arrange • compose • conduct
Posts discussing creativity, both in and outside of music
In late September I wrote one of my favorite arrangements in my whole catalog. It happened over about 72 hours, when inspiration met a few free hours, and then an entire unscheduled Sunday. Now, in November, having recorded it (remotely) and prepared for its release, I already can’t remember the […]
“A painting is never finished — it simply stops in interesting places.” -Paul Gardner (Scottish painter) So it is with all art. I could keep tweaking the audio mix I wrapped up today for weeks and weeks…but it was time to share it with the people I made it for. […]
The romantic image of creators is one of drawing inspiration from the world and translating it at the piano onto staff paper. Perhaps you revise as you go, or in a draft process, but in essence you are creating in real time and putting it on the page. I would […]
I make no secret of my admiration for Tom Lehrer – an admiration that I came by naturally, thanks to my dad’s love, which followed his introduction to Lehrer’s first record by his sister, who heard Lehrer around Harvard in the early ’50s. Simply put, Tom Lehrer is the most […]
Composition lessons are generally full of careful feedback – I try to mix positive and constructive responses, while always being mindful that I, the teacher, shouldn’t force my own musical vision onto the student. But sometimes the best feedback to give is simply, “More bars.” Write more. Write more. Write […]
My son and I play what we’ve come to call “The Doodle Game” whenever he’s home sick from school. It’s simple: one of us draws the same doodle on two pieces of paper. We each take one and “finish” the doodle into a drawing. Sometimes we might put a limit […]
When I experience the sensation of writer’s block, a good strategy for me is to make it meta. I write about the writer’s block. I write about strategies that have worked in the past to get me through it. I write about the circumstances that might have led to the […]
You don’t decide on your personal voice. Your personal voice is the outcome of a million decisions. Or a handful of decisions, made over and over again, until patterns emerge. The patterns reflect your preferences, your outlook, your insights. And when the patterns become well-established, you discover you have a […]
I wrote for an hour today and then threw it all away. Was it a waste of an hour? It’s easy to say yes, because I finished the hour precisely NO closer to completing the project. And I’d be lying if I didn’t walk away from that precious hour a […]
I have been writing and rewriting a challenging bridge section of a piece. (It’s always the bridge, isn’t it?) For these challenging sections, it’s all about multiple drafts for me. I write, I print, I markup with a colored Flair Pen. I revise, I edit, I start again. It’s hard […]