is a significant problem.<br />
<br />
•And yes, the possibility of doing numerous A/B listening comparisons is a tremendous advantage in using notation software.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">6. Parts can be generated automatically.<br />
<br />
• This is a <i>huge</i> advantage in using notation software. </td>
<td colspan="12">6. Generating parts can still involve some work, however, because you
may need to adjust the layout, number of bars per system, fix any new
collisions that may have shown up, plan page turns, do any necessary
last-minute edits (you sometimes notice problems in parts that you
didn't notice in the score), etc. But there's no question that
generating parts is a much faster process with notation software.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">7. <b>Transpose</b>, <b>Invert</b>, <b>Retrograde</b>, and other commands, as well as plug-ins.<br />
<br />
• Did you know that Finale has commands for <b>melodic inversion</b>, and <b>
retrograde</b>? These (particularly inversion) can be useful when
considering possibilities of how to grow/extend/transform a melodic idea.<br />
<br />
• There are also <b>third-party plugins</b> available, such as <a href="http://robertgpatterson.com/-fininfo/finmaincontent.html" target="_blank">Patterson Plug-Ins</a> for Finale, which are designed to speed up and generally improve workflow.</td>
<td colspan="12">7. Composers can obviously do these things without a computer, but the computer does them much faster. Plus, having these options so readily available makes it easier to try them in order to see if they can be used in your composition.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">8. Dynamics look as they should, and are usually well positioned.
</td>
<td colspan="12">8. Notation software does indeed produce dynamics that are beautiful.<br />
<br />
• They are not <i>always</i> <b>well positioned</b> however; in Finale,
you have probably found many cases where a dynamic collides with
something else, such as an accidental, note, or slur, which requires the
user to re-position the dynamic, or the other objects with which it
collides; I'm not sure this happens as frequently in hand copied scores.<br />
<br />
• One <i>potential</i> issue to be aware of is that in some software
programmes, a dynamic intended for one instrument (e.g., below the flute
staff) in an orchestral score can show up in an adjacent instrument's
part (e.g., above the clarinet) when parts are generated. When
positioning a dynamic, Finale uses a temporary dashed line to indicate
the note to which the dynamic is attached, which reduces the likelihood
of misplaced dynamics.<br />
<br />
• There are potential playback issues in the use of dynamics, described in section 9.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">9. You can hear what you write as you write it, performed at the
indicated tempo, or at a slower tempo if you prefer, which allows you to
listen repeatedly, carefully, and critically.<br />
<br />
• You can also hear and evaluate any indicated tempo changes (including <i>rit</i>. and <i>accel</i>.), and dynamic levels (including <i>cresc</i>. and <i>dim</i>.).<br />
<br />
• You can also listen to the composition, or a section thereof,
repeatedly, tweaking it until it sounds as good as you can make it, no
matter what time of day you play it, and no matter what your mood is.</td>
<td colspan="12">9. Being able to hear an approximation of what you write in real time is a <span style="color: #c99dff;">huge</span> benefit of notation software. <br />
<br />
• There are, however, significant issues or limitations in relying <i>too</i> heavily on MIDI playback as a realistic indicator of what your music will sound like; these include:<br />
<ul>
<li>Unwittingly writing parts that are either extremely difficult or
even unplayable, because the computer plays them without any problem
whatsoever (!). A computer plays unidiomatic lines flawlessly, while a
performer might
struggle in attempting to play them, or even refuse to play the piece. <i>The
computer can lull the user into thinking that the line is perfectly
idiomatic, when in fact it is extremely difficult or even impossible</i>.
