composer's notebook
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Friday, February 15, 2008
Blurb
In anticipation for his World Premiere performance next Sunday of My Hands Are a City, Dr. Jeff Gershman of Texas A&M-Commerce asked all the composers on his program for an answer to the following question:
Has the vernacular music of the United States had any influence on your works or development as a composer?
Here's what I sent him:
American vernacular music has not only overtly influenced my music but also has become a frequent and major source of that music's material. For me that means letting go of any remaining (and counter-productive) "classical" prejudices and embracing my love of American popular music in its countless flavors--proudly borrowing and stealing what might be otherwise completely unassociated popular material in order to form the backbone of any piece. Sometimes that's choosing to concentrate on a certain vernacular style that fascinates me as a compositional starting point, or maybe it's playing with specific-pop-style forms within more traditional classical models. It's all on the compositional palette now, and I can see this path serving as a never-ending fount of inspiration and development for myself for a long time.
My blurb will share his program book with answers by Donald Grantham, Christopher Rouse, and Frank Ticheli. Theirs will no doubt be less wordy and convoluted.