September 16, 2013.

I have a hunch that many of the most striking pieces we hear involved a lot of staring into space on the parts of the composers who formed them.

On Writer’s Block/Dry Spells: How about writing music about not being able to write music? Halting, hesitant, missing parts?

September 15, 2013

On Prolificacy (2): I’m still trying to get it right.

On Prolificacy (1): I’m trying to quit.

September 7, 2013

How can one sublimate control issues by writing a piece of music?

September 6, 2013

Does a piece of music by one of us need “last only long enough to admit [us] to a sympathetic haven?” [quotation from an August 26, 2013 New Yorker article about forger and art philanthropist Mark Landis; speaks to how much our desire and/or need to compose is tied up with the need for approval and inclusion]

September 5, 2013

What constitutes “new musical territory?”

August 5, 2013.

Are you wasting resources? Do you need all those notes?

I like scanning and sending hand manuscript electronically, but the scans are not always clear or bold enough to serve as performance materials for musicians. Scan, send, check in. Use snail mail too.

One composer’s innovation is another’s old hat.

It’s not that “it” doesn’t have to do with everyone else, but “it” could have to do with you, too.

September 13, 2012

Be clear, and not so clever. [Aristophanes, via composer Meng Tian] Can we pursue clever clarity?

A composer cannot be confused when creating a musical state of confusion.

Restraint is a viable feeling, and a musical state that can be good (and difficult) to capture. Every piece one writes need not explore musical extremes.

Become a compositional pack rat. Save everything you write in any and all forms. Do not discard things you think are worthless at the time. They may increase in value and present themselves for use at a later date.

There are hour-long pieces that are too short and two-minute pieces that are too long.

If one demands originality at every turn, one may write nothing. Steal instead. What you steal, once it is filtered through your own unique sensibility and your own educational history (gaps and all), will come out anew.

Need a deadline to finish your work? Schedule a performance.

To understand the needs of performers, become one at some level. There is no substitute for the direct experience of performing your own work or the work of others.

Do not be afraid of solitude or isolation.

What does a piece of music HAVE to be? If you cannot answer this question, you are on the right track.

At some time in your life, write at least one entire piece by hand (using pencil and paper).

Boldly make mistakes. Just fix the ones that don’t work in the end.

Set limits. I think more successful strains have resulted from constraints than from the “anything is possible” syndrome.

“Composing” and “making pieces” are sometimes two entirely separate propositions.

Create your own “Art and Craft Movement” without the help of John Ruskin or William Morris.

[The movement advocated truth to materials and traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. It also proposed economic and social reform and has been seen as essentially anti-industrial.]

Who is rethinking music from the inside out?

Everything musical is personal.

Write for anyone who is interested in honoring your musical thoughts. Do not limit your compositional expectations to virtuosi.

Open your mind and keep it open, but close the gap between concept and realization through careful practice. Limit your resources.

Go ahead and write crap—it might be the best way to learn how not to.