If you’re like most composers, when you sit down at your desk or think about what you’re going to work on tomorrow, you probably think some variation of “It’s time to compose!” You may get a little more specific, like “I need to write this passage” or “that movement” or “this cue.” But generally that’s […]
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The Bell Curve Lies about Your Impact
As creators, whenever we share what matters to us, especially what we create, we feel vulnerable. Here’s a key principle that can help soften the blow. Whatever you share will receive a spectrum of responses — it’s a classic bell curve. This bell curve lies about the worth of your work. Or, rather, if you […]
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Own Your Voice: Workshop Replay (8/31/21)
In the above replay, we discuss: How Artistic Voice is bigger than “style” or “technique” The four parts of an Artistic Voice — “The Chorale of the Empowered Composer” Stories (the “Soprano”) Process (the “Alto”) Technique (the “Tenor”) Relationships (the “Bass”) The typical reasons composers do NOT own their voice, but rather hide . . […]
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Musical Variation Is Like a Good Set of Kitchen Knives
Variation in music is like having a good set of kitchen knives. If you use them properly, cooking becomes easy and fun . . . If you use them carelessly, somebody loses a finger . . . Likewise, in composing music, variation is NOT inherently valuable. How you use it makes the difference between Giving […]
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Speak Your Musical Truth
A musical idea is not just something you visualize in your brain or even something you hear in your mind’s ear. It is both those things and more. It is most of all something you feel in your GUT. It is as instinctive and as personal and as urgent as the words you speak. Sometimes […]
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Help me name my new piece!
I originally wrote “The Integrity of Clouds” for clarinet quintet, but now that I’ve created a new version for mixed sextet, it feels like it needs a new title. Listen below and vote on what you think that title should be! Loading…
Continue readingPreview: Violin Concerto
At the end of my time at Brevard, I (along with the other composers) got to have a reading session with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. The orchestra played the first two minutes of my new violin concerto that premieres December 7 at BYU. Jared Starr will be playing the solo part this December, but […]
Continue readingCountdown to San Francisco: 14 days
4 teachers, 8 months, 19 movements, 20 minutes, 31 pages, and 43 alternate titles later, my Barlow commission has finally entered rehearsal.
Continue readingPatting Your Head . . .
Today I wrote music . . . while listening to other music. Though a first for me, this isn’t too unusual. One of my friends routinely writes music at concerts; my teacher admitted to writing one of his best pieces will at a friend’s recital; and I’ve even heard rumors that Luciano Berio wrote his […]
Continue readingPre-composition and Football
Whenever people find out I’m a composer, they first ask, “What kind of music do you write?” for which I have yet to come up with a good answer. “Instrumental” and “classical-ish” are my usual responses. The next comment they make is often “I could never write music.” From what I can tell, many people […]
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