In a letter dated October 25, 2005, I responded to a young composer who asked about my process of composing. I think people like anecdotes about composers. Gives them insight to the crazy meanderings of composers.
”My process – hmmmm at what age? At age 14 to 42, I wrote everything on my kitchen table - pencil and manuscript. As a staff arranger at the Army Field Band, I wrote at the piano using large full scores and tons of number 2 pencils. Like you, I am a ham-fisted pianist to say the least. When Finale came out, I was thoroughly old-fashioned and ignored their program, figuring I was too old to start learning something new. But… after getting out of the Army in 1993 at age 41, I bought the first power Mac and began learning about music notation on the computer. Today, I still play around on the piano until something strikes me as interesting and notate it either in my mind or on a piece of manuscript paper. I am not ashamed to use the computer as a composing tool, as if it is some kind of short-cut. If Beethoven or Mahler were alive, trust me, they were efficient composers with their time and would have utilized all the tools at their disposal to make their composition process faster. I use a lot of sketches on Finale, i.e. sketch 1 – intro, sketch 2 – transition or exposition, etc. I find that once I come up with something on the keyboard, I can quickly notate it on Finale and just work on many different variations of the material until I feel I have exhausted all the different approaches to the composition problem, and once I am satisfied that I have the best result, move that to the final sketch on this section. I do this for about a week on a composition until I begin to see the “form” and ideas begin to mesh. I sometimes write a condensed score to see how the piece lays out. I try to come up with an ending as soon as I can or at least have an idea of how I would like to end the piece. Dr. Francis McBeth once said that if you don’t know where you are going [ending], your piece will just ramble on; like traveling in a car with no destination. Each time I write, I find that I do different things. I am getting much faster in my thought process and faster at putting things together using Finale. I take more time now to listen to a .wav file of what I have written so far, or just “turn my back” to the score as it is played back. This helps to “feel” if the piece is “right” or does it need more material, less material, more transitions, or more impact, etc. to make the idea come to fruition. My music has become more contrapuntal and more linear as I continue to write. I have lately become more frugal about textures and doublings. I want to use more colors and experiment more with textures. But in the end, I love a good melody, and don’t apologize for that. I want to write music that has depth and meaning, a novel if you will, not a comic book or a “car chase”.
I can’t exactly tell you how I do things; I believe as many composers do, that there is a divine spirit, God I believe, who moves through us to communicate universal truths through music. It is a gift that I cherish, and only wish I had first followed my earlier ambitions to be a composer when I was your age. Instead, I chose a different route. I suppose I have no regrets except that one.”