Drawing a Blank

The hardest part of writing a piece of music, for me at least, is getting started. I'm looking at a blank piece of manuscript paper--well, ok, for the past two decades it's more often been a screen with staff lines devoid of notes.

The problem: too many choices. Any note in any key at any tempo with any dynamic level for any instrument or voice will do.

The solution: find some way to limit the choices. Decide who you're writing for (audience or performers or both). Make some preliminary choices about the shape of the piece. Sometimes I only need to make a few decisions and the music starts. Other times, more planning is needed. Lately I've written a lot for church services, drawing melodic ideas from hymn tunes (often drawing energy from working against the tight form of the hymn).

As I start this web site I'm in somewhat the same predicament. I'd like to just do it, but my formal composition training keeps pushing me in the direction of developing a structure, a framework--limiting my choices. So here are some of the things I hope to accomplish:

• Share some of the music I've written
• Talk about compositions that have influenced my musical development
• Share my passion for music and some of the insights I've gained as a musician
• Provide a forum for discussing composition

The page isn't blank any more. Let's see what happens next...