At 11:56 PM -0400 7/16/02, Christopher BJ Smith wrote: >At 2:21 PM -0500 7/16/02, Harold Steinhardt wrote: >> >>If an arranger or a composer does not know what it will sound like >>BEFORE notating it, then they do not know their art/craft very well. If >>they don't already know what it will sound like, how do they >>determine what to write in the first place? > > >Hmm, I don't think I am completely in agreement with that statement. >No less an authority than Bob Brookmeyer said (paraphrased) "I never >know exactly what one of my pieces will sound like. If I did, I >wouldn't bother writing it, cause what's the use if I already know? >I only know what it will sound like if I've already written >something pretty much like it already, and I'm not into repeating >myself."
My compositions seem to me to be something like the script of a play. I need to proofread them with midi playback, (at least that is a helpful exercise), but until there is the interaction of my "instructions" with human players, their directed interaction with each other, the effect of the whole thing on listeners, and the feedback loop that comes from the musicians perceiving the effect on the listeners, it remains something like hearing a typewriter read a script. I never confuse it with music, nor do I depend on it for anything having to do with balance or color. I have no quarrel with those who do, and I'd probably go for some of that if I could control it more easily in a way that would resemble the eventual result reliably. But I just check pitch and rhythm (with a piano sound) and force my memory for real music to do the rest. If my pitch memory were more reliable, maybe I'd be able to forgo playback entirely, but the truth is I've become dependent on it ever since I started using Finale, and it's hard to conceive of going back to working without it. (I have limited keyboard skills.) That's my story, and I'm sticking with it (for the time being). Chuck -- Chuck Israels 230 North Garden Terrace Bellingham WA 98225-5836 (360) 671-3402 fax (360) 676-6055 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
