YOUNGER STUDENTS AND COMPOSITION

 Introduction

In my experience students, especially 'A' level students, frequently say that they find composition extremely difficult.  Why do they find it so problematical?  I must stress that I do not believe that the extent of their individual talents has much to do with the answer to this question - I have seen many efficient compositions from mediocre talents, and conversely, seen obviously gifted composers struggling desperately.  In attempting to address this problem I would like to offer a few suggestions based on my experience in this field. 

Firstly and most importantly, in most cases students would find composing a piece far easier if they had clearer ideas about what specifically they wanted to explore in the composition process, and considered the implications of this at greater length, before actually starting to write.  All too frequently student composers put the cart before the horse by trying to extend musical materials when they have insufficient understanding of the potential within those materials, and their implied possibilities relative to other considerations, such as formal context. 

In consequence many students waste hours of time trying to inch forward step by step, usually with little or no sense of direction behind their efforts.  Their only criteria for evaluating what they write are often entirely subjective; and as their feelings about their work keeps changing so do their attitudes to it.  Fundamentally, they need a more objective basis for accepting or rejecting the materials they produce; but unfortunately they are usually unaware that the answer to their problems lie in the material itself.  Even the most experienced composers sometimes make this mistake, but young composers must learn to differentiate between what they like 'in the moment' and what will actually work in terms of their ideas for a piece, and that means having a clearer concept in the first place as to what they want to explore, and ways in which they might explore it in the process of writing.   

There is, of course, no one correct way to go about composing.  Nevertheless, behind all the diverse approaches there are certain common fundamentals of which any composer needs to be aware if the process is going to produce music of any significance.  In the following paragraphs I make some suggestions in this respect, and other general observations about composition. 

THE COMPOSITION PROCESS

Initial ideas

Perhaps the most important of these fundamentals is the need to define a single specific musical idea on which to focus as a starting-point, and from which the composition process can develop; and it is certainly the case that most students must be encouraged to think far more deeply about the potential of their initial ideas before embarking on the piece itself, even though that idea may later be substantially modified by the very process of exploring it. 

For some composers initial ideas may relate to musical form, for others a specific aspect of musical material such as pitch, rhythm, texture etc, (this may involve sketching a variety of possible materials until they identify the ones which offer the richest compositional possibilities); for others it may be of a more conceptual nature, reflecting a principle which seems to have powerful musical potential (e.g. the passage of time).  Whatever it may be, the composer must ask the essential question "what do I wish to explore?"  For many young composers the answer may be no more than simply a description of what they believe to be the 'feeling' or 'mood' for a piece, a response revealing a limited understanding of music or art in general, but nevertheless, one that can still serve as a starting point.  More significantly, quite a number of young people come up with remarkably good and original ideas that go far beyond this - they simply don't know that they are good ideas, and need encouragement at this early stage to pursue them, and to develop them further before starting on the music itself.   

As a way of defining ideas (as far as it may be possible) it can help the composer considerably if notes are made throughout this early stage of the process.  Furthermore, they often prove useful at later stages as a point of reference, enabling the composer to maintain his or her bearings in times of difficulty.   

All student composers need to understand the intimate and interdependent relationships that exist between all aspects of a composition.  It matters little if a composer begins with one dimension of the music or another; composition is a process of going constantly deeper and deeper into, and opening up the inner possibilities of that original idea; and from it all other aspects of the piece will emerge.  When a composer is both clear about and excited by an idea for a piece, all subsequent steps in the composition process can proceed coherently (if not always easily) from this point.  

When the initial idea is one relating to overall formal structure the process of composing will necessarily be one of working downwards to the details of material; when the initial idea is related to the nature of materials the converse will apply, and the composer must work upwards towards the macro-form.  Either way there is much that cannot be determined at the outset; however most composers feel the need to establish adequate clarity, at a fairly early stage, about both materials and form and the interrelationships between them and about instrumentation. 

