Am I a Composer?
So this morning I realized that I LOVE putting "Composer" as my occupation on the numerous Customs forms I fill out when visiting Tortola, BVI. I write it in, even when weeks might pass in between composing activities (other than thinking, does that count?). Or maybe the short session I had with my niece Emily in her parents' room at the rental villa counts, where we looked at and listened to several rounds she has been composing; this was spurred by my own project writing rounds apparently, including trying to write rounds in Medieval Modes like Lydian. She was trying a particularly thorny mode with a half step as its first interval, and 2 major thirds in odd places, a middle-eastern scale of some sort most probably.
It was great fun to see how she was going about the process of working on rounds. They require lots of creative problem-solving which is a blast, basically. Changing a note early on in the round has ramifications later on as you can imagine, but hearing it actually happen means that you then have to change about a zillion other notes... And I learned something, too, from Emily. Why not have the second part that comes in imitate the first part initially, and then branch out? And why not, indeed! It is a lovely effect.
Soon I'll edit these posts to add pictures of the sheet music if I can. And I wish I could add links to mp3's. I'll see if there is any capability for that...
So back to whether I am a composer. Yes! Of course I am, because in my heart that is how I see myself. Even though right now most of my time is taken up with: Cooking, Preparing vegetables for salads and crudites, Assisting my husband Bear with our tax strategies business, Doing laundry, and Exercising. This morning I could feel the palpable Urge To Compose coming upon me. The Celebration of the Deep is calling, and I'm just about ready to meet it at my computer and open my mind and heart to the universe where all the wonderful creative solutions to various sorts of musical problems seems to come from. I find myself worrying about how much work it will be, hard work, and also how immersed in it I will get, so that everything else will be forgotten and ignored, perhaps for days on end, maybe for only one day. But what happens is that eventually the Urge to Compose overcomes all obstacles, and I jump in. Wish me luck.
It was great fun to see how she was going about the process of working on rounds. They require lots of creative problem-solving which is a blast, basically. Changing a note early on in the round has ramifications later on as you can imagine, but hearing it actually happen means that you then have to change about a zillion other notes... And I learned something, too, from Emily. Why not have the second part that comes in imitate the first part initially, and then branch out? And why not, indeed! It is a lovely effect.
Soon I'll edit these posts to add pictures of the sheet music if I can. And I wish I could add links to mp3's. I'll see if there is any capability for that...
So back to whether I am a composer. Yes! Of course I am, because in my heart that is how I see myself. Even though right now most of my time is taken up with: Cooking, Preparing vegetables for salads and crudites, Assisting my husband Bear with our tax strategies business, Doing laundry, and Exercising. This morning I could feel the palpable Urge To Compose coming upon me. The Celebration of the Deep is calling, and I'm just about ready to meet it at my computer and open my mind and heart to the universe where all the wonderful creative solutions to various sorts of musical problems seems to come from. I find myself worrying about how much work it will be, hard work, and also how immersed in it I will get, so that everything else will be forgotten and ignored, perhaps for days on end, maybe for only one day. But what happens is that eventually the Urge to Compose overcomes all obstacles, and I jump in. Wish me luck.
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