the composers intent

Well, on this I guess I am of a different mind than Kraig. I really
like Kraig's music, and I guess that his credo works well for him. When I
write music, something just comes to me at once and I write it down or
record a sketch that helps me recreate the whole later on. Sometimes I
just hear a piece for years before I write something down. I never set out
to write something specific because I am not an "active" composer. But I
am an active player, and I played jazz professionally for many years.
The most gratifying and exciting musical experiences of my life
have been either playing free form music that magically came together in a
structured and engaged co-creativity between me and other musicians, or
in taking huge liberties with a piece of music and having it coalesce into
something entirely other than the piece we set out to play. I have a
feeling that most jazz composers do not feel that players are dishonoring
their intentions when wild improvisation takes a piece to a new place.
That is the nature of the beast.
On the other hand, if I am recording a pop song and I have a
strong idea of how it should be played, and I am the group leader, I make
damn sure that the parts I have in mind are executed to the best of
the player's ability. However, if someone picks up one of my pieces and
gives it a different twist, I am seldom insulted.
I _can_ see, however, how a composer could write a piece that is
to be played exactly one way, from which any deviation is completely
inappropriate. Certainly there are pieces whose inner logic _demands_
strict adherence to the directions of the composer. But I don't write that
way, and neither does most of the musical world. Most music in the world
accepts, to a greater or lesser degree, interpretation by the performer.
It is a flexible and living thing, and different cultures and traditions
have different ways of dealing with performance. There are many ways of
making music, and I think the discounting of musical experimentation on
the pieces of others is an unfortunate myopia.

John Starrett
http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/microtone.html

John !
I pretty much write the same way as you and I might borrow or rearrange
something of my own works in a dozens of ways, its just I am entitled to that
freedom with the things given me, no one else. I actually have one piece that
can be played in any 12 tone constant structure. Lou harrison is the best
example of someone who has written pieces in his pelog but allows it to be
performed in any similar pelog. If a work was created with this freedom in
mind go ahead I have no objections!

John Starrett wrote:

> From: John Starrett <jstarret@math.cudenver.edu>
>
> Well, on this I guess I am of a different mind than Kraig. I really
> like Kraig's music, and I guess that his credo works well for him. When I
> write music, something just comes to me at once and I write it down or
> record a sketch that helps me recreate the whole later on. Sometimes I
> just hear a piece for years before I write something down. I never set out
> to write something specific because I am not an "active" composer. But I
> am an active player, and I played jazz professionally for many years.
> The most gratifying and exciting musical experiences of my life
> have been either playing free form music that magically came together in a
> structured and engaged co-creativity between me and other musicians, or
> in taking huge liberties with a piece of music and having it coalesce into
> something entirely other than the piece we set out to play. I have a
> feeling that most jazz composers do not feel that players are dishonoring
> their intentions when wild improvisation takes a piece to a new place.
> That is the nature of the beast.
> On the other hand, if I am recording a pop song and I have a
> strong idea of how it should be played, and I am the group leader, I make
> damn sure that the parts I have in mind are executed to the best of
> the player's ability. However, if someone picks up one of my pieces and
> gives it a different twist, I am seldom insulted.
> I _can_ see, however, how a composer could write a piece that is
> to be played exactly one way, from which any deviation is completely
> inappropriate. Certainly there are pieces whose inner logic _demands_
> strict adherence to the directions of the composer. But I don't write that
> way, and neither does most of the musical world. Most music in the world
> accepts, to a greater or lesser degree, interpretation by the performer.
> It is a flexible and living thing, and different cultures and traditions
> have different ways of dealing with performance. There are many ways of
> making music, and I think the discounting of musical experimentation on
> the pieces of others is an unfortunate myopia.
>
> John Starrett
> http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/microtone.html

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com