Fw: Composition

----- Original Message -----
From: microstick@...<mailto:microstick@...>
To: makemicromusic@...<mailto:makemicromusic@...>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:43 AM
Subject: Composition

Chris Bailey just had a few suggestions for Gene, regarding possible ways to develop pieces. While I've not listened to Gene's piece, Chris's post made me think of a few things regarding composition, here's a few thoughts. First, if one wants to be a good/great composer, they should really study the art of composition, however they choose to do that. It's a very deep and profound art, and is not the same as having good technical chops on an instrument, or being a theorist about music or tunings. And studying certainly doesn't mean going to a conservatory necessarily, or having a degree...my teacher (George Keith) was big on analyzing pieces to see how they were constructed technically, and for many years I've done just that, regardless of style. Whether I'm playing Bach or Merle Haggard, I know how a song is constructed, from the ground up, and it's really helped me get a handle on ideas for my own compositions.
And needless to say, there are many different kinds of compositions, from simple folksongs to orchestral masterworks, and being good at one style of writing doesn't necessarily guarantee success in another. Plus, a great "pop" tune (and by that I mean non symphonic writing, as a sort of general idea), even though it may be only a few minutes long, can be just as profound and meaningful as a long symphonic work, no doubt about it. Hank Williams, Willie Dixon, Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Hendrix, and many others wrote relatively short works, for the most part, but the essence of genius is often there, which is all I care about. I always tell my students, "make my hair stand up," and I don't care how they do it...but, and this is the most important part of composition, in my opinion...there has to be, at the end of the day, a meaningful emotional/spiritual statement communicated to me, the listener, or it's all for naught. Technical brilliance is great, but may not often move me on a human level.
I recently did a gig where the difference between technical proficiency and a lack of compositional skills was very obvious...I played a fretless guitar festival in NYC, and man, the guys playing there were all technically very advanced; there were a zillion notes played, a lot of them very fast. But, I didn't hear much in the way of good songwriting to support all of those notes (and there were a few exceptions).
In fact, the guitar, overall, has turned into sort of a "macho" axe, with fast and technically complex playing substituting for any sort of compositional depth or expression...and it bores the hell out of me.
And at the same time, the proliferation of home recording studios, which often can sound very good for a minimum of $$$, has enabled lots of folks to make recordings in a very inexpensive way, so just about anybody who wants to can produce a good sounding CD. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that the compositional quality has gone up. And when people can refer to rapper 50 Cent as a "genius," which I recently saw, you know we're in trouble.
I would encourage anybody who wants to compose to go for it, of course. And, fact is, many composers did not formally study at any sort of school; they had a gift, and went for it. Bach didn't finish college, but spent a lot of time analyzing scores from other composers, often rewriting them for his own purposes. And, Hank's life was his school...he just had a gift for lyrics and melody, and was able to communicate the deepest emotions in a 3 minute tune. Jeez, it's an incredibly huge subject, but a composition, in the final analysis, should tell a story, and communicate something of depth. And however one does that is fine with me. As I study music from around the world, I am flabbergasted at the range of ideas and techniques I come across; there's many ways to get a musical idea across. And, as a final thought, and I KNOW this is just one man's opinion: I believe that being a composer is, for the most part, some sort of gift from the Universe. Yes, it can be studied and worked on, but I believe a great composer already has the essential ingredients inside them, and just needs to learn how to develop it. And many of the composers I've studied over the years bear this out. No way to prove this, of course, and I'm not trying to...just an observation...best...Hstick

myspace.com/microstick microstick.net guitar9.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Great comments Neil, worth quoting in their entirety. -C.

PS- Will someone post a review of the fretless fest?

