In Praise of Debussy (Musical Energy: Register)

Claude Debussy pioneered the world of sound in western classical music, and I revere him as the head of the sound-as-such movement that includes Varèse, Ligeti, and many, many recent composers. In this post, I’ll explore a single piece of Debussy’s, focussing narrowly on one aspect of the piece to demonstrate how he created music using… Continue reading In Praise of Debussy (Musical Energy: Register)

Musical Energy: Horizontal Density

An important, time-honored way to increase the energy of music is by speeding up.  Of course, speeding up the tempo, the speed of the beat, is a very familiar means of doing so. I want to explore a larger concept here, horizontal density, which refers to the number of events per unit of time. Events… Continue reading Musical Energy: Horizontal Density

Grateful for Being Noticed

This spring I was awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to support my workshop, Just Listening. It matters deeply to be noticed, recognized for what one does. I’ve been working on a new venture for several years now, always returning to the idea that I am bringing an experience of value to others.… Continue reading Grateful for Being Noticed

Energy Words

We know immediately if a word describes high energy or low energy: for example, lethargic instantaneously suggests low energy. It also immediately implies musical factors: slow tempo, low volume, probably not high-pitched. Doesn’t this tell us a lot about our everyday language and its implications for the analysis of musical energy? Another word that comes… Continue reading Energy Words

Following the Need

The Just Listening workshop began as an attempt to promote the analytical practice I call the Sound-Energy Aggregate. At a time of great distress about my own future, having had most of my teaching cut one fall, I reached out to a career coach to get help in developing a way to promote the SEA.… Continue reading Following the Need

Melody as relationship

One of the most simple, yet striking realizations to come from the SEA theory is the fact that melody is a relationship. It’s so often talked of as all about the pitches, what they convey, and that’s not wrong. Many point to the value of rhythm – Ornette Coleman’s saying that rhythm is like oxygen… Continue reading Melody as relationship

Roots

I recently wrote about meta-composing, a path combining many threads of my experience as a musical thinker, composer, and teacher. Funny how things settle into our minds. That seemed, and is, a major realization, a turning point in my compositional career and life. After I posted that, a college classmate and fellow Governor’s School of North Carolina… Continue reading Roots

Musical Energy: Dynamics

One of the most important means of altering the energy of music is by means of dynamics. Officially known as loudness, or sound pressure level, this acoustical fact can be measured accurately and expressed in decibels (dB): perception of loudness is a fundamental aspect of our hearing. Accomplished at the very first stage of the… Continue reading Musical Energy: Dynamics

Musical Energy: Harmony

By now, I’ve written in the blog rather often about the Sound-Energy Aggregate, or SEA theory. The basic premise is that many musical factors, or parameters, are involved in creating the acoustical information that our brains process. The theory holds that any musical factor can create energy that changes over time, and that all musical… Continue reading Musical Energy: Harmony

Meta-composing

I have had a rupture in my composing life that spans the pandemic, but I couldn’t say that the pandemic is the cause.  On March 1 of 2020, I enacted a pre-premiere, a “dry run” of a piece whose premiere would end up being postponed for two years, Groundhog Night (the link here is to… Continue reading Meta-composing