I am not sure how much different this would be in a hand-copied score,
but in producing a hand-copied score, a composer usually spends hours <b>playing</b> each line, usually on a piano, which might flag any such issue;</li>
<li>Balance problems: The balance in a MIDI ensemble is often not very realistic; </li>
<li>Further to balance problems, sometimes, in an attempt to bring out a
line that is insufficiently prominent, we may temporarily give it an
extreme dynamic boost, such as marking it <i><b>fff</b></i> instead of <i><b>f</b></i>, so we can hear it better in the MIDI playback, but then forget to change the dynamic to its correct value (<b><i>fff</i></b> back to <i><b>f</b></i>)
before giving the parts to the performers, resulting in performers
blasting the heck out of that line in the first rehearsal, when all we
intended was for it to be more prominent than the lines around it. Or
sometimes, an inexperienced composer may use an extreme dynamic boost
(e.g., <i><b>f</b></i> to <i><b>fff</b></i>) <i>intentionally</i>, thinking it necessary to bring out the line to the desired level, perhaps not realizing that if a line is marked <i><b>f</b></i>, while the other instruments are marked <i><b>mf</b></i>, the performers and/or conductor will make sure that the <i><b>f</b></i> line is heard more prominently than the others.</li>
<li>It is also possible that the previous example (extreme dynamic
boost) might be the result of poor orchestration; if a musical line is
insufficiently prominent in MIDI playback, perhaps it needs to be
reinforced in some way (e.g., octave doublings, or the addition of other
instruments to that line), or perhaps the material around it is too
busy and needs to be thinned out in some way.</li>
<li>Unrealistic representation of the nuanced colour and dynamic changes in different registers of an instrument or voice; </li>
<li>MIDI playback is only as good as the quality of the samples in your computer's sound-bank. </li>
<li><i>Glissandi</i>, heard through MIDI playback, usually elicits a
chuckle from class members, presumably because it often sounds so
unrealistic or even ridiculous.</li>
<li>The computer will play any <i>glissando</i>, even impossible ones, which may entice composers into writing impossible <i>glissandi</i>. We need to be aware of the possible <i>glissandi</i> for different instruments; always show your work to a performer of that instrument to be sure.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">10. <i>Copy and Paste</i>.<br />
<br />
• Musical material, from the smallest ideas to entire sections, is often repeated, either immediately or brought back later; the <i>Copy & Paste</i> functions let you do this with great ease.</td>
<td colspan="12">10. Again, a very useful tool. I recommend exercising some restraint in its use, however.<br />
<br />
• One of the most wonderful attributes of great classical compositions
is that ideas are often altered in some way when repeating or
recapitulating them. This provides both the <b>comfort of familiarity</b>, since we recognize the ideas, but also an <b>element of surprise</b>, if we recognize that some aspects have been changed.<br />
<br />
• You <i>can</i> make such modifications when repeating ideas in
notation programmes, of course, but, at least in student work, it seems
as though the ease with which the paste command can be executed often
leads to <i>not</i> making modifications.<br />
<br />
• My advice to students is to explore modification possibilities when re-using (pasting) an earlier idea into a later section.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">11. <i>Other limitations and challenges</i>.</td>
<td colspan="12">11. Using different metres in different staves simultaneously, and having bar lines that don't necessarily line up with each other (vertically).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">12. <i>Other limitations and challenges</i>.</td>
<td colspan="12">12. Using a time grid at the top of your score (e.g., a grid in 5 second increments), with no bar lines.<br />
<br />
• You can hide bar lines, of course, and create a graphic to represent the time grid, but this involves more work than it would if done by hand.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">13. <i>Other limitations and challenges</i>.</td>
<td colspan="12">13. Graphic notation can be difficult or even impossible.<br />
<br />
• Again, you can create graphics on a computer, but it takes some skill to do this well, and doing it by hand is often faster.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">14. <i>Other limitations and challenges</i>.</td>
<td colspan="12">14. Oversize metres in orchestral scores (e.g., a large 4/4 that spans the
height of the entire woodwind section) are either impossible or very
tricky. Oversize metres are generally much appreciated by conductors, because they can be easily read at a glance. When my orchestral music has been played, I often get the score back with oversize metre changes written in by the conductor.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="8">15. <i>Other limitations and challenges</i>.</td>
<td colspan="12">15. Unless you invest in an expensive sample library that includes <b>extended
techniques</b> in all instrument families, your MIDI playback will probably
