Simon, I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping that further instalments in this series will be accompanied by sound files, so that, particularly for the benefit of those of us not blessed with perfect pitch, your darlings can have one final flutter in soundwave form…
A very interesting post, Simon, that raises all sorts of points. I think it is crucial to think about what being a composer means and perhaps especially if, like me (and many others), you are not represented by a major publisher or agent and your career doesn’t have a self-sustaining momentum. How do we define success, how much of our time should we devote to composing, should we be ‘churning out’ endless new pieces or reworking/reconfiguring old ones to suit different projects? For me, as long as I’m still hustling for performances then I’m still in the game even if I may not be writing as much music (and composing as often) as I’d like. But I was also interested in your approach to old pieces – it’s certainly a brave one and I’m not sure I could do it myself although I may have a clear out of some sketches soon. I am certainly thinking of cannibalising and recycling old pieces though – ones that have had shorter lives then Meditation No. 3 – seeing if I can use their materials in quite literal form without any disguise. I look forward to future articles in this series.
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Simon, I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping that further instalments in this series will be accompanied by sound files, so that, particularly for the benefit of those of us not blessed with perfect pitch, your darlings can have one final flutter in soundwave form…
i did think about that. We’ll see.
A very interesting post, Simon, that raises all sorts of points. I think it is crucial to think about what being a composer means and perhaps especially if, like me (and many others), you are not represented by a major publisher or agent and your career doesn’t have a self-sustaining momentum. How do we define success, how much of our time should we devote to composing, should we be ‘churning out’ endless new pieces or reworking/reconfiguring old ones to suit different projects? For me, as long as I’m still hustling for performances then I’m still in the game even if I may not be writing as much music (and composing as often) as I’d like. But I was also interested in your approach to old pieces – it’s certainly a brave one and I’m not sure I could do it myself although I may have a clear out of some sketches soon. I am certainly thinking of cannibalising and recycling old pieces though – ones that have had shorter lives then Meditation No. 3 – seeing if I can use their materials in quite literal form without any disguise. I look forward to future articles in this series.