Essay on My New Compositional Approach
pedagogy and writing
A letter to a student, who yesterday, was first introduced to composition
Great lesson yesterday.
What I'd like you to do this week is work with the emotions wheel. I've attached 2 that are very different. You can do google searches to find many new and innovative approaches toward the wheel. Some may resonate better with you than others.
Here's the Goal: Start with your CORE emotions. (The inside emotions)
1. Improvise, thoughtfully. OR Improvise with whatever comes up quickly (first-thought). You can also just get out a blank piece of paper and jot down ideas in a format like, "F, Ab, C" while realives the burden writing on mansucript paper for now. You can also use symbols, stickers, etc. - whatever you respond to - just you just have to be able to recall what these things mean!
As you enter into the flow or the writing process, respond to what the emotion brings. This often requires meditation, but not always.
For example, some may have a very quick musical idea that comes to mind for happiness, while others will have to sit and meditate for 5 minutes before anything comes up. Don't judge this. Don't analyze this. Just let go and sit and wait.
The key is: to accept the experience, the time length, and how your body responds to the emotion - and then use your body and aural imagination (not your critical/analytical/judgemental mind) to respond and play something on the piano that conjures up the feeling.
2. Evaluate. Or not. You can leave this up to me at our next lesson. Evaluating isn't what you think. I could never say to you, "That chord you wrote for "Angry" is wrong because feelings are subjective. However, I can help you identify how closely your naming of an emotion corresponded with what you musically paired it with to. Often times, this portion of the teaching comes from what I call "Going To The Eye Doctor." I will play a series of examples, objectively and say "Is this closer to what you had in your mind or farther away?" When composers talk about revising, this is precisely what they are doing. The trick is, you CAN NOT revise and be in the creative flow state simultaneously or you will l literally end up becoming paralyzed compositionally. (This is why I dropped out of Grad School.)
I'm devising this methodology out of the need to solve my own problems. Many composers end up saying things like, "After I got my terminal degree from Yale, I had to re-learn everything." Charles Ives, for example, was one of them.
3. Be prepared for mental blocks. If an emotion isn't comfortable for you, try a memory; if a memory isn't working, try imaging a memory in the past, or future - "pretend." They key is, you can't give up. Never resort to "automatic piloting or formulaic writing. For example, "I can't think of anything that connects with what I'm trying to musically procure emotionally, so I'll just write down a few chords, patterns, things I knew from other pieces, counterpoint exercises, that I know will help me get through this measure. There is a composer named David Rakowski who teaches in Boston. Every time he spots these measures in his student's music, he uses his red stamp, and stamps "THIS SUCKS" on that measure. I've had correspondences without David and he is a very kind man; he's eccentric as all get out, but all of his teaching devices are well thought out.
3. How does theory play a role in all of this? For now, INTERVALS. Of course, there are so many other elements; like articulations, dynamics, register, orchestration, timbre, rhythm, etc) but we can not rush the process of re-learning. All re-learning happens at the paste of throwing away what you know, and looking at microscopically in its individual elements.
So for now, review all intervals (you can use teoria). As you play them, don't just rush through and intellectually try to remember or know what each one is. Deeply feel what each interval brings to you. For example, a minor 2nd should bring up different feelings than a Perfect 5th. Take note. Take a bit note. Write it down. Meditate on it. Breathe about it. Sit with it. DO NOT RUSH THIS PROCESS. You can even LABEL each emotionally, but know that once each intervals is placed into a context of other intervals, it's emotion will change! (Just like linguistics) As you construct chords or melodies, you can use intervals as your guide for expression. Do not be afraid to play these you've never heard before, never seen before, and never felt at a piano before. (For example, what if I started by playing a familiar chord like D minor. But, this isn't quite satisfying the emotional quotient of what I'm aiming. You might remember that minor 2nds sounded very "_____" for you. What if you tried incorporating a minor second into this 3-note chord? Experiment. Trial and Error and is just as valuable as any process, it just takes longer. But remember, time is a construct.
You have no deadline.
You have no nothing but yourself, your emotions, and the process of self-discovery.
Remember, music is about enrichment, fulfillment, and mindfulness.
5. There is a condition known as Alexithymia. It is essentially when a human cannot identify with their emotions. They literally can not put their feelings into words, no matter the modality being executed. In one of our last lessons when you explained "When I play the piano, I don't feel anything," I wondered if perhaps you had this; however, what we've found, is that you've just never had anyone connect the dots between your emotions/feelings and music. This is when music becomes a drug. (A good drug) And this is what I want for you.
Lastly, RECORD YOURSELF AT A PIANO, RECORD YOUR THOUGHTS (verbally talking out loud), through voice memos. Take note of which emotions immediately give you an idea, and which ones take more time to come to the surface. Maybe some will bring nothing. There's not right or wrong.
You do not need to notate anything (that's a whole different skill). But for recall, recording will work for now. Send me these. But be clear about the emotional state you are were aiming for, and also reflect verbally on how closely your musical statement resembles what's in your mind. It's okay not to get it exactly right the first time, or the second time, of the third time, you can search. Or, maybe the closest you can get is a 6/10. You may be surprised that some may come out a 10/10 right away.
Music was originally made for the expression of emotions, it was passed on aurally. Notation and theory came much later. What we are getting at is the primal aspects of "Why music exists in the first place" and in IMHO, music does not exist for the development of music (research), it exists for humans to express what is deep inside of them, sharing their life-experiences, thoughts, whimsies, loves, losses, and shared experiences which all lead to human connection.
Psychologists, Alfred Adler and William Glasser both believed that Community/Connection was the number one driving force behind every human's existence. I believe that this method that I'm creating will lead to a great realization of this. A greater connection to one's self, to others, and to the universe.
This is why while artists often lives in poverty, they are much richer than those who golf and own season tickets to the Broncos games.
Money? ha.
R