not be able to reproduce such sounds. This is not <i>necessarily</i> an
impediment to using extended techniques, but I suspect they would be
used more if we could hear a reasonably-accurate reproduction of
these techniques during playback of our scores.<br />
<br />
These performance
techniques include: <i>col legno</i>, <i>col legno battute</i>, <i>sul pont</i>., <i>sul tasto</i>,
different mute types for brass instruments, hand-stopped notes (for
horn), play with bells in the air, multiphonics, flutter-tongue, harmonics, harmonic <i>gliss</i>. ("seagull effect") for strings (particularly for cello), <i>senza vibrato</i>,
scraping sound created by heavy bow pressure and slow bow speed, a
myriad of sounds available by slapping, scraping, muting, picking (with a
guitar pick) strings inside of a piano, prepared piano sounds,
etc.</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Have I missed any significant advantages or disadvantages in my list? Are there times when you feel the notation software is pushing you to notate an idea in the way that <i>it</i> wants, as opposed to the way that <i>you</i> want? Please let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7298312567843426829.post-39828399375636323072017-01-12T14:00:00.001-03:302020-03-12T14:57:26.806-02:30Recommendation Letters – How Students are EvaluatedAt the end of last semester, from about mid-November to mid-December, it seemed to me that I was writing more student recommendation/reference letters than usual — which is fine, of course — but, as I was doing so, it occurred to me (as it does every year) that, although every student is unique, they tend to fall into different categories:<br />
<ol>
<li>Those that are good at everything; </li>
<li>Those that are good at some things, and <i>pretty</i> <i>good</i> at others (e.g., good at composition, okay-but-not-great in theory and history);</li>
<li>Those that are pretty good at 1-2 things, but <i>fairly weak</i> in others (e.g., pretty good at composition, but rather weak in theory, aural skills, writing skills, etc.);</li>
<li>Those that are <i>really</i> good at one thing (e.g., composition), but <i>really</i> weak at others (e.g., theory, history, aural skills, and writing); and, of course,</li>
<li>Those that don't fit into any of the above categories, such as students who are just average or even weak at everything, or almost everything. </li>
</ol>
If I am asked to write a letter, the <i>academic</i> areas on which can I comment are the ones that I teach, namely<span style="color: #c99dff;"> music theory</span> and <span style="color: #c99dff;">composition</span>. But, as you can see in the list below, professors are often asked to rate students in a surprisingly-large number of areas that go far beyond specific academic disciplines, and so I thought it might be useful to list these areas, and, more generally, provide information on the evaluation process for anyone that may wish to request such a letter at any point in their future.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">If you are in a Bachelor of Music programme and there is even a <i>remote</i> chance that you might apply to graduate school upon completing your degree, today's post may have some useful information for you</span>. However, if you have <i>no</i> interest in this topic, just ignore it; I promise to get back to composition-related topics in my next post!<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">Asking for a reference letter</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"> </span>• Don’t be shy about asking a professor to write reference letters; it is a part of our job, like correcting/grading, office hours, extra help for students that seek it, committee work, research/composition/performing, and of course, teaching. We do not <i>have</i> to write a reference letter just because you ask for one – sometimes, a professor might decline your request – but most of the time I don't mind writing these letters, as long as you were a good student.<br />
<br />
• Be aware, however, that it takes time – for me, typically about 2 hours – to write a thorough reference letter. <span style="color: #c99dff;"> </span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">Why does it take so long?</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">→</span> Part of that time is spent <span style="color: #c99dff;">going through a student’s transcript</span> carefully (which I request from the student), <span style="color: #c99dff;">reviewing how the student did in my courses</span> (which involves opening the spreadsheet files for every course taken with me in order to see the student’s results in all parts of the course evaluation scheme), and <span style="color: #c99dff;">ranking that student’s final mark in relation to the class</span> (e.g., 3rd out of 34 students), because some graduate schools ask for that information, and if they don’t, I usually provide it anyway.
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">→</span> Time is also spent listing all of the <span style="color: #c99dff;">positive attributes</span> I can think of for that student, particularly those that I believe would be relevant to studying composition or theory at the graduate level.
