Composers Forum is a daily web log that allows invited contemporary composers to share their thoughts and ideas on any topic that interests them--from the ethereal, like how new music gets created, music history, theory, performance, other composers, alive or dead, to the mundane, like getting works played and recorded and the joys of teaching. If you're a professional composer and would like to participate, send us an e-mail.
Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019
Do composers have an obligation to "explain" their work?
Composers do not have an obligation to an audience to explain their music but they have an opportunity to explain it or to tell a story about their music. People like stories. Anything that helps an audience to enjoy, love, or accept the music is in the composer’s best interest to endeavor to create. Some audiences enjoy a bit of formal/harmonic analysis and some just like to know when and why the piece was composed or how the title relates to the music. Most of the time I do not have the opportunity to speak to the audience except through the program notes. It is a very special opportunity to speak directly to an audience from the stage about the music. Part of what is conveyed is the fact that a composer can be someone other than a dead, male European. And generally, composers no longer look or act like Beethoven. After that shock is received, the composer can begin to speak about the music itself. Some compositions lend themselves to more stories or explication than others. I think it is a very good idea to speak and write about the music when the opportunity presents itself.
posted by Beth Anderson
8:45 AM
