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In conversation with Karlheinz Stockhausen, referring to listening and composing he said, “We simply open up rather than create links between specific musical processes and certain feelings or states of being--sadness, joy, or wanting to dance. When that opening happens, one is modulated unceasingly by the music. Whether we are aware of this or not, we are modulated by a specific piece of music in a specific way.”
Composing asks for the craft to be honed to the point of it being a language with which one is completely comfortable. It is like learning a second language. You know when the language is part of your very nature when you begin to dream in all its nuances.
I adhere to this basic principle, as well as the one that calls for a quality of internal listening that knows when a seed of an idea has been planted. Once that seed is embodied, it is simply a matter of giving it the right climate of attention. One cannot manipulate that seed in someone else but a mentor can inquire into the most natural and finest way to draw out its innate quality of expression through composition.
This is what I listen for in myself and those students who approach me for composition sessions. |