tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post1306105733045884520..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Hahn and CreativityBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-27896421318077255412016-10-27T08:03:57.053-05:002016-10-27T08:03:57.053-05:00Really interesting observations! Yes, afterwards, ...Really interesting observations! Yes, afterwards, it is often hard to know exactly how you did what you did in a composition. Sometimes you just try things and throw away what doesn't work. Also, your "process" is different for each piece. But again, how Bach worked is probably different from how most of us work today. One guy who did tell us all about his "creative process" was John Cage. So just start tossing coins, everybody!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-29314744856659925762016-10-27T02:02:48.552-05:002016-10-27T02:02:48.552-05:00I think the answers to all those questions would b...I think the answers to all those questions would be different for every composer of every era, in every situation. Composition is a cascade of decisions, which can have many starting points. Each composer will gravitate to their own methods according to what they want/need to produce.<br /><br />Bach was a pragmatic, employed composer and worked in the popular forms of his day. Form is useful, it helps the composition process along, acting as a mold to cast ideas into. With the cantatas, structure was likely the first consideration, as they were to be used at mass. <br /><br />Jiveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02430049896063808671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-57344604814145164762016-10-26T20:43:09.055-05:002016-10-26T20:43:09.055-05:00While you're right the creative process is not...While you're right the creative process is not some kind of method that can be taught, one can understand the word process differently as "how does one go about composing?" I can see why this would very useful to know for an instrumentalist. Does one start with the melody? Or with a harmonic hook? In what order do we add the voices? Do we compose linearly from start to finish? At what point do we structure the composition, etc?<br />Bach followed strict rules re. this kind of ordering and structuring. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-90549617180473925672016-10-26T18:10:51.389-05:002016-10-26T18:10:51.389-05:00A composer with a detailed, ready answer about &qu...A composer with a detailed, ready answer about "process" is probably too consumed with it. Not fair? Often, I will look back at a composition and wonder how I did it. Some things happen by luck, some by planning. Both composer and performer are drawing on their accumulated experiences in music to create something new. Performers do it on the fly, composers do it in slow motion. Creativity is really about the moment: lived, consolidated, remembered, and then employed according to the judgment of the performer. Jiveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02430049896063808671noreply@blogger.com