I think my greatest strength as a composer is my ability to compose intuitively and rapidly very fresh ideas. I wrote Rapid in two days. I wrote Two Part Invention in D Major in two days. I wrote Fugue Around C in about two or three days. And all of these went completely left to right in the compositional process, just rattling something off from beginning to end. This can create a weakness, but that's later.
Another strength is my ability to take honest criticism. I love it when people bash my stuff and tell me in detail what doesn't work for them. Everybody's comments (so long as they are made intelligently) always means a lot to me. It's unfortunate that a lot of people don't realize this. A lot of times I have people listen to what I write because, yes, I want them to like it, but also I want them to tell me what they don't like. But many people either "don't want to offend me" or are too flabbergasted by what I wrote and think "what right to I have to criticize? I could never do that" or whatever else, and so they just feed me a bunch of empty compliments. That's not what I'm looking for.
Another strength I have is the ability to compose in my head directly on to paper without needing to plunk it out on a piano or Finale. This is less true than it used to be since Finale has now spoiled me, but it's still pretty true.
My greatest strength is also a weakness because in being able to write so well intuitively, I hardly ever have any focus on an overall form. Maybe in movements I'll know I want a fast part, then slow, then fast, but within a piece, I'll hardly ever think "oh, let's put a 7-part rondo here", or "Sonata form seems to be a good idea this morning."
Another weakness is that when I get stuck, I really get stuck. I'll rattle off 100 measures in a day, and then suddenly it'll take me another month to finish the last 10 measures.
I also still feel really behind when it comes to composing in general. There's so much that I see out there that composers of the past and of the present have achieved that I only wish I could achieve. Maybe someday I will, but I rather foolishly wish I had that ability now.
I've always let myself experiment with different instrumentation and textures, and this term was no exception. I like writing for various media, and through this exploration, I've discovered more about what media I feel comfortable writing in and what media I don't feel comfortable writing in. The uncomfortable stuff will hopefully change in time.
I also do not feel comfortable with writing with lyrics becuse I tend to think too much about it. I want the music to reflect the lyrics, so I'll carry all this mental baggage around - "How can I get every word of the text to fit the music, or vice versa?" This is a good thing to a degree, but I take it to an extreme so that I just don't know where to begin with lyrics at all.
I've also grown as a composer this term just in being more aware of what can be done. I'm not sure how else to explain that.
I got myself exposed to a lot more music. Not just "modern" or whatever you want to call it from your listening assignments and also from the Orchestra 2001 concerts I went to, but also from being in Music History and listening more closely to Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc. and actually getting into the meat of their compositional process. Also in Counterpoint class we went over J.S. Bach's Inventions and Fugues in detail, and also some other modern forms of counterpoint, such as the Fugue from Samuel Barber's Sonata for Piano, Op. 26.
Going through all of this made me a lot more respectful of music of all genres and time periods, where before I only had a vague interest. I am now less biased towards 20th Century style, and I appreciate the baroque, classic, and romantic periods a lot more.
Also, I've gotten a little bit more into Industrial/Heavy/Techno stuff. In the past couple months, the only CDs I've really bought and listened to have either been "classical" (as in from the classical section, not necessariliy of the true "classical" period), or industrial/techno. The manipulation of sounds and samples in truly artistics industrial groups like The Future Sound of London or Delerium really intruige me now, and so I've been trying to explore new groups of that genre, and the more I find the right CDs, the more I get into it.
The answer I had here is not really valid any more... it referred to another page of my web site that no longer exists.
I'm not sure how I can answer this. My music is very varied, and I don't know if I should stop and figure out if I should specialize in something. I don't think I could be a strict minimalist like La Monte Young was... I could kind of picture myself doing what Steve Reich or John Adams does: taking the foundations of minimalism and then mutating it, warping it into something of my own. But i'm not sure how happy I'd be just doing that.
I think that if chamber works is considered a direction, that'd be mine. I feel more attune with a small group of people than I do with a large group. I feel like I can "control" more with a small group and get them all into my music a lot more, and that control is ultimately more powerful to me than a big sound I can get out of a large band or orchestra.
I've been tinkering around for a few years about trying to put an industrial group together, or being an industrial band by myself, just creating some hard hitting complex angry industrial music. When i get my own system, that may become more of a realistic goal, but especially in the midst of school and other things, that is definitely just a consideration right now and not a pursuit.
-97 May