It's not all that mysterious, when I come to think about it. But I still find it fascinating. Composers tend to take for granted the methods by which they come up with music, judging by my rather terrible luck at finding genuine articles on composition. They vary wildly, which doesn't help. My current music class is fairly representative: it runs from people who compose mainly by improvising at the piano, to people who can't play & rely entirely on communicating their musical 'vision' via the wonders of technology (http://www.sibelius.com). Both methods rely on this presence of a 'vision' or 'creative voice', though - if it's not particularly strong, they can fumble around for a while trying to find the best-sounding notes / chords, but if they have the knack, there's no fumbling involved: they know 'what's coming next', even if they can't describe it in words. Writing is in itself a fair analogy: you can't write without knowing what you're trying to say, and some are better at finding the best words to convey their ideas than others. Personally, it takes me many tries to work out what I am trying to say.
However -- and this part completely boggles me -- he's spoken of incidents where, once or twice, a piece has 'arrived', ready-composed, in his head. Every last note. This is much more than a simple flash of inspiration, of course. And I quote -- for I've run out of adequate words -- "My suspicion is that this music is coming from the same place or spiritual dimension that gave birth to the music I adore in other composers." [from here (http://www.howardgoodall.co.uk/biog/Articles%20Page.htm)] What makes it harder for me to explain is that I've experienced precisely the same, but to a much lesser extent, which is why he's a famous composer and I'm ... well, not. But I still have transcriptions of what arrived in my mind then -- and some of them, it struck me as soon as I listened to his 'Choral Works (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000063CX/ref=sr_aps_classical_1_1/026-2809152-6201207)', are almost echoes of small phrases in his music. It's like dreaming of places before you've ever been to them.
I'm actually going to cop out at this point and suggest to you this article (http://www.msteer.macunlimited.net/factual/creativoxframes.html), which I'm currently in the middle of. (Found after I'd written the first paragraph telling of my bad luck at finding good articles, of course.) It talks about the relationship between 'creative' and 'psychotic' voices (!) & reminds me of the typical 'if you hear voices, you're mad. But if you hear God, you're a prophet.' scenario.
I feel horrible for subjecting you to an entire mini-essay on the subject. (I have a sneaking feeling that it's going to be rewritten/expanded and actually posted elsewhere on the Internet. I simply have too many thoughts on the subject.) I can only hope it provides food for thought.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2003-05-04 05:34 pm (UTC)However -- and this part completely boggles me -- he's spoken of incidents where, once or twice, a piece has 'arrived', ready-composed, in his head. Every last note. This is much more than a simple flash of inspiration, of course. And I quote -- for I've run out of adequate words -- "My suspicion is that this music is coming from the same place or spiritual dimension that gave birth to the music I adore in other composers." [from here (http://www.howardgoodall.co.uk/biog/Articles%20Page.htm)] What makes it harder for me to explain is that I've experienced precisely the same, but to a much lesser extent, which is why he's a famous composer and I'm ... well, not. But I still have transcriptions of what arrived in my mind then -- and some of them, it struck me as soon as I listened to his 'Choral Works (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000063CX/ref=sr_aps_classical_1_1/026-2809152-6201207)', are almost echoes of small phrases in his music. It's like dreaming of places before you've ever been to them.
I'm actually going to cop out at this point and suggest to you this article (http://www.msteer.macunlimited.net/factual/creativoxframes.html), which I'm currently in the middle of. (Found after I'd written the first paragraph telling of my bad luck at finding good articles, of course.) It talks about the relationship between 'creative' and 'psychotic' voices (!) & reminds me of the typical 'if you hear voices, you're mad. But if you hear God, you're a prophet.' scenario.
I feel horrible for subjecting you to an entire mini-essay on the subject. (I have a sneaking feeling that it's going to be rewritten/expanded and actually posted elsewhere on the Internet. I simply have too many thoughts on the subject.) I can only hope it provides food for thought.
(Buy the book! *grin*)