One thing i have been wondering about recently is when someone suggests you change something about your composition, but it is one of your personal favorite things about the composition. In this I am in no way saying that the advice given is bad, in fact I do realize that the advice makes a lot of sense.
Now, just doing a school project this has no relevance to me, however I was wondering what people who are making their living writing music what they would do when the person who commissioned the work wants them to change something which they like a lot about the composition. I suppose in this case, you should try and make the costumer as happy as possible with the music. Though i guess if they have commissioned you then they tend to like your music.
Then I think of composers who have challenged what music is, for example John Cage, who definitely had people who didnt like what he was doing, or schoenberg as another example. These people obviously had their supporters, or they would not have been as successful.
I'm not sure why I wrote this here, but it was a topic i was wondering about, when someone who definitely knows more about composition, and is much much better, disagrees with something which you really like, how does someone know when to stick to their guns, or listen to someone who knows more than you and has more experience.
This is a very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, great art is not made by committee. Art is an individual expressing themselves or trying to communicate something. It's why you don't see more than one name on a score in the right hand corner :o) Well, unless you have an arranger or lyricist ect, ect..
For me, when someone suggests I change something I really like, my instant reaction is that my ear has failed me. I feel sort of... embarrassed for being so fond of something that can be thrown away or altered. But we have to remember that art is subjective, and we all don't have the favorite bands or like the same movies.
There are some things that are still subjective but perhaps.. less so? There is such a thing as poor orchestrational choices, and coherence can be hard to pinpoint but there are definitely things that can be easily identified as disorganized.
Maybe what you liked is a fine idea and sounds great, but perhaps not in the context of what's around it. Maybe it belongs to itself in its own piece. The first time I brought in my piece, I had a modulation to Db major going to pentatonic. It was gorgeous and I loved it. Did I keep it? No, because it didn't belong there. But I certainly won't throw it away :)