This is a guest post by Jessica Ozon from W2024. Her plan was to write a work for choir and organ, and she started by doing research on works for this medium, looking to see what other composers have done, and perhaps finding some useable/inspiring ideas along the way.  She included many links, so please check these out if you have a chance! Thanks, Jessica! Some research/thoughts/questions for my organ and choir composition: Lots of french organists of the 20th century were excellent improvisers because they considered this a very important skill. Some of Messiaen’s compositional tec ..read more

Some students tell me that they are unable to leave comments on blog posts. They get a message saying something like: "You don't have access to this service. Contact your administrator." This seems odd, but I think I may have a solution for you, courtesy of Emma Hamilton: Log out of your MUN mail account (or log out of any MUN account, such as the one you use to get into BrightSpace). Basically, make sure that you're not logged into anything connected to MUN! Sign into your Google account. Go to my blog: https://clarkross.blogspot.com/ Go to the bottom of any post, and click the "comment ..read more

In my previous post, I explored what is meant by "Pandiatonicism" and found that there appears to be no widely-agreed-upon standard definition of the term this post has examples of music that some have labelled as pandiatonic. Unfortunately, most of the examples below for which pandiatonicism is claimed seem overtly tonal, albeit with very little chromaticism, which is presumably why some people claim them to be pandiatonic. Also interesting is that many of these examples have at least some chromaticism. I don't consider that minimal use of chromaticism automatically excludes the passage ..read more

The term "pandiatonicism" was coined by Nicolas Slonimsky in the second edition of Music Since 1900 (1938) to describe harmonic language that uses the notes of any diatonic scale in a non-tonal manner. It is a somewhat problematic term, in that it is defined by what it's not:  It is not tonal.  It does not use functional harmony, such as ii - V - I, IV - I, V - vi, etc. It does not follow the voice-leading conventions of tonality, specifically those that apply to the resolution of tendency tones, which include:  Chord 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. The leading tone in dom ..read more

Do you find this interesting? Is it music? No need to answer the second question, by the way, unless you feel like doing so. Check out this TED Talk by composer/creator Mark Applebaum and please share your thoughts in the comments below: If you didn't click on the link in the second paragraph above to Mark Applebaum's bio page in Wikipedia, the very brief version is that he is a full professor of music composition and theory at Stanford University ..read more

Interested in writing film music? Here's a link to a Vanity Fair article that claims that the majority of film composers, including "big-name" composers such as Hans Zimmer, farm out much of the composing to uncredited "ghost composers," most of whom are paid very poorly and gain no recognition for their work, even when their work leads to Oscar and Golden Globe awards for the big-name composers who take all the credit. Here's the link: “The Minions Do the Actual Writing”: The Ugly Truth of How Movie Scores Are Made John Williams is apparently a rare exception to this practice; he reputed ..read more

I wrote a post exploring some of the pros and cons involved in following a dream almost six years ago. Then, a few days ago, I saw a question on this topic in Reddit:  Redditors who gave up pursuing their 'dream' to settle for a more secure or comfortable life, how did it turn out and do you regret your decision? This relates to questions that I would guess that all aspiring artists face:  For how long should I continue to follow my dream? If I give up my dream, can I be content knowing that I gave up my dream, or will I regret it for the rest of my life? This question generated h ..read more

This list includes most of my blog posts so far, organized loosely by topic. Entries relating to class business – reminders of deadlines, concert congratulations, order of class presentation, etc. – are not included because they are likely boring to anyone who wasn't in the classes to which they were targeted. The listed blogs below, however, are intended to be relevant to students of music composition or others interested in composition. → Inspiration ← Ars Longa, Vita Brevis Daring to Dream Big Bob Ross, Empowering the Masses, and Fear of Failure On Musical Genius Music is Everywhere ..read more

My previous post began with several quotes (reproduced below) by authors and poets suggesting that music has the capacity to express meaning beyond what is possible with words. Today I will delve a little further into this idea. But first, here are the quoted statements again: “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” ― Victor Hugo “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”  ― Aldous Huxley “Where words leave off, music begins.” – Heinrich Heine “Where words fail, music speaks.” ― Hans Christian Ander ..read more

A ..read more