Creativity

Let’s blog – shall we? Several years ago, when I was interviewed by Mona Seghatoleslami at WXXI in Rochester, she asked a bit about my composition process. I was honest about the fact that, because I was writing instrumental music, it wasn’t based on how I felt or any emotional attachment to any lyrics. Straight out of the gate I have to acknowledge that God gives gifts to all of us. Mine just happens to be the ability to hear and compose the music I hear. I don’t take it lightly and that’s why, if you look at the example below, you can experience some of my process. The example below is a partial draft of A Day of Rejoicing.

I am very much a “theme-oriented” composer as I like to start with a theme and end with either the same theme or a variation of it. It may go through 3 or 4 sounding modulations but I always try to get back to the beginning. I am also a BIG proponent of using chords with base notes such as C/A or E b /C etc. I realize that a C/A is, technically an Am7 chord and E b /C is technically a Cm7 chord the difference in the sound is quite a bit different. Mapping is huge for me also as it helps me keep the song organized outside of my head.