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
One of the things that fascinates us "civilians" about music is the phenomenon of the child prodigy. If, as Howard Gardner says, music is one form of "multiple intelligences" it is also the form that manifests itself earliest. There are no early-blooming Korngolds or Rossinis or the M-guy whose name I refuse to utter in the worlds of painting or literature but the world seems to always have a complete stock of great ten-year-old fiddle players and 15-year-old pianists and bright young composers. My question is this: at what point did you realize that you had music running around in your head and when did you start writing it down? What was your first piece and how did it come about?
