A better understanding

Here's a simple fact: there is a lot of great music out there.  Of course there is a lot more bad music than great music.  Music is a very personal thing.  Not just composing music, but listening and playing as well.  Our likes and dislikes stem from personal aesthetic choice.  I know that there is a lot of music that I like that others do not.

As students we are encouraged to expose ourselves to new things.  Different composers, different aesthetics.  Our instructors encourage us day after day to challenge ourselves and play with the unfamiliar, because you never know what you are going to like.  I am now about three years removed from being a student and I still try to embrace this basic principle.  I do get stuck from time to time in doing and listening to the "same old thing."  There is nothing wrong with that, embracing the familiar is almost as important as playing with the unfamiliar.  My whole approach to music is about discovery.  It is a very personal journey for me.

Lately it seems as if my activities have been about stretching myself and playing with the unfamiliar.  The song cycle I am composing is one way I am stretching myself.  I am also starting to explore music and composers with which I am unfamiliar.  I recently started listening to the music of Gyorgy Kurtag.  I have to say that I am impressed with his music.  I have only listened to a handful of pieces, but there is something about it that I really like.

When I was a student I did not appreciate the principle of expanding my musical knowledge.  This was probably because I was so busy studying and working that I thought I did not have time to listen to new things.  Now that I am out of school and doing things for myself I can say that I have a better understanding of what my instructors were trying to tell me.