We are all looking to grow in our compositional art and practice but how do we do that? What does it mean to grow as a composer? Is it that our music is now considered 'better', or we achieve more recognition, or our voice becomes more dimensional, more nuanced and less predictable? Maybe all these things indicate some kind of growth. There is career growth, there is growth in tackling new and more complex genres and works, and there is growth in the way one hears music and communicates in music- artistic growth to be sure.
As the new year commences there are several ways I'm attending to these varied kinds of growth. I'm being more intentional with updating my website and applying for grants and residencies- the career growth part. I'm committing to a daily writing practice and beginning research on my first operatic work- the day to day doing kind of growth. I'm continuing my study of guitar so that one, I understand another instrument besides piano in a hands-on kind of way, and two, I'm able to write for the instrument with less dependence on my comfortable piano hand-patterns and shapes. I'm singing in a choir to better understand what makes good choral music and what singers and conductors need to be at their interpreting best.
What is it that you are doing to cultivate growth in your compositional practice?
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