At what point in the career of a composer does it get old to hear your music performed?
I am home from a wonderful jazz concert at Rockford High School, featuring, among other things, the RHS Jazz Band and Chamber Singers singing my arrangement of “This Can’t Be Love.”
It’s been nearly 30 years since I wrote my first arrangements, and around 20 since I first published any of my arrangements. In that time, I have heard my works sung by many groups, including many of my own. And tonight it occurred to me that some people might wonder whether it ever feels routine, listening to music you’ve written sung or played in public.
It never gets old.
Especially when it’s a group that’s not my own, it’s so gratifying and uplifting to hear the music and know the hours of work that it must have taken to put together. It is affirming and thrilling and just simply feels good.
So if you’re wondering whether you should send a clip to a composer, or invite them to your performance of their work, do it. Because hearing your own music never gets old.