09 May Writing About Music
Writing about music is hard. Standing at the very end of a very long degree (DMA composition), I still haven’t managed to figure out how to do it with much fluency. In the past two weeks alone, I’ve written 26 pages of music analysis on the likes of Milton Babbitt, Edgar Varèse, Olivier Messiaen, and Thomas Adès, and I still have those moments at which I want to pull every hair out of my head. Today will not be one of those days, however. How do I know? I know because I have ten more solid pages to write on my British friend, Mr. Adès, in the next 8 hours and I really don’t have a choice in the matter. The paper is due at 4 p.m. this afternoon. That’s scary. But the reality is that I will have to be able to maintain that kind of fluency over the next four months if I am to successfully stay on track to finish my degree. And the next four months are crucial to that. My recital, for which I have about 20 minutes of music to write, is in the fall, very soon after classes begin. Shortly after that, I will be presenting my written qualifying exam for my degree to the composition faculty (more on that later). On top of this, I will be teaching music theory and composition nearly full-time at USC. Oh, and I also need to be actively seeking employment as my USC position will last only one year. Yes, I will be a very busy boy this summer. To be honest, I don’t know if I can really do it. I have never written so much in such a brief period of time. I don’t know if that is because I couldn’t, or because I didn’t have the correct motivation. I have already rescheduled my recital once, so that September 20 date is kind of a brickwall deadline. If I don’t make it, it could really set my graduation date back, plus it would be embarrassing having to once again put everyone on hold. Delaying my recital would also delay my exams, which in turn would delay my dissertation making me ineligible for jobs in the following fall. The possibility of starving in a couple years is a good motivator. My dissertation is too far in the future to warrant a spot on my summer to-do list. No, that includes not only writing music diligently, but also writing about music diligently as I prepare my exams. The exams consist of learning just about everything there is to learn about six pieces from the Western classical repertoire, and then being able to answer questions from a very learned faculty about the pieces, their context, their composers and those who influenced the composers, the pieces’ place in the overall genre, and the influences the pieces have had on later significant works. It’s kind of daunting, but I have about 18 weeks to learn 6 pieces. 18 weeks / 6 pieces = 3 weeks per piece. It’s times like these when I wish I could read faster. But the only way to stay sane in this kind of situation is to remain focused on the present. And the present demands that I write ten fresh pages of analysis before 4 p.m. on the music of Thomas Adès. Writing about music is hard. But it is much easier when you have a deadline rapidly approaching. Here is a movement from the piece I’m analyzing today. Enjoy. Arcadiana by Thomas Adès: Thomas Adès: Arcadiana – VI. O Albion
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