Formal Possibilities.  These should be both necessitated by the IDEA for the piece, and allow an open ended exploration of that idea.  Some students find composing far easier when they have a verbal or diagrammatic description of the overall structure, especially when a formal possibility constitutes the main idea for their work.  When form is conceived more as a vehicle for communicating other musical ideas, based initially in considerations of material, the composer must understand how the perception of those ideas will ultimately be effected by the form and particularly by the extent to which the form has evolved as a direct consequence of initial ideas and their subsequent  development. 

Possible Ways Of Structuring Materials.  Essentially this implies developing ideas about the kind of techniques or procedures that will determine how materials evolve, and by which the composers may explore the possibilities of the form; or, if they find considerations of musical materials more engaging than form, materials which in themselves represent the fundamental idea (though as stated above these materials will still need to be revealed by an appropriate form).  Once again, a verbal description or diagrammatic representation of musical materials may well prove useful at later stages. 

Instrumentation.  As with form and the structure of materials, this is central to the exploration of an idea, not a mere practicality, and should usually be determined in advance of starting work on a piece in any great detail.  Students must understand that adding to, or changing, instrumentation has profound ramifications in terms of the piece as a whole. 

These three considerations may, depending on the student and their initial ideas, be addressed in any order.  However, once when they have been adequately dealt with, the student will hopefully find it far easier to proceed through the subsequent steps outlined below.  They may well want to modify their original plans later in response to the evolving piece, sometimes alter them radically; but if the decision to do so is based on their perception of things emerging within the composition process, then the music will have be begun to have a life of its own, and they will have good reasons for departing from their original plans.  

Strategy    

A compositional strategy from this point forward will usually prove helpful.  Such a strategy might involve deciding which initial sketches to develop first, which questions that have arisen from the original idea to leave unanswered until later; in general terms, the identification of priorities and the development of a corresponding work strategy.  There is, of course,  absolutely no reason why a student should necessarily begin by working on the opening of a piece first. 

The development and detailed working out of a piece  

Here technique comes to the forefront.  This will require either adapting techniques that may have been studied beforehand, or in the case of a more inventive student, evolving techniques specifically designed to fulfil the requirements of the piece being composed.  It would be wise to stress to students that there are no such things as a good or bad techniques - only appropriate or inappropriate ones.  They will also need to understand the difference between the functional potential of a technique and the merely stylistic, superficial 'sound-surface' of pieces they may have heard which employ similar techniques. 

The student composer should be advised to focus primarily on whatever feature of the music is most important (functional) at any particular stage; whilst also remaining alert to the implications of all decisions in terms of the piece as a whole.  For any issues that are proving problematical the student should be encouraged to try sketching a number of different possibilities.  If, as suggested above, the material begins to develop a direction of its own, which the student feels throws new light on initial ideas, then he or she should be strongly encouraged to follow through the implications of such developments, no matter how much this may result in a modification of earlier plans.  This is the point at which the genuinely creative student (or any composer for that matter) begins to emerge; also the stage where all composers must exercise the utmost sensitivity to the evolving nature of their music, and flexibility in response to it.  In practical terms this is most likely to be achieved by means of a series of drafts, each one showing a detailed response to previous ones, working ever more deeply into the material each time.  For many students it is helpful to take all ideas to their logical extremes, and then decided how much to retain in the final draft. 

Final stages  

Once the composer feels that he or she has done all that is realistically possible to explore the original ideas, as well as any others that have emerged throughout the process, then the result, as a whole, must be reviewed.  Some composers find that this can only be done after they have distanced themselves from their work by an interval of some time (a good case for not leaving things to the last minute!).  When returning to the music it is essential to concentrate entirely on whether or not the piece works in its own terms, and not on details of technique.  The final editing of the piece must be a sharpening of the musical focus of the work so as to guarantee its clarity of intention, no matter how close or far that intention may be from original ideas. Much ground will inevitably have been covered, and much learned, in the course of composition, so no composer should feel disappointed if the end product is only tangentially related to the initial ideas.
 