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">→</span> I also list any <span style="color: #c99dff;">weaknesses or concerns</span> I have about the student, because admissions committees want a <span style="color: #c99dff;">balanced and</span><span style="color: #c99dff;"> honest assessment</span>; if I describe a student in <i>only</i> positive terms, but the transcript reveals that the student has a 75% average over the most recent 1-2 years, then it seems unlikely that an admissions committee would take my letter seriously; a B+ average is nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s not an A average, and, in my opinion, a professor's recommendation letter should expand on the evidence found in a student's transcript without making claims that are unsupported in the transcript.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;"><span style="font-size: small;">What</span> Student Attributes are Evaluated?</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">→</span> Professors are often asked to rate, and comment on, specific<span style="color: #c99dff;"> personal attributes </span><span style="color: #c99dff;">or character traits</span>, such as (these are taken directly from various evaluation forms I have seen):
<br />
<ul>
<li>Ability – All around
</li>
<li>Ability to complete tasks on time (i.e., by a deadline)</li>
<li>Ability to work under pressure
</li>
<li>Ability to work independently/Willingness to take responsibility for learning
</li>
<li>Academic potential
</li>
<li>Academic preparation/Demonstrated academic ability
</li>
<li>Achievement
</li>
<li>Attendance</li>
<li>Communication skills – Oral
</li>
<li>Communication skills – Written
</li>
<li>Curiosity – Willingness to explore new approaches, ideas, particularly those that may fall outside the student’s comfort zone
</li>
<li>Focus (does the student stay focused on the task at hand, or are they easily distracted, which can lead to failure to complete tasks, or failure to complete them on time)</li>
<li>Industriousness – Capacity to work hard</li>
<li>Initiative
</li>
<li>Intellectual capacity
</li>
<li>Leadership
</li>
<li>Likelihood that my institution would accept the student, if we had a comparable programme (this is a strange category; do some professors write, "we would not accept this student into our graduate programme, but I think they'd be perfect for your institution," which implies that our standards are higher than yours?)</li>
<li>Likelihood that the student will complete the degree
</li>
<li>Organization - Planning
</li>
<li>Originality/Willingness to “think outside the box”
</li>
<li>Creativity/Talent
</li>
<li>Persistence </li>
<li>Problem solving</li>
<li>Punctuality </li>
<li>Research ability </li>
<li>Response to constructive criticism
</li>
<li>Teaching ability (if known) </li>
<li>Teamwork (work well in a group) </li>
</ul>
The rating system varies, but it often consists of a series of clickable boxes assigned to percentile values, such as top 5%, top 10%, top 20%, top 50%, lower than top 50%, and "no basis for judgment." The professor clicks on the appropriate box, in their assessment, for each category.
<br />
<br />
Universities typically ask for a letter, <i>in addition to</i> asking the professor to rate the student in a number of categories, as above, but no university with which I am familiar asks that the student be assessed in<span style="color: #c99dff;"> every </span> category listed above; the above list is compiled from a variety of different universities' lists. Also, some universities have comment boxes in their on-line recommendation forms that allow professors to add a sentence or two explaining our rating in that particular category.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">So What?</span></b><br />
I have no idea how much weight is placed on this aspect of the evaluation process – I <i>suspect</i> that the above categories matter, but probably not as much as the student’s <span style="color: #c99dff;">transcript</span>,<span style="color: #c99dff;"> composition portfolio</span>, and<span style="color: #c99dff;"> recommendation letters</span>. At the very least, however, <span style="color: #c99dff;">these categories tell us something about what graduate schools value in prospective students</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;">→</span> How would you assess your level in each of the above categories? Most people have at least a few weak areas; if you can identify your own, I encourage you to work at them so that they become strengths.
