# What composers should aim for



## Rhombic (Oct 28, 2013)

Within every contemporary style, and unfortunately commonly in experimental ones (despite not being caused by it), composers often create extravagant works that end up having major technical issues for the musicians. This is no new phenomenon, but it prevents musicians from being able to work musically on the composition due to wasting too much time in overcoming these difficulties.
The resulting jumble usually includes the musicians' comments "We didn't actually know what we were doing", "we played nothing similar to what was written in that section, but the audience didn't notice", "I still don't know how that tempo change is supposed to come because it is completely arbitrary".
What is the point then?

Notable exception: Xenakis' music is very complex and mathematically modelled to such an extent that a change in the composition just to suit the musicians would break down the incredible mastery behind the construction of his work. Any similarly developed composition is exempt from this criticism.

There are two widespread problems in the approach: 
- Having an idea and overcomplicating it because you realise how you can do so many things with the resources of modern musical language.
- Having an idea and oversimplifying it because you feel unable to properly express what you wanted to compose.

Do not strive for oversimplification, but allow the musicians to feel comfortable enough with your piece for them to be able both to enjoy it and to perform it better, being able to convey exactly what you meant instead of juggling all the mess until the last fermata.

Which brings us to common issue number two, aka formalism as -sometimes indiscriminately- used by Soviet musicologists. Having nothing to convey. Which seems pretty darn difficult, bearing in mind that apparently (see that bloody thread) 4'33'' does convey something. The audience is not always unwilling to explore 21st Century music and is fairly confident to determine what the best compositions were, after the concert. It should not seem striking that they do not tend to contradict the "generally accepted as very good" standard of contemporary composers. Hence, a proper creation should not be a bland use of 21st century resources lazily repeated with a computer program and.. even after that.. expect to dazzle the audience, or even have some sort of impact on their pathos. Again, this does not include trends like that of Xenakis due to its beauty relying on the extreme elegance in the mathematical treatment of music.

But you get the point.

- Musicians are musically trained people, not loudspeakers.
- The audience is made up of musically receptive people, not rocks.

Create art.


----------

