What is "good" music?

With music, most things are relative. There has been a lot of music written throughout history, but much of it is not listened to very often, not because it isn't very good music, but because people prefer to listen to music that stirs certain emotions within them.  These emotions give them gratification, inspiration, peace, hope, a spiritual connection, or all of the above. Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of composers  that are so focused on making there music "technically" interesting that they sometimes miss the whole point of connecting with they're listeners on an emotional level. But this is more complicated than it appears; how are you supposed to know what people "want" to hear? Is there any kind of music that is the "right" kind of music, or that could be considered "better" than another kind of music? 

I get so confused when I look at twentieth century, abstract, paintings. Granted, I don't consider myself an expert in being able to translate the meaning of these messy canvas's, but does that mean that in order to partake in the benefit of even enjoying or being touched by this art I have to have a certain number of years of schooling? Now, don't get me wrong, I believe there is a place for acquiring and developing a taste for something, it just seems to me that in order to have the biggest impact with your art, you must be able to speak clearly to your audience without ANY prerequisites on there part. If you listen to Beethoven's famous Choral Symphony number 9, or the Hallelujah chorus in Handel's Messiah, it doesn't matter how much you know about classical music, it has a powerful impact on you regardless of  your pedigree.  This music is timeless because it has the ability to speak to anyone. This is how I define "good" music.

The anatomy of a musical idea

I listen to a lot of music... I find that it gives me inspiration for my musical ideas. Growing up my brother and I would always listen to the classical radio station, the same way most people would listen to pop music on the radio. We did this, I believe, because of our early exposure to classical music. My dad, being a music history professor, naturally had many recordings of the classics. So as a result I became very familiar with the sound and style of classical music before any other form of music.  When I started composing, I noticed the style in which I would write was very similar to the style of music in which I would listen.  For example, when I wrote "Oh, Lord God Almighty", a duet for two sopranos, I was listening a lot to the Mozart Requiem. There is a certain aria in this piece that had a profound impact on me, and so I decided to base my melodic idea off of this Mozart aria. 

Now, of course, I'm not saying that I took his melody and called it my own, but the influence and emotional impact that it had on me inspired me to create my own music. Even though my melodic idea is completely independent of his, if it were not his influence, I may have never written that piece. 

So for me, listening to music is a critical part of getting inspiration for my musical ideas. 

The other part of preparing to write a piece of music for me is deciding on the instrumentation. This often times can be difficult for a composer, because a melody that is written for the piano could sound very different than a melody for voice. So most of the time I will decide on my instrumentation first before even searching for a melody. The other challenge to this is knowing what sounds good and what doesn't for each individual instrument. One thing I have often struggled with is writing in the optimal range for the instrument. By this I don't mean all the possible notes that instrument could play. I mean, finding the notes that the instrument "wants" to play. Those notes that make the instrument sound its best. I find that each time I write a piece I learn more about what the optimal range should be (I realize a composition class would probably help). 

Right now these are the things I am doing to prepare for these new compositions.  Believe it or not, this is how I come up with the inspiration to my melodies. I've gotta admit though, sometimes it's hard to have enough patience to wait for it to come, but it always does in one form or another.

Some music I have recently been listening to: Beethoven, Piano concerto No. 5 - Giuseppe Verdi (my personal favorite composer), Operas: Othello, Aida, Rigoletto & his Missa Solemnis. 

My Passion for music

January 16th Concert

I believe this concert marked the first of many to come. I want to thank you all who attended this event for the many kind words of encouragement.  The response I received at this concert was so overwhelming that I have decided to start investing more of my time to composing and performing my music.  

Below is are some photos of the event:

Singers: Linnaea Saemenes and Michelle Knopp with the "High strung string quartet" performing "Love"

The "High strung string quartet" performing my string quartet no. 1

Singers: Michelle Knopp, Tiffani Martin, Dennis Sullavin, and Jonathan Matthew performing the "Alleluia".

Singers: Dennis Sullavin, Tiffani Martin and Kristen Kirkland performing "Oh, the depths of the riches".

As a composer there is nothing more gratifying then having someone approach you after hearing your music being moved to tears, or feeling inspired to better themselves in one way or another. I feel like this is something that God has gifted me with to help people, so therefore it is my responsibility to master this gift to the best of my ability and share it with as many of you as I can.

If you would like an audio copy of the concert, just let me know and I will send you a link to download the full concert.

The Future

Some questions that I have been asked a lot recently have been, "how do you come up with your melodies?", "what goes on in your head while your composing?", "what are some ways that I can learn how to write music?". Whereas the answers to these questions will be different for everybody in one form or another, I think there are many common truths that accompany writing music. The purpose of this blog is to show you all how it is that I go about writing my music. I will take you from conception to completion (as much as can be considered completion - I consider all of my music a lifetime project that will continue to undergo revision until the day I die. So completion is a relative term). 

I am planning another concert for this summer (in July) that will be mainly new compositions that I am going to write between now and the next few months.  In this blog I will take you through my thought process in discovering this music and creating it.  How and why I come up with the melodies that I do, what particular thought process leads me to that melody, and finally, what practical steps you can take to developing this skill for yourself. 

Upcoming Concert program

As I mentioned at the concert, my next project is to put together highlights of my musical, "The Three Misfits" a short story comedy written by Frank Peretti. I also am thinking about writing a piano quintet (which is for piano and string quartet).  Also, I am going to bring back my "Twinkle, twinkle little star variations".  

I would love to get feedback from all of you out there. Send me a note and tell me what you think of this idea!