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">How to request a letter</span></b><br />
When requesting a letter from a professor, give them lots of lead time, and provide all necessary information. More specifically:
<br />
<ul>
<li>Make your request <b><i>at least</i> two weeks in advance</b>, because of the time it takes to write these letters. If this is not possible for some reason, then make your request at least one week in advance, but be aware that professors are generally pretty maxed-out in terms of demands on their time, and if you don’t give us enough time, we may not be able to write the letter you request. </li>
<li>Make your request <b>in writing</b>, as well as in person (if feasible). The reason for this is that I don’t necessarily remember every request, but if you put it in an E-mail, then I have something to remind me. Confirming this request in person is mostly a social nicety, but it may also give you a sense of the degree to which the professor is willing to write you a positive letter.
</li>
<li>If you are asked to include a <b>composition portfolio</b>, ask your composition teachers for their opinions on what to include, and make as many of the changes/improvements suggested by your instructor as possible. If applying for a theory master's and they require the submission of a theory essay, ask your theory teachers for suggestions and corrections on any essay you plan to submit. </li>
<li>Provide the professor with an <b>up-to-date transcript</b>, for the reasons cited above. The transcript can be a series of screen shots taken on your computer from your “university self-service” portal, or a PDF of the actual transcript.
</li>
<li>Provide a list of <b>every course you took with the professor</b>, and the <b>semester</b> in which you took that course.
</li>
<li>List any <b>relevant achievements</b> that might strengthen your case, e.g., Senior Rose Bowl Winner, Kiwanis Festival of (what region or city), Gower Band Terra Nova Competition Winner, etc., with the date(s) of the awards. You could include non-musical achievements as well, e.g., <i>cycled from St. John’s, NL, to Victoria, BC, April-August, 2014</i>... If I think they reflect strengths in your character, I might mention them. And yes, one of our students did this, which I feel said a lot about the type of person they are (tenacious, able to achieve difficult goals, etc.)!
</li>
<li>Indicate in writing <b>every school</b> to which you’d like a letter sent.
</li>
<li>Include the <b>submission deadlines</b> for each school.
</li>
<li>Indicate in writing the <b>specific graduate programmes to which you are applying</b> (e.g., MA in music theory, MMus in composition, etc.).
</li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">Electronic Submission?</span></b><br />
Most schools allow professors to submit their letters electronically; I much prefer this, so if that’s an option, please choose it. I would guess most professors find E-submissions most convenient, but double check with the professor to see if they prefer to submit the old-fashioned way (i.e., a hard copy via "snail mail").
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>On the pros and cons of “Gentle Reminders”</b></span><br />
To the best of my knowledge, universities automatically send applicants an electronic confirmation message every time they receive a recommendation letter for that student (UPDATE: Maybe it's a glitch in their systems, but they occasionally don't, according to a student who just contacted me… However, I think they are all <i>supposed</i> to do this). If the deadline is near, and you have <b>not</b> received such a notice, here’s what I suggest:<br />
<br />
Send the professor a “friendly reminder,” or “gentle nudge” a few days before the submission deadline . For most professors, the workload tends to be heavy and incessant all semester (I take no days off from before the start of a semester to the point when we submit final marks for each course), but particularly so towards the end of a semester. Also, if you have, say, eight students who each want three reference letters, that’s twenty-four references; that's a lot of references, and it is possible to miss some. Not only that, but E-mail is a somewhat inefficient way to communicate, in that every day our inboxes are bombarded with SPAM and “noise” (messages that are not SPAM, but clutter up our in-boxes), so it is easy for the occasional legit E-mail (one that requires a response) to get buried among the debris.<br />
<br />
I know that not everyone appreciates reminders, however – When I was an undergraduate student, I saw a professor in the hallway one day and reminded him as politely as I could that the deadline for that letter was that day, only to have the professor blow up at me and proclaim, in an outdoors (not indoors) voice, “Look! If I say I’ll write you a reference letter, I’ll write you that g**d*** letter!”<br />
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It occurred to me that I might have destroyed any hope I had of going to graduate school, which I found rather daunting at the time. In today’s world, however, this kind of situation can be mostly avoided, because a thoughtfully-worded gentle reminder via E-mail is unlikely to elicit such a rude response. Speaking only for myself, I don’t mind gentle reminders at all; in fact, I often appreciate them.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #c99dff;">Trust the Process; How do you know the professor will write a good letter?</span></b><br />
