arrange • compose • conduct
I played a new little arrangement for dear friends tonight, and it included a tasty reharmonization that arrived once in each verse. My brilliant musician friend reminded me, don’t overuse the good stuff. As he said, overusing a powerful move can dilute its power. The surprise of a reharmonization is […]
How do you end without an ending? Musicians are well accustomed to clear endings. Whether it’s the exuberantly repetitive final cadence in a classical symphony, a wailing 13(#11) chord for a big band, or the Plagal Amen at the end of a hymn, we pay a lot of attention to […]
In times of upheaval, I lean on touchstones–works of art that have shaped me and the continue to be sources of inspiration, influence, and solace. It might be rereading a favorite novel, a cherished poem, a movie, or (especially often) a favorite album with a good pair of headphones. How […]
As my composition students work hard to shape strong melodies, I try to remind them to have faith in the next melody. It takes pressure off of my current project to know that there will always be another melody. I still try to craft the piece I am working on […]
I used to think linearly in my writing–work on one project until it’s done, and then start the next one. More recently, I’ve found two big benefits from having multiple current projects at once. First, it enables me to stay more consistently creative. Knowing that I have several things to […]
In my experience, every piece you write makes you feel like a new composer again. That’s because every aspect of writing a piece comes with limitations and guides you in specific directions. They all make demands on your writing that require you to become a new composer. The text makes […]
I’ve been thinking lately about Lynda Barry’s “The Two Questions.” It’s a short autobiographical comic about creativity, originally published in McSweeney’s Issue #13. She writes about her desire to create and the struggles she constantly goes through, in particular with the two questions her inner censor is constantly asking: “Is […]