SOME ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS 

Independent of the composition process, there are a number of misconceptions and areas of ignorance which commonly impede that process.  Principally these concern matters of style, technique and notation. 

Style 

Throughout all the above paragraphs there has deliberately been little reference to style.  This is because style, in itself, it is irrelevant to the composition process in general terms.  It can be argued convincingly that a style is no more than a generalised overview of a group of composers' works, and the isolation of what they have in common - a process which inevitably disregards the specific qualities that are unique to individual composers or their compositions.  However, if we replace the term style with musical language ("musical" is crucial here as I don't perceive music to be a language in any literal sense) then attention is drawn to the profoundly important and interdependent relationship (and the distinctions) that exists between the specific musical substance of a piece and the quasi-linguistic (syntactic not semantic) means by which that substance is realised.   

From this point of view it is worrying that so many young composers see composition primarily as a stylistic activity, failing to realise that composing with the deliberately intention of confining themselves to a musical style of their experience, but without a sense that the musical language underlying it is fundamental to their ideas, is essentially an anti-compositional activity, as it sets general characteristics (features of style) before the specific qualities of an authentic musical idea.   

Furthermore, many of the stylistic qualities that students emulate are, in essence, only the common ground shared by composers of cultural eras now long past; qualities that were never the primary purpose of those composers' activities, but a bi-product of their ideas and their musical languages.  In the context of their times those ideas were dynamic, and the specific musical language to represent them therefore necessary; but the question inevitably arises "can these same musical languages be meaningfully employed in an age when the dynamism originates from very different types of ideas, and will therefore require very different musical languages?"  If the answer to this is "no" then we must accept the disturbing conclusion that any students taking this approach (and many do) are doomed to failure to some extent, as they will be subordinating any authentic and dynamic ideas they may have to the superficial, stylistic features of musical languages which were evolved for quite different purposes.  It is hardly surprising then if they feel that they don't have any good ideas, or that they are unable to express those that they do have - complaints to be heard with alarming frequency! 

As a direct consequence of this misguided approach, attempts at evaluation of their own work are, not surprisingly, often depressing experiences for composition students; for what they see staring them in the face is their own inability to inhabit the musical imagination and experience of some long dead composer from a far removed time and culture.  They are, of course, usually completely unaware of the impossibility, not to mention absurdity, of trying to do this in the first place; and equally unaware that pursuing a course based on a subjective reaction to the superficiality of some historical 'style' or another was the origin of their dilemma.  They are also usually unaware of just how far removed the activity of producing of a theoretical, stylistic pastiche is from the activity of creating of an authentic composition. 

A different, but related, problem exists where a student is trying to compose in some contemporary popular or 'commercial' style (pop/rock etc.).  Most students following this path don't realise the extent to which such musics are fundamentally about style itself (often loaded with many non-musical connotations of fashion, trend, and a host of socially based semiotic 'codes' related to sub-cultures of generation, class, colour, etc.).  It would be grossly misleading to suggest that the so-called classical tradition is free of such associations, or that because of them it is impossible to compose good pop music; however, anyone hoping to compose imaginatively within these popular genres must first learn to distinguish between the compositional and the purely stylistic aspects of the music.  Once again the distinction must be drawn between that which works in terms of a musical idea, and that which simply provokes an immediate subjective response; especially when that response may well be elicited primarily by one or more of the extra-musical connotations referred to above, rather than by the substance of the music itself. 

The problem in relation to 'pop' and similar musics becomes further complicated by the inability of some student composers to distinguish between the actual material in the songs that they like, and the style of presentation and performance of those songs; a problem which is often exacerbated by the sophisticated studio techniques employed in their production.  In fact, it would be fair to say that many pop songs are more 'productions' than compositions, and are therefore very difficult to emulate in a purely compositional situation.  Even a student of very limited perception can be genuinely surprised by the obvious banality of certain 'pop' songs when written down, as opposed to their 'effectiveness' in recordings or performances.  It is important that the student understands that such effectiveness is cosmetic in relation to the basic musical structures (and frequently a compensation for the lack of them!). 

