When I sit down to think about why Art of Composing exists, the initial thought is To Make Better Composers. This on the surface feels like it’s generally in the right direction, but it’s also very problematic. What is a better composer?

What is a Better Composer?

So I am going to attempt to break this down, at least how it stands in my mind. This has a lot to do with the last article I wrote, on the science of becoming a better composer.

The Better Composer is in the Ear of the Beholder

The first problem is that everyone has different goals, tastes, backgrounds, genres, stylistic trends… it’s not clear what better means, and so I think the word needs to be split up.

If we look at the term better, these definitions jump out at me:

Adjective

1. more appropriate, advantageous, or well advised.
2. partly or fully recovered from illness, injury, or mental stress; less unwell.

Verb

1. improve on or surpass (an existing or previous level or achievement).
2. overcome or defeat (someone).

Adverb

1. to a greater degree; more.
2. more suitably, appropriately, or usefully.

Better the Adjective

To start off, thinking of better as an adjective (or a word that describes a noun) is useful. I know this ins’t a grammar lesson, but who doesn’t love a little grammar? (…probably everyone).

Instead of thinking of yourself as a better composer, you can reimagine that as a more appropriate composer, or a well advised composer.

As a composer, in any area from concert to film, you have to be appropriate. If I get a commission for children’s choir and orchestra (something I currently am doing), I need to be able to write appropriately for that choir. If for instance, I add too much brass at the wrong times, you just won’t hear them.

Well advised, is really about understanding these aspects, knowing where to place your effort.

Better the Verb

This may make more sense if I use it in a sense.

“Jon bettered the other composer.”

Remember, verbs are action words, so they really need to be tied to some specific outcome or goal for yourself. You don’t necessarily have to better an opponent. Instead, think of yourself as the opponent. To better myself is to be better than I was before, in any capacity.

If you can clarify how you want to improve specifically. This could be expanded to any specific compositional goal.

Better the Adverb

Finally, an adverb modifies or describes a verb (side note, I think adjectives should just be called Adnouns, it would make all these terms make more sense).

I like this simplicity of thinking of better as “to a greater degree; more.” Sometimes, better will be a matter of output. If you put out more music, you will become better.

Synthesizing these definitions into a better definition of better… get it!

Let’s synthesize!

To be a better composer is to be a more appropriate composer, or a well advised composer, given your musical and emotional goals, which will allow you to create more music and eventually to improve those musical and emotional goals, bettering yourself.

And thus you will start the endless cycle of composerly self-improvement.

Musical and Emotional Goals

I think there is a part here, that is once again, very ambiguous. It’s the musical and emotional goals.

Now, I’ve surveyed the Art of Composing audience on and off for years, and something that always comes up is the term “Express Myself” or “Express my emotions”.

Express My Emotions

This is something interesting to me, because expressing yourself actually doesn’t seem to mean much on the surface. That’s why it’s so difficult to do. Unlike the last word, express is basically a verb.

Express the Verb

1. convey (a thought or feeling) in words or by gestures and conduct.
2. say or otherwise communicate what one thinks or means.
3. squeeze out (liquid or air).
4. GENETICS: cause (an inherited characteristic or gene) to appear in a phenotype.

These are all very interesting.

The first two have a lot to do with your opinions. And I hate to say it, but most people don’t want to hear your opinion. But if we take the idea that the feelings are actually more important than your opinions, it becomes a little more inline with what composers do.

Music doesn’t really convey clear ideas in any meaningful sense. Yes you can have programmatic music that hints at certain ideas, or actions, but really it is much more emotional, or at least, there seems to be some kind of impenetrable layer between what music can signal, and what words can signal.

But emotionally, thinking of squeezing out your feelings by gesture and conduct to communicate what one feels… that is a great way to think about expressing emotions.

Number 4, causing an inherited characteristic to appear, is a really interesting idea, especially given what we’ve learned about Epigenetics, which is the study of biological mechanisms that will switch genes on and off.

The harder you work to express your emotions, the higher the chances of having the right kinds of epigenetic changes to make that easier to do in the future.

Basically, the more you express your emotions, the more you can express your emotions.

When are Emotions Expressed?

The question becomes, what leads to expressing emotions in music.

When I think of my emotions being expressed, it is usually not at the beginning of a composition. It is at the end.

For instance, I’ve cried while writing. It usually happens after working on a piece for a long time, and it always requires hearing it. Hearing could be playback from the DAW or notation software, or it could be playing it myself at the piano. I don’t think I’ve ever just expressed emotions thinking about the music.

But this has to be tested further. I can’t really make any definitive statements about it yet.

So Why Does Art of Composing Exist

Let’s synthesize again!

To be a better composer is to be a more appropriate composer, or a well advised composer, given your musical and emotional goals, which will allow you to create more music and eventually to improve those musical and emotional goals, bettering yourself.

+

But emotionally, thinking of squeezing out your feelings by gesture and conduct to communicate what one feels… that is a great way to think about expressing emotions.

=

Art of composing exists to create more appropriate and well advised composers, that are able to create more music and improve that music, so that it meets your own emotional and musical goals, and allows you to squeeze out your feelings by gesture and conduct to communicate what you feel through music.

Me

It’s a mouthful, and it’s a little confusing, but it’s also a great start.

Hopefully we all want to be better composers, given this definition.

By the way, I’m not doing this for laughs, I actually care. And this blog is really how I think through these issues. I’d love to hear your feedback, and your own definitions.

Why should Art of Composing exist?