Composers Forum

I think that there is a problem with the tone of the study. It seems to me to be saying “Composers aren’t producing enough.” And, if held to the standards of composers 200 years ago, that might be correct. Mozart had many fundamental stylistic decisions already made for him. Today we don’t have that same language background. Two pieces of mine might share some traits but the language can be radically different from one to the next. If Mozart had to reinvent his pitch language every time he sat down I bet he wouldn’t have written so much.

Also, the majority of “professional composers” in the US are most likely holding faculty jobs. Composition makes up a smaller percentage of their time than teaching and administrivia. Add in the copying and marketing hours necessary in today’s musical climate and you have even fewer hours to write music. If Mozart had to teach full time, maintain a web site, oversee recordings of his music, as well as seek funding sources for his output, he might not have written so many operas.

So, in a way I understand what the study is saying. On the other hand, though, we have a lot of additional responsibilities that cut into our time. While I don’t always get a chance to put something down on paper my brain is constantly composing. I think many others are the same way. We compose all the time.

Jay: I agree with you that Dennis gives a slight impression of being a bit obsessed with productivity. As to Mozart I believe Mozart did not have a website, but he did have to spend a lot of time selling himself, and he did teach.

Furthermore, I’m always skeptical about any ‘language’ argument, but that’s because I feel composers today too easily confuse the notions of language, vocabulary/”style” and structure/form. “Language” in music I think is largely a question of how you hear things less than of how you construct things. One doesn’t really with every work fundamentally re-design the way one might hear it, even if you do change, say, pitch structures, forms, or your gestural vocabulary. In that sense, I think it’s extremely rare for any composer to change language more than say four of five times in the course of a life. (I could say that Cage for example went from expressionist to percussive to neoclassical to pointilist to happenings to, er, OK, I’ll call the post-Cheap Imitation bit postmodern – his career in a mere five “to”s! oh drat, and then there’s those “new-age”-y number pieces. Six, then?)

Then, it’s also a question of what level of musical you look at – the variety in the kinds of gesture, in “style”, you can find in Mozart, on just about every level, is incredible, and in many of his pieces hardly anything is quite done in some one-size-fits-all way. Think merely of the last 2 symphonies. At best you might put the whole thing together vaguely describing the language as “high classical style” or whatever.

Correction:

” “Language” in music I think is largely a question of how you hear things less than of how you construct things.”

makes no sense – should be “more than…” of course!

Anonymous wrote:

“(b) Ff the main source of your income is something other than composing, like teaching, then are you really a “professional composer”? (c) Given the negligible amount of money even potentially available to composers of serious music, is “professional” really a useful distinction?”

I know many instrumentalists who perform in all sorts of ensembles but their main income comes from their teaching posts at a university – are you saying that they aren’t professional instrumentalists because they teach?

I’m sure we could have a debate about what a professional composer is…someone told me once that if someone else wants to pay you for writing music for them (or pay you for music you’ve already written), then you’re a professsional composer. Sounds as good as anything else I’ve heard. In any case, how one brings in their income (or even how much that income is) shouldn’t matter squat. What do you have to say with your music? That might mean a bit more…

BTW – Jerry’s already mentioned that he’d prefer to not have (intentionally) anonymous postings here.

I guess I’m in the minority. Composing for me, while I do take it “seriously,” is essentially a diversion from performing. Given unlimited time and money, I would probably produce the same amount of music and it would be of lesser quality.