None of these observations about the use of either historically based or 'pop' musical languages should be taken to suggest that the student composer must invariably be discouraged from working with them; after all many students have no other terms of reference.  As stated above - style in itself is irrelevant; what matters is the usefulness of any musical language to the ideas that the composer has; and if those ideas are pursued over and above the superficialities of style, then hopefully an appropriate musical language will evolve in the process, enabling those ideas to materialise.  It matters not the slightest if aspects of that musical language can be traced to origins in one type of music or another; the 'style' of those origins will have been transcended by the act of composition. 

Techniques  

Since technique forms the basis of any composer's musical language the student must obviously develop a clear concept of what technique is in general terms, and the extent to which specific techniques may (or may not) be relevant to the specific ideas of a piece.  Primarily this consists of understanding that no idea can exist in musical terms without being rooted in an appropriate technique; it can even be argued that a musical idea and its tangible technical processes are one and the same thing.  However, the student also needs to be aware that there is a grave danger in pushing technique too much to the forefront of the composing process; there are many works by composers of all ages and experience levels which demonstrate a high degree of technical control yet a pitiful lack of any vitality or originality.  To take this point still further, there are many cases of composers for whom the exercise of technical virtuosity is an irresistible seduction, and consequently a diversion from the more challenging business of composing music of real originality.  This, of course, is unlikely to be the case with most student composers; nevertheless they need to be aware of the issue, as it points to the true role of technique as an integral part of a broader process. 

Whilst awareness of existing techniques may both enable an idea to be realised, and also stimulate the generation of ideas, that awareness in itself is no more than a knowledge of what other composers have done for their own personal aesthetic reasons.  It certainly does not imply any kind of authority for those techniques; and it is probably worth pointing out to the student that the entire process of historical growth of techniques reflects the extent to which all composers, in their own way, have had to adapt and evolve the methods of composition that they inherited, and, not infrequently, invent new methods from scratch, in order to be able to write the music that they wanted. 

It follows, therefore, that the explanation of existing techniques, although relevant to most students, is not, in itself, learning the art of composition.  Initially, the potential usefulness of such studies lies in demonstrating, by examples drawn from established composers, the general principle whereby particular techniques have a defined (and limited) application in terms of a work's specific ideas, and the formation of musical languages as a means of exploring those ideas.  If students are not encouraged similarly to evolve their own techniques, or at least adapt existing ones, essential to their needs, then they are achieving little more than they would by analysing the harmony of a Bach chorale, or any similar academic exercise. 

Nevertheless, there is little doubt that most students will benefit greatly from a study of a wide range of compositional techniques, especially if this study involves looking at diverse applications of similar techniques, and the consequent diversity of results.  It is also advisable that students should explore the potential of a range of techniques by trying to handle them practically; an exploration best conducted in the context of short fragmentary sketches applying and modifying one technique or another; and with the aim of discovering the specific musical qualities which it produces, and which they can then perceive as being dependent on that technique.  In the process they will hopefully develop some kind of personal approach to the various technique-dependent aspects of composition (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, form, transition, etc.).  To be able to get the full benefit of this exercise they must, of course, have the opportunity to hear these sketches played.   

Notation  

Many student composers are seriously constrained by their lack of experience in the field of notation.  Frequently, promising musical ideas that they describe, play or sing are then reduced to something utterly commonplace by their inability to notate what they really want.  In other words they end up composing only what they can notate, rather than exploring the possibilities and potential of notation as a means of representing their ideas.  This is especially true of students who only have experience of the most conventional music, and whose basic concept of music is limited to that which is notatable in accordance with the conventions they have encountered.  When such a student has an original idea which extends beyond the boundaries of that experience, the idea commonly gets dismissed or even perceived as 'wrong', because it cannot be notated within the conventions with which the student is familiar. 