Speaking of daunting, it can feel a bit scary to request a letter and then trust that the professor has written a good letter. But, once your request has been made and the professor has agreed to recommend you, I would suggest trusting the process. A conscientious professor should tell you if they <i>can’t</i> write you a good letter, rather than agree to write a letter, and then write only negative things about you. I suspect that most professors adhere to this ethical code, but you obviously can't assume that every professor does.<br />
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I have turned down requests to write recommendation letters on very few occasions — when I do, I always suggest that the students find other professors to write recommendation letters — for one of three reasons:<br />
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(i) The student's request came too close to the submission deadline. This is just a practical matter, not personal — requests often come at the busiest time of a semester, and there are times when I cannot set aside all the other work I have to spend two hours writing a letter that is due the day after I got the request. On the other hand, if I have recently written a letter for you, and you ask me to send it to more universities a day or two before a deadline, this is less problematic. It still can take a little more time than you might expect, particularly when the original letter needs to be modified in any way (such as if the original letter needs to be updated due to new information), but if I can do it, I will. But I'd still prefer 1-2 weeks notice, of course;<br />
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(ii) I don’t know the student well enough to say anything really positive about her/him; e.g., they only took one course with me, and it was a few years ago, and the student did not get a very good result in that course. Or perhaps they were an average student but they never came to see me at an office hour, and they never said much in class, so I don't feel like I know the student very well; <br />
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(iii) I know the student pretty well, but what I know about them is not positive… Perhaps they took several courses with me, but did not do very well in any of them, or they were rude/disrespectful on multiple occasions, or they skipped classes and/or were late on multiple occasions, or they did not complete assignments or quizzes on multiple occasions, or they committed academic dishonesty (the most common example of this is students collaborating with each other on assignments), or they generally disregarded my compositional advice and suggestions, etc. If a student has shown little indication that they are willing to be taught, why would anyone else want to teach them?<br />
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To be clear, I’m not talking about an <i>occasional</i> disagreement; these are not unusual in teaching, and I don't mind them as long as the discussion is respectful. I’m referring more to an on-going and troublesome <i>pattern</i> of behaviour, which is extraordinarily rare; I think I have encountered only about three such cases in thirty years of teaching.<br />
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The only time I recall declining a recommendation letter request for reason (iii) above involved a student who was <i>extraordinarily</i> sullen and rude. Don't get me wrong — I have encountered occasional instances of rudeness over the years, but this particular student really stood out from the rest (and not in a good way!), so much so that other students complained to me in private about the student’s behaviour. I was therefore surprised when the student asked me for a recommendation — did they think they were somehow accumulating karmic good-will credits while engaging in blatantly-disrespectful behaviour? — and so I suggested that the student would be better off asking someone else for a recommendation.<br />
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I don't hold grudges, or try to undermine students in any way. Had I decided to write a letter for this person, I would have found positive things to say about her/him (no matter who you are, I can usually find positive things to say about you, and this student was definitely smart and talented), but I would have also had to mention the problematic behaviours that I felt would sabotage their chances of succeeding in a graduate programme, which is why I suggested they ask someone else.<br />
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<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>Not sure about applying?</b></span><br />
If you want to go to graduate school but are thinking that perhaps you ought <b>not</b> to apply because your marks aren't great, or your composition portfolio is not strong enough, I would suggest applying anyway, because you never know what the outcome will be. Sometimes, average students (IMO) have been accepted into master's programmes, while stronger students have been rejected. You don't know the circumstance or criteria used in the evaluation of your application; in some years, and in some universities, you might be in competition with sixty other students for six spots, while in other years or different universities you might only be in competition with eight other students for six available spots. I was at a graduate admissions committee recently in which we rejected a couple of the applicants because they had 72-75 averages and below-average audition scores. We then learned that they had both been accepted at a larger (and better known, frankly) university, presumably because this university had admission quotas to fill, and these applicants met their minimum admission standards.<br />
