This is how my mind works.
A friend attending a concert tonight posts a picture of a (living) composer giving a talk before/after this particular concert and mentions their name: John Adams.
I just happen to know or believe that I vaguely remember there are two composers (living) having that name. One of whom I like and have more than a few CDs of various orchestras playing his music (such as, “The Chairman Dances” and “Nixon in China”, etc.)
This then leads me into confirming that, yes, indeed, there is a second John Adams (actually, he goes by “John Luther Adams”), and is in the same age range, one being born in 1947, and JLA, born in 1953. I’m not familiar with this second composer, but, apparently (according to Wikipedia), he is a Pulitzer winning composer, for his “Become Ocean” orchestral work, in 2014.
While reading about this gentleman, the Wikipedia article lists about fifty pieces of music he’s composed. And, that amazes me. Don’t know why it does, but, I think it’s because the sheer quantity surprised me. Without giving previous thought to it, the number impresses me for some reason.
And, I ask myself, how can a person compose so many pieces of music? Yes, I know, it’s a stupid question. How can they do that? And, I reflect on that for a bit.
I was fortunate enough, to be roommates with my BFF Kelsey Bruso for a year, about a year after moving here to the Twin Cities, in the late ’80s. Kelsey is not only a “computer scientist” but, while he was getting his CS degree, I believe he also got a second degree in music. When he moved in with me, he brought his baby grand piano with him. Because we were roommates, he would have his friends come over for dinner, or grilling out, etc. One of Kelsey’s friends is a composer of music, Craig Carnahan. I still remember meeting Craig, he was such an interesting man. And, there I was, interested in music, and how music was composed, etc. Craig came over only a few times before I went to live with my soon to be fiancée Gail, but it was fascinating listening to Kelsey and Craig talk about music.
After remembering this, my thoughts went back to this composer (JLA), and his composing fifty or more pieces of music. This led me to thinking a bit (just a short bit), about authors, and how they write books, and how amazed I am with what an author has to do when writing a book/novel.
This then reminded me of a conversation I had in my early to mid twenties with another best friend (from high school, Tom Kuenzli), about how programmers can write (such huge) programs. He was explaining to me, how difficult the concept was to him, of creating an application or software package.
And, because, I was a programmer and had already written several (OK, maybe two small) programs, this was what I said to him.
Tom, It’s like building a house. First, you have an architect, who designs the house (program/app). Then, you have the builders (coders/developers) start building it. But, it’s not “built all at once”. First, they build the foundation. They then build the exterior walls, thereby allowing them to add on the roof. Once you have the roof built, you can then add in the interior walls, then the plumbing, the electrical, the HVAC, etc. Once all that is in, the sheetrock, the carpeting, the lights, etc. can be started and completed. And, eventually you have your house. This is exactly how a software program is created.
Same for an author, starting, perhaps, with the creation of the plot, the various character building, which chapters are needed for which plot points, then comes the sentences, building into paragraphs, into chapters. Editing the book, that is similar to testing the software. Once the book is edited (or the software, tested), the book can be published (I.e., the app released into production, or marketed).
So, after seeing JLA and his list of fifty compositions, and thinking this through, it comes to me, that composing music is the same as writing a novel, or creating software, or just like anything else, such as creating a quilt or building a bookcase.
You have to figure out what you want as your end result (the requirements), you have to have a plan, (the design), you then break that design into smaller and smaller pieces that you can then build, and you keep building each small piece, until you can start putting those small pieces together, into larger pieces, etc. Notes, become measures, measures become movements, and movements become a Pulitzer winning orchestral work.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
🖋 📖 📝 🎼 🖍⌨ 💾
Further thought number 1: I’m not sure, but I don’t think any of this was taught in HS. If it was, I wasn’t paying attention. I think this needs to be taught at an early age, earlier than HS.
Further thought number 2: I think I’ll stick with computer programming, maybe, move into becoming an author some day, but, I know I’m not musically inclined enough to write any sort of musical composition.
Updated with new, further thought number 3: I’ve just been onto Craig’s website, and read about the process of commissioning a piece of music and realized how simplistic I made it sound, composing a piece of music. I apologize, I was getting a bit tired from my own long winded-ness, and made the mistake of forgetting the composer doesn’t just write one piece of music, suitable for all instruments, he has to do the process I described for each section of instruments: flutes, clarinets, violins, percussion, etc. Then, they may have to write parts for the first violins which could be different from the music being played by the second violins, same for percussion, the parts for the timpani most likely will be different from the symbols, bass drum, or xylophone, etc. In all, there could be dozens of musical parts within the same symphony. It is a hugely complex process, similar to (but probably much harder than) authoring a book.
Last and final (new) thought: Developing an application, composing music or even writing a novel are all very complex things to do, but if you are in that profession, and, if you really, really enjoy your profession, the creation process usually feels like a labor of love when you’re the person doing the creating. Just sayin’.
Y’all can thank Betty Bowersox for this thought essay.