It is obvious, therefore, that a study of notation will, for many students, be profoundly rewarding.  This extends beyond the development of a notational vocabulary which will enable a composer to get his or her ideas down on paper.  Notation, in itself, can frequently serve as a catalyst to the process of generating ideas; and when a specific and unfamiliar means of representation is encountered for the first time (and also considered thereafter) it inevitably draws attention to that which is thereby representable (especially when there is no other established way of representing it).  This often provokes ideas and possibilities that, by their very unfamiliarity, are exciting, and may well be extremely useful, either in the formation of initial ideas, or in the context of an ongoing composition.
 

POSTSCRIPT - THE TEACHING OF COMPOSITION 

It is implicit in much that has been said above that the very idea of teaching composition is something of a contradiction.  And yet many students attempting to compose clearly need a great deal of guidance.  What then can the experienced composer offer to the new-comer?  The answer is simpler than might be expected: by virtue of experience the 'professional' composer  must first clarify the fundamental concepts of what composition (or creativity in general, for that matter) is, as well as what it is not; and also help the student to distinguish between various possible aspects and stages of the process, even though these will vary considerably from one student to another.  Having done this to the best of his or her ability, it is then necessary to set up conditions and frameworks in response to, and within which, the student can begin to explore the composition process freely according to their own musical ideas and dispositions.  In practical terms there are a number of steps which the student may be led through as preliminaries to beginning work on a complete piece, especially when that piece must ultimately be performed or submitted for examination.  Most students' problems in composition can be traced back to one or more of the areas outlined above: insufficient clarity of idea, misunderstanding about and inexperience in the technical aspects of composition and notation, and misconceptions as to the significance of 'style'.  If these issues are not confronted early enough it is hardly surprising that the student perceives composition as a series of almost insurmountable problems. 

Inevitably, there will always be some students who are incapable of grasping the fundamental principles of composition, and much of what has been discussed in the preceding paragraphs will seem obscure and irrelevant to them.  For such students few musical ideas are genuinely exciting, and therefore their capacity to interact with their own materials, in a manner essential to real composition, is also very limited.  Maybe these students are quite simply not interested in composition, and perhaps they should not really be trying compose in the first place.  The fact that they may have elected to undertake a course which includes composition as a part of an examination syllabus suggests that they are probably more interested in academic achievement than musical understanding; a point which raises serious questions about our education system and its priorities.  However, this is not the place to discuss these broader issues, and if such students are in need of help (and usually they are the ones who need it most) then it will be necessary to modify the process outlined above to something less challenging, less subtle, and  structured so as to minimise the areas of choice.  For example, it might be wise to encourage these students firstly to define the form of a piece in all essential details (analogous to writing an essay), and then to determine the kind of materials with which to fill it out, using mostly familiar techniques.  The resulting piece will probably not demonstrate any real originality, and will certainly not embody much in the way of integration, as the formal and material considerations will not have been evolved in response to one another; furthermore, it will certainly lack the internal consistency that is fundamental to any music of substance.  It can only be hoped that the student will, in the process of working, become more aware of what composition with a more imaginative approach has to offer; and so experience the ignition of some creative potential.  Sadly, most students of this sort seldom have such an experience, in which case passing an examination by demonstrating adequate technical efficiency, despite paucity of imagination,  is the best that can be hoped for.   

It is, of course, of paramount importance to distinguish between the type of student for whom composition will never be of any real interest, and those who feel inadequate to its challenges through lack of experience or misunderstanding.  The experienced composer, or any teacher of composition, must help students unburden themselves of some of the inhibiting misconceptions which abound in the world of music, especially where composition is concerned.  Such misconceptions are too numerous to list them all here, but such notions as the mystique surrounding inspiration, talent, masterpieces and fame are all good examples; along with the 'pseudo-authority' of countless other historically accepted musical values.  Ideas and attitudes such as these can quickly reduce many a new-comer to composition to a state of creative impotence.  It is the teacher's  responsibility to encourage a sense of artistic legitimacy in the student by trying to create conditions in which he or she explores whatever ideas come to mind, and then accepts and develops them, or rejects them, according to individual aesthetic requirements.