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
David Toub has called in his cronies to answer my question about hearing music in our heads (below, April 30), and I await their answers with interest. With the response so far: I don't know if I buy the "inherent in being creative" part. And I'm not concerned whether or not it's normal, whatever that means. All I'm wondering is how it works. How can we vividly experience sound where no sound exists? What parts of the brain are being brought to bear on this relatively useless task?
But the whole question reminds me of how funny it is that some people praise music for being "memorable" or "catchy" when, for some of us, all music is memorable. What a joy it is, from time to time, to hear a piece that is completely arresting, yet fails to stick to the roofs of our mouths like peanut butter!
posted by Lawrence Dillon
9:25 PM
