In Praise of Doing Less

March 18, 2018 Newsletter

The potential for precision is just a small part of what makes conversation powerful. I asked people on Twitter to share their favorite regional expressions. The colorful responses included:

“Yinz better stop being jaggoffs and red up the house n’at” -Pittsburgh Dad
“Bunnyhug”- a zipperless hoodie in Saskatchewan
“Stew the dishrag” — cook up a storm in the Midwest
“Jawn” -all-purpose noun in Philly
“I’m delira and excira for ya” — a Dublin expression meaning I’m so happy for you
“On the huh” — lopsided or wonky in Suffolk, UK
“Ta” — how you say a quick thanks in New Zealand

In music composition, there is this idea that you should not let your technical abilities at an instrument limit what you can come up with in a score. Music composition is at its core like writing a novel in a language you don’t know. The thought is that if you let your own skill at an instrument guide the creative process too much, then your hands set a limit on your ears.

Writing a score is the closest I’ve come to casting a spell, Harry Potter style. But it takes much longer. The only thing worse than writing words is writing music. Thirty seconds of music can take seemingly infinite time to create. But it really is magic. The whole point of writing a score is that this intangible thing — the sounds in your head — are legible and playable by other people. Stuff you could have never experienced in the world before suddenly comes to life. You put some scribbles in front of a group of amazing musicians and then sounds happen. What in the actual fuck.

Composers also run the danger of making their work too hard or unplayable. They keep instruments or models of groups of instruments (woodwinds, cello necks) around to make sure they don’t write anything too heinous. Composers get excited when they meet great musicians because now they might finally be able to get some idea they’ve had for years out into the world. Writing for that amazing musician makes their work better. Pieces of music arrive when they’re supposed to happen, for the right player, ideally. You are not just in the way of your own progress. There are other elements at work.

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