I think my biggest strength has to do with my resources and how much I draw from all of them. My music tastes are so diverse - ranging from rap to heavy metal to classical to jazz - and all of those things influence my compositional voice in some way. It makes for an interesting hybrid.
Another strength is my continuing hunger to discover new things. I like to think that my method of composition is brave. I like to experiment with new types of complexities in structure, line, rhythms, timbres. When I get done a piece, it's done. I want to move on to something else, try out the next new idea. I try not to get stuck on one type of sound or technique.
I have a strong balance between my intuitive and intellectual methods of composing - I use some twelve-tone techniques, some purely improvisational techniques. I also compose in a wide variety of styles. I am writing "serious" works to add to my portfolio, but I also involve myself heavily in drum line writing, and I'm also currently involved with a software company, making music for some of their video games.
Finally, I feel like I have an excellent sense of flow and pacing in my works. I'm not sure how else to explain that.
One of my biggest weaknesses, which I'm slowly fixing, is that I'll write some music, and then I'll get really stuck on how that music sounds... in other words, I stop being able to look at it objectively to make revisions or changes. I look back at some old unfinished projects, and I know that there are ways to make them better - but I'm so used to how it sounds in my head that I don't know where to begin any changes.
Sometimes my intuitive sense of composition gets me in trouble - I'll spout out a bunch of measures and they'll be sporadic, unfocused, and young. And since it can be a chore to try to focus that material, I'll give up on it easily, which I find an immature attitude.
I can get so stuck sometimes. I'll write myself into a corner, or use some kind of process that makes it hard for me find the right notes, and it could be weeks before I finally find my way out of the rut. I revised the fourth movement of Desert Scultptures eight or so times. Each time I started with the same roots and tried to develop it, and each time it would fail. It took me more time to write those sixty or so measures than it did for me to write the two hundred measures of the last movement. It was frustrating.
My moods and discipline for composition can come and go. I try to fix this by involving myself in as many projects as possible... I may have one main project that is priority, but i always have some kind of back up to fall upon if I start getting tired of the main project but want to stay productive.
The biggest growth is no doubt my confidence. I used to feel so behind in composition, especially because I started as a major so late. That isn't the case anymore. Now, I know that I'm a pretty damn good composer. I'm not cocky about it... I just accept it. And sometimes when I forget, I'll think back to my senior recital and remind myself how respected I am as a composer by my friends, family, and mentors.
I still have a lot to learn, however. I hope i never stop learning. There are still some compositional insecurities i have to battle, both in writing for certain media as well as my interacting skills with performers, both as a composer and a conductor.
Strangely enough, my listening spectrum seems to have limited itself a bit whereas before it continued to expand. I think that while I still am eager to go out and find new music, there is music I used to listen to that I no longer connect with. Which is a sad in a way, but i don't look back upon it. I just move ahead enthusiastically to new music I want to discover.
More than anything else I listen to contemporary classical. Out of the last twenty or so CDs I've bought, I'd say that fifteen of them are contemporary classical... i bought three new Steve Reich CDs, a Partch CD, two CDs of Ligeti, one by Ingram Marshall, some Messaien.
Below that comes rap, industrial/techno, and heavy metal. Discovering Busta Rhymes was a great discovery. He is a brilliant artist, lyricist, and performer. There's a great sense of energy that comes out of his music. As for industrial/techno, there is no surprise there as electronic music and manipulation of sound timbres continues to fascinate me, especially when so well crafted by the likes of the Future Sound of London, Nine Inch Nails, or David Bowie. And heavy metal? I've come to the conclusion that it's much easier to find a truly musical heavy metal group than a pop group. At least to my tastes. In one of my twentieth century music classes, we talked about the balance between giving the audience what is expected and what is not expected, and i find a lot of that in the heavy metal I listen to. That, and it's great for letting out my aggression.
When I go to a music store to buy CDs, I usually like to buy something from the classical section and a heavy metal, rap, or industrial/techno CD at the same time just to make the clerk wonder. Don't know if it ever works or not.
I'm starting to take my current electronic music project very seriously. I want to do that wind ensemble piece.
I also have a strong urge to do some work for voice. I don't have anything in my portfolio at all for voice. I'm not that great at it, and I'd like practice in it.
It's funny. When i answered this question the first time I was still exploring and discovering my voice. So i said that my music could have gone anywhere. I guess in a way that's still true, but I'm sure that anyone who knows my music can find something about it and say, "Yeah, that sounds like Mendel." Especially my recent stuff.
It's no surprise that I like complicated rhythms, and somehow that finds its way into all of my music, whether fast-paced or slow-moving. I think the world would turn upside-down if i ever made a work that was rhythmically completely straightforward. Maybe someday I'll make one, just to prove that I can.
eh. maybe not.