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If graduate schools reject you, and you are not willing to give up on your dream, find a way to turn this into a positive experience: Identify your weaknesses, work hard on improving in those areas, and then apply again. For composition, this might entail writing more pieces, perhaps longer and more substantial, perhaps for larger ensembles, or written more idiomatically for the instruments involved, or exploring new techniques, or providing more score detail, or better recordings, or just writing better pieces; most of us acknowledge that our early compositions are not as good as later compositions. If you want to do a Master's in composition but you had some weak results in music theory classes, explore the possibility of taking some of them again, this time working harder or more consistently than you did previously, in order to gain a better understanding of the material, and demonstrate that you are capable of getting good marks in theory.<br />
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<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>List of Positive Attributes</b></span><br />
It is easiest students to write strongly-suportive recommendations for students with the following qualities:<br />
<ol>
<li>At or near the top of every composition course they took with me;</li>
<li>Developing into very good composers — this is slightly different than #1, because a student's course grade can be near the top of the composition class by getting full marks in all the extra-compositional assessment areas — excellent preparation, excellent contributions to class discussions, making the required number of thoughtful composition blog comments — while producing compositions that are <i>pretty</i> good (B+, A-), but not <i>extremely</i> good (A, A+);</li>
<li>At or near the top of every theory course they took with me; </li>
<li>Actively curious about new music; they seek out new scores to study and new music to hear, and are excited by new discoveries;</li>
<li>Respond well to compositional suggestions, which means they are willing to try new things without pre-judging them, and to <i>embrace</i> at least some of them;</li>
<li>Do all their work on time with a minimum of excuses for gaps in productivity;</li>
<li>Do more work than most other students;</li>
<li>Are ambitious – I ask for a short character piece, and they write three; or, they write a piece for orchestra with zero training in orchestration; or, I ask for a string quartet of at least 4-5 minutes, and they write a 15-minute string quartet;</li>
<li>Have a great attitude; and</li>
<li>Participate regularly in class, and, in particular, <i>they are skilled in giving constructive criticism to fellow students in our composition seminars</i>. </li>
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If I were assigning a score of 1 (= terrible!) to 10 (= whatever is better than excellent!) to each of the above qualities, I feel confident in saying that I have never had a student who I would have rated as a 10 in every category.<br />
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<i>However</i>, I have had occasional composition students who are <b>strong</b> in all of these areas, meaning I would perhaps rate them as an 8 or higher in every category. Such students tend to be accepted into graduate programmes, provided they didn't <i>only</i> apply to the most selective universities, like Indiana or Yale (but <i>some</i> of our students have gone to Indiana University and Yale, for example, so why not you?).<br />
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<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>What do you do if you are <i>pretty good</i> at composition, but pretty weak in, say, theory?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b> </b></span><i>Most</i> students are strong in some of the areas, but not all, and in many cases such students have been accepted into graduate programmes. Some students are very good at composition, but very weak in music theory; this can be a deal-breaker for some universities, since a graduate programme in composition usually requires music theory courses as well. I still suggest that such students apply to graduate schools (because you never know what might transpire), and, if not accepted, then <i>consider doing extra work in music theory</i> (like re-taking music theory courses to try to obtain better results), and then applying again in the following year. Realistically, however, this does not give students much of an opportunity to improve their standing in theory courses, since applications are often due by the end of the fall semester, which would give a graduating student only one semester in which to demonstrate an improvement. But, if you didn't get in to any Master's programmes and you are average to weak in music theory (at least according to the marks you got), then it's worth a shot.<br />
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If you are reading this in the early years of your academic studies, the clear conclusion to draw is to become as strong as possible in <i>every</i> possible area. It starts with taking every course seriously, and not falling into the trap of making excuses for poor results in, say, theory courses, such as, "this is nothing but a set of rules for OLD music; I want to make NEW music, and break any rules I wish!"<br />
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This, strange as it sounds, accurately describes <i>my</i> mindset in my early years of music study. When I started taking music theory, I didn't see the point of it, and thought it had nothing to do with the music <i>I</i> wanted to write. Consequently, I failed grades 3 and 5 harmony at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), and didn't do very well in grade 4 harmony either. After about two years of poor results at the RCM, I started studying privately with an excellent composition teacher, Dr. Sam Dolin, who made me re-do music theory all over again, <i>from the beginning</i>, and, while I resented it a bit at first, he made it interesting, fascinating, and <b>relevant</b> for me, and my love for music theory – which is, basically, learning how music works – began at that point, and has never abated. And yes, I got better at it.<br />
