Composition in non 12

Hey Herman...good comment on all the crappy 12 tone music, of course you're right. And, man, if there's one thing I wish micro folks would do, it's compose, gogogo. I think we need a large body of non 12 music, as much as possible, and the only way to improve as a composer is to do it. I have been playing for 40 years now, and I'm still constantly studying, learning what other people are up to, and stealing what I can from wherever I can, and trying to deepen my art. I'll never stop.
And as far as consonance/dissonance goes, those terms are totally tied to whatever it is that a composer is trying to accomplish...sometimes consonance can be very flat, and dissonance can be very profound. For example, Dan Stearns just sent me his latest CD demo, and it's some of the best music I've heard in ages; I just had a student listen to some of it, and he said it well: "It doesn't go where I think it's going to go." And boy, that's JUST the kind of music I like to hear, something that surprises me, and Dan's music takes me places in my imagination I've never been. And, he uses 20, 14, 13, and 12 tone tunings, plus fretless guitar, in a way that makes any sort of categories fairly meaningless...the music is so perfectly realized, that consonance/dissonance are obsolete terms. Not so easy to achieve, and it makes me want to just try harder to do the best i can with my own compositions. And, that's what everybody should try to do anytime they compose, go deep and say something meaningful....best...HHH
microstick.net

hey neil, thanks for the kind words ,i really appreciate it—
especially coming from you! For me, music, in its most vital means of
interface, has very little to do with musicianship and even less to
do with tuning and the like...yet these are the very things that most
practitioners are destined to overemphasize. I can enjoy great
musicianship, and i can enjoy subtle manipulation of tuning (et al),
but that in itself is never enough to make the hairs on my neck stand
up fill my imagination with half imaginable dreams… and to me that's
what it's all about .

thanks again,daniel

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Neil Haverstick"
<microstick@...> wrote:
>
> Hey Herman...good comment on all the crappy 12 tone music, of
course
> you're right. And, man, if there's one thing I wish micro folks
would do,
> it's compose, gogogo. I think we need a large body of non 12 music,
as much
> as possible, and the only way to improve as a composer is to do it.
I have
> been playing for 40 years now, and I'm still constantly studying,
learning
> what other people are up to, and stealing what I can from wherever
I can,
> and trying to deepen my art. I'll never stop.
> And as far as consonance/dissonance goes, those terms are
totally tied to
> whatever it is that a composer is trying to accomplish...sometimes
> consonance can be very flat, and dissonance can be very profound.
For
> example, Dan Stearns just sent me his latest CD demo, and it's some
of the
> best music I've heard in ages; I just had a student listen to some
of it,
> and he said it well: "It doesn't go where I think it's going to
go." And
> boy, that's JUST the kind of music I like to hear, something that
surprises
> me, and Dan's music takes me places in my imagination I've never
been. And,
> he uses 20, 14, 13, and 12 tone tunings, plus fretless guitar, in a
way that
> makes any sort of categories fairly meaningless...the music is so
perfectly
> realized, that consonance/dissonance are obsolete terms. Not so
easy to
> achieve, and it makes me want to just try harder to do the best i
can with
> my own compositions. And, that's what everybody should try to do
anytime
> they compose, go deep and say something meaningful....best...HHH
> microstick.net
>