> Chris Bailey just had a few suggestions for Gene, regarding
>possible ways to develop pieces. While I've not listened to Gene's
>piece, Chris's post made me think of a few things regarding
>composition, here's a few thoughts. First, if one wants to be a
>good/great composer, they should really study the art of composition,
>however they choose to do that. It's a very deep and profound art, and
>is not the same as having good technical chops on an instrument, or
>being a theorist about music or tunings. And studying certainly
>doesn't mean going to a conservatory necessarily, or having a
>degree...my teacher (George Keith) was big on analyzing pieces to see
>how they were constructed technically, and for many years I've done
>just that, regardless of style. Whether I'm playing Bach or Merle
>Haggard, I know how a song is constructed, from the ground up, and
>it's really helped me get a handle on ideas for my own compositions.
> And needless to say, there are many different kinds of
>compositions, from simple folksongs to orchestral masterworks, and
>being good at one style of writing doesn't necessarily guarantee
>success in another. Plus, a great "pop" tune (and by that I mean non
>symphonic writing, as a sort of general idea), even though it may be
>only a few minutes long, can be just as profound and meaningful as a
>long symphonic work, no doubt about it. Hank Williams, Willie Dixon,
>Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Hendrix, and many others wrote relatively
>short works, for the most part, but the essence of genius is often
>there, which is all I care about. I always tell my students, "make my
>hair stand up," and I don't care how they do it...but, and this is the
>most important part of composition, in my opinion...there has to be,
>at the end of the day, a meaningful emotional/spiritual statement
>communicated to me, the listener, or it's all for naught. Technical
>brilliance is great, but may not often move me on a human level.
> I recently did a gig where the difference between technical
>proficiency and a lack of compositional skills was very obvious...I
>played a fretless guitar festival in NYC, and man, the guys playing
>there were all technically very advanced; there were a zillion notes
>played, a lot of them very fast. But, I didn't hear much in the way of
>good songwriting to support all of those notes (and there were a few
>exceptions).
>In fact, the guitar, overall, has turned into sort of a "macho" axe,
>with fast and technically complex playing substituting for any sort of
>compositional depth or expression...and it bores the hell out of me.
> And at the same time, the proliferation of home recording studios,
>which often can sound very good for a minimum of $$$, has enabled lots
>of folks to make recordings in a very inexpensive way, so just about
>anybody who wants to can produce a good sounding CD. But, that doesn't
>necessarily mean that the compositional quality has gone up. And when
>people can refer to rapper 50 Cent as a "genius," which I recently
>saw, you know we're in trouble.
> I would encourage anybody who wants to compose to go for it, of
>course. And, fact is, many composers did not formally study at any
>sort of school; they had a gift, and went for it. Bach didn't finish
>college, but spent a lot of time analyzing scores from other
>composers, often rewriting them for his own purposes. And, Hank's life
>was his school...he just had a gift for lyrics and melody, and was
>able to communicate the deepest emotions in a 3 minute tune. Jeez,
>it's an incredibly huge subject, but a composition, in the final
>analysis, should tell a story, and communicate something of depth. And
>however one does that is fine with me. As I study music from around
>the world, I am flabbergasted at the range of ideas and techniques I
>come across; there's many ways to get a musical idea across. And, as a
>final thought, and I KNOW this is just one man's opinion: I believe
>that being a composer is, for the most part, some sort of gift from
>the Universe. Yes, it can be studied and worked on, but I believe a
>great composer already has the essential ingredients inside them, and
>just needs to learn how to develop it. And many of the composers I've
>studied over the years bear this out. No way to prove this, of course,
>and I'm not trying to...just an observation...best...Hstick

nice post Neil, your writing is always such an easy read. Anyway, like
yourself, I like about a zillion different players and musics. And
oftentimes ,if you take these things in a sort of vacuum, the things
that make one work can seem so at odds with the things that make
another tick... but i think the thing that i'm always drawn to is
people that can put a piece together and make it their own. After all,
skill, or technique ,seems to me entirely dependant on expressing
something "special" in this way. And that special place, while of
course wildly subjective, is to mind the measure of the success with
which one has applied their skills. And, at least to my mind, if you
can't pull a piece together with something to say, all the mechanical
and theoretical dexterity in the world isn't going to amount to much.