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You can get off to a bad start in something, and end up becoming very good at that thing; in my case I just needed a combination of a good teacher and an attitude readjustment.<br />
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<span style="color: #c99dff;"><b>What <i>not</i> to do!</b></span><br />
Do <i>not</i> ask a professor to write you a recommendation letter, and then change your mind and, basically, <i>fire them</i> because you have suddenly become worried that they might say something negative or even lukewarm about you. If you ask a professor to write you a letter, and if they say yes, then just continue to work hard and be productive and respectful, and trust that the professor will advocate your behalf. I realize that not knowing exactly what a professor will write about you can trigger insecurities, but, again, you have to trust that, if a professor agrees to write a letter on your behalf, they believe in you have your best interests at heart.<br />
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This actually happened to me once. A student I knew very well because I had taught them in numerous courses, asked me to write various recommendation letters for them, so I did, and as I always do, I wrote very positively about the areas in which the student was strong. This student belonged to category 3 or 4, from the listed categories at the top of this post, meaning they were good in one area – very good, in my opinion – but average or even weak in some others. The student was not accepted anywhere.<br />
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Although I was disappointed on the student's behalf, the rejections did not come as a big surprise to me – for the most part, you have to be good or very good in <i>many</i> areas (including composition <i>and</i> theory) in order to be accepted to a graduate programme in composition (although I know of a few students who were accepted to graduate schools when they were strong at composition, and only <i>slightly</i> above average at theory) – because I know that, no matter how positive a letter I write on your behalf, <b>the transcript</b>, which admissions committees always see and weigh heavily, <b>does not lie</b>; if you did poorly in cognate areas like music theory and aural skills, graduate committees are likely to be concerned about it.<br />
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The student decided to retake some theory courses and reapply a year later, and this impressed me tremendously. It further supported my opinion that this was someone who deserved to be recommended for graduate studies.<br />
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The flaw in this plan was in its execution, however; the student did not do particularly well in the courses taken for the second time. In at least one course they got a <i>lower</i> mark<i>.</i> I mentioned to the student that s/he might not have improved their theory marks sufficiently to impress graduate committees favourably, which, from my point of view was just a reality check – if you take a course and get 68% the first time, and then retake it and get 72%, it seems likely that an admissions committee will be convinced that you have made significant improvements in that area.<br />
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It was not intended as a signal that I would now be writing a lukewarm letter on their behalf, but I gather that is how it was interpreted, and I received a formal note from the student that evening informing me that I had been removed from the student's reference list.<br />
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Ouch!<br />
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The most unfortunate part of all of this is that the student then asked a colleague of mine to write a letter for them, and the colleague (a) had not taught the student in many courses and thus did not know them very well, and (b) taught a course that the student re-took but did not do particularly well in the second time, and so there was no way that this other professor was able to write a strong letter. for the student In fact, I am pretty sure that the letters I had written on the student's behalf were the most supportive and positive of any of the letters written by other professors, simply because (a) I knew the student very well, (b) I strongly supported their candidacy for graduate studies, and (c) I knew that the student was not held in high regard by some of my colleagues.<br />
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Unfortunately, the student was not admitted to any graduate programmes after re-taking the theory courses. And, despite what happened, I wish for a bright future for the student, who I continue to believe is a good composer.<br />
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So the moral of this excessively-long blog post is: Work hard in every course, even ones you may think are useless or stupid, and demonstrate that you are a good student. Perhaps you will never need reference letters from your professors, but you might; you don't know if your ambitions will change in the future. If you do , pick professors who know you well, and who have been supportive of you, and trust that they will advocate on your behalf.Clark Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13153382609775397798noreply@blogger.com18