As I was working on an arrangement of Tom Bahler's hit song "She's Out Of My Life" (which was made famous by Michael Jackson) I realized that I particularly enjoy writing music, which I wouldn't yet be able to improvise. That way, composing is a process of pushing the boundaries of the inner sense, trying to reach for musical ideas I most likely wouldn't attain in a playing situation, where the music would have to blossom in the moment. Composing thus becomes a mental workout, preparing the mind to fetch more distant material faster, and teaching the soul how to feel it and appreciate it...
2 comments:
It's an interesting relationship that the two have with one another. If relying purely on instinct, the composer seems to provide a consistent stream of improvised ideas that are then used or rejected depending on the preference of the composer. This application or rejection of ideas is the act of composition itself as opposed to performed improvisation where revisions to the music aren't possible. Although, as you quite rightly assert, more elaborate ideas can also be brought into composition. The same process of improvising with these elements must be employed though in order to make musical sense of the new ideas. Eventually, as the new ideas become increasingly familiar, they hopefully become a part of the composer's instinctive vocabulary. It seems that at every stage, you're still improvising, just with more time on your hands to refine and elaborate what you'd like to convey.
So, in other words, composing is the act of choosing, editing, developing motives, phrases etc... which all come from that place, that "stream of improvised ideas" (provided the composer is "purely relying on instinct.") If a particular musical idea is difficult to grasp at first, it is the composer's job to be as honest as possible and dwell on it until it is assimilated (i.e. until it becomes part of his own instinctive vocabulary) before he resumes writing.
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