http://www.myspace.com/danstearns

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, <microstick@...> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: microstick@...<mailto:microstick@...>
> To: makemicromusic@...<mailto:makemicromusic@...>
> Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 10:43 AM
> Subject: Composition
>
>
> Chris Bailey just had a few suggestions for Gene, regarding
possible ways to develop pieces. While I've not listened to Gene's
piece, Chris's post made me think of a few things regarding
composition, here's a few thoughts. First, if one wants to be a
good/great composer, they should really study the art of composition,
however they choose to do that. It's a very deep and profound art, and
is not the same as having good technical chops on an instrument, or
being a theorist about music or tunings. And studying certainly
doesn't mean going to a conservatory necessarily, or having a
degree...my teacher (George Keith) was big on analyzing pieces to see
how they were constructed technically, and for many years I've done
just that, regardless of style. Whether I'm playing Bach or Merle
Haggard, I know how a song is constructed, from the ground up, and
it's really helped me get a handle on ideas for my own compositions.
> And needless to say, there are many different kinds of
compositions, from simple folksongs to orchestral masterworks, and
being good at one style of writing doesn't necessarily guarantee
success in another. Plus, a great "pop" tune (and by that I mean non
symphonic writing, as a sort of general idea), even though it may be
only a few minutes long, can be just as profound and meaningful as a
long symphonic work, no doubt about it. Hank Williams, Willie Dixon,
Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Hendrix, and many others wrote relatively
short works, for the most part, but the essence of genius is often
there, which is all I care about. I always tell my students, "make my
hair stand up," and I don't care how they do it...but, and this is the
most important part of composition, in my opinion...there has to be,
at the end of the day, a meaningful emotional/spiritual statement
communicated to me, the listener, or it's all for naught. Technical
brilliance is great, but may not often move me on a human level.
> I recently did a gig where the difference between technical
proficiency and a lack of compositional skills was very obvious...I
played a fretless guitar festival in NYC, and man, the guys playing
there were all technically very advanced; there were a zillion notes
played, a lot of them very fast. But, I didn't hear much in the way of
good songwriting to support all of those notes (and there were a few
exceptions).
> In fact, the guitar, overall, has turned into sort of a "macho" axe,
with fast and technically complex playing substituting for any sort of
compositional depth or expression...and it bores the hell out of me.
> And at the same time, the proliferation of home recording
studios, which often can sound very good for a minimum of $$$, has
enabled lots of folks to make recordings in a very inexpensive way, so
just about anybody who wants to can produce a good sounding CD. But,
that doesn't necessarily mean that the compositional quality has gone
up. And when people can refer to rapper 50 Cent as a "genius," which I
recently saw, you know we're in trouble.
> I would encourage anybody who wants to compose to go for it, of
course. And, fact is, many composers did not formally study at any
sort of school; they had a gift, and went for it. Bach didn't finish
college, but spent a lot of time analyzing scores from other
composers, often rewriting them for his own purposes. And, Hank's life
was his school...he just had a gift for lyrics and melody, and was
able to communicate the deepest emotions in a 3 minute tune. Jeez,
it's an incredibly huge subject, but a composition, in the final
analysis, should tell a story, and communicate something of depth. And
however one does that is fine with me. As I study music from around
the world, I am flabbergasted at the range of ideas and techniques I
come across; there's many ways to get a musical idea across. And, as a
final thought, and I KNOW this is just one man's opinion: I believe
that being a composer is, for the most part, some sort of gift from
the Universe. Yes, it can be studied and worked on, but I believe a
great composer already has the essential ingredients inside them, and
just needs to learn how to develop it. And many of the composers I've
studied over the years bear this out. No way to prove this, of course,
and I'm not trying to...just an observation...best...Hstick
>
>
> myspace.com/microstick microstick.net guitar9.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Dan,

{you wrote...}
>And, at least to my mind, if you can't pull a piece together with something to say, all the mechanical and theoretical dexterity in the world isn't going to amount to much.

"it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

- Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"

Cheers,
Jon

" There are no great books without great readers" -Nabokov