It's always a very comforting thing as a musician to receive compliments about their playing. It's something that isn't done enough, I think. In the music world, more constructive criticism is given, focusing more on the negatives of our playing rather than the positives. Of course, that's what we need as musicians in order to improve and grow. However, a compliment is always appropriate, and they just don't happen enough. A compliment is a good way to know if you're doing your job right, y'know?
So why am I talking about compliments? No, it's not because I'm seeking more compliments from people. Actually, I've been receiving quite a number of compliments lately. Since I'm now involved with the Salvation Army Church in Oak Creek, WI and it's wonderful people, I've found my way into being a bell-ringer in front of stores collecting donations. However, since I'm involved with the church band, the church's pastor encouraged me instead to play my horn next to the kettle instead of ringing the bell. That has me the whole experience infinitely better. So I stand next to the kettle for my whole shift and play melodic etudes and Christmas songs. Not only does playing music fill the kettle up even more than just ringing the bell, and it also yields lots of compliments to me for my playing. You know what? I'll never get tired of them. No, I don't bask in the glory of my compliments and get big headed. I just accept them with a smile and remind myself to keep it up. I'm doing my job correctly as a musician by making the audience happy, and that's all I can ask for. Tying that to composition, I just want to point out that my whole philosophy on composition is to make music that audiences like to hear. I'm not saying that I can predict what people like, but as an audience member myself, I know that I don't really enjoy listening to music that doesn't sound interesting. So many composers of new music are trying to find some kind of new sound, which a lot of times isn't very pleasing to my ears. I don't enjoy listening to music that is considered "avant-garde" or serial music because it just doesn't sound good. It was probably quite a lot of fun to write, and is fun to play, and I know some musicians who do like listening to that kind of music. But think about what the normal not-so-musically-trained audiences think of that music. It doesn't sound good, so they aren't gonna like it. That's why so many student composers I know of struggle to get their pieces appreciated or even played. They write for themselves rather than their audience, hoping that the audience will think the same as them. Well, that will work it sounds interesting. I'm not saying to composers out there to stop experimenting, not at all. Definitely experiment, but just remember what you want your audience to hear, and whether or not you want them to like it. They want to hear stuff that is similar to stuff they've heard before, but at the same time is like nothing they've ever heard. A perfect example of this id Sibelius's 5th symphony or Morten Lauridsen's "O Magnum Myste The reason I've been successful with composition is because I try to appeal to them. I try to create music that I would like to hear as an audience member, since I am one. I'm among the millions of people that like to hear music that sounds good, yet is different enough not to sound like anything else they've heard. Serial music has it's place, which is not in front of the public audience, I believe.
18 Comments
9/5/2022 08:25:05 am
Really informative article, I had the opportunity to learn a lot, thank you. https://freecodezilla.net/avada-theme-free-download/
Reply
9/30/2022 06:27:48 am
It's great to have this type of content. Good luck with your spirit. Thank you. https://bit.ly/site-kurma
Reply
10/5/2022 09:28:29 am
It was a post that I found very successful. Good luck to you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/bursa-escort/kentsel-escort/
Reply
10/6/2022 11:21:48 am
I support your continuation of your posts. I will be happy as new posts come. Thank you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/kirikkale-escort/
Reply
10/7/2022 07:53:32 am
I think the content is at a successful level. It adds enough information. Thank you. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/bursa-escort/karacabey-escort/
Reply
10/7/2022 06:19:58 pm
Thank you for your sharing. I must say that I am successful in your content. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/konya-escort/taskent-escort/
Reply
10/8/2022 05:39:41 am
Thoughtful and real content is shared. Thank you for these shares. https://escortnova.com/escort-ilanlari/konya-escort/huyuk-escort/
Reply
11/24/2022 06:46:22 am
Tıkla evde calismaya basla: https://sites.google.com/view/evden-ek-is/
Reply
12/11/2022 10:09:31 pm
Düşmeyen bot takipçi satın al: https://takipcialdim.com/
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Sean A. BrownAn up-to-date overview of my music career Archives
February 2024
Categories |