Gems of Compositional Wisdom

klangumsetzer · Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 5:22 am Post subject:

hello,

i wanted to share this:

1. How to be direct with what one has to say and to say that with genuine gestures

On the other hand

2. The need for restraint. To withdraw if necessary and ask one’s listeners to follow.
To distinguish this restraint from emotional inhibition.

3. Not to be puritanical but to love life and give expression to it.

4. The necessity for clarity. To tear the waste away and to be economical.

5. Not to accept the easy, immediate solutions but to wrestle with the material and uncover its essence.

6. Not to stifle one’s intuition but to allow fantasy free play; to let intelligence be servant.

7. Always to be active to what’s new in the world but to accept innovation strictly on one’s own terms.

8. Of the privilige but also the responsibility of being a composer.

Ronald Tremain on ’Lessons I’ve learnt from Douglas Lilburn…’ (1980)

best regards

eike
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mosc · Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 1:35 pm Post subject:

I don't know why I forgot to post this before. I heard some composer/teacher at Berkeley (California) say this:

Always twice, never thrice.

That is a great thing to remember. Of course there is a style in music that repeats things ad infinitum. While I accept that style, it's not for me.

nobody · Joined: Mar 09, 2008 Posts: 1687 Location: Not here

Interesting you mention that, Howard, because my lyric structures in the album I'm currently working on tend to have a refrain that appears only twice. Sometimes it gets repeated one more time at the end, but that's more of a musical than a lyrical gesture.

Guess I don't want to make it old by too much repetition. Guess I don't want to make it old by too much repetition. Guess I don't want to make it old by too much repetition.