Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music ... - NewMusicBox

NewMusicBox May 2003
18. Mentoring Younger Composers
AUDIENCE QUESTION: I wonder if you were mentoring a young composer, what would be
essential for them to focus on, to really tune the ears?
ALBERTO GRAU: The first thing would be that he has to focus on the choir that he is going to
write for. This is very important because a composer should write for the interpreter, whoever
the interpreter is. In Venezuela, we have many children's choirs, and one can write for pre-school
choirs to the Dale Warland Singers. So it is very important for the composer to focus on the choir
for which he is composing. The second thing is that the pupil should work a lot.
CHRISTIAN GRASES [INTERPRETER]: I can tell you that he gives us a lot of work.
ALBERTO GRAU: The composer should pick a good poem and stick to it, but it is very
important for the people to feel compassion for what the music can give back after he is done
working on it. And the last thing would be to be very critical with one’s self.
CHRISTIAN GRASES [INTERPRETER]: I can tell you that he is very tough on himself and on
us. I am a pupil of his. He shows us how to be really critical with ourselves and our work.
JORGE CÓRDOBA: It is very important to analyze the great composers. I agree with Alberto
about all the preparation. I emphasize that analysis is very important, and I was so amazed at
how much fun it was to analyze works. After all of these things are in yourself, then approach
the music from your heart, so your feelings can come through. After you have analyzed and after
you have worked a lot, then you have to take all these studies of counterpoint apart and you
have write from your heart.
STEPHEN PAULUS: I would say that young composers should listen like crazy to music, and
find out what is working and what isn't, and why. Write every day. It is no different from being a
gymnast; develop that facility if possible, something related to composing. Older composers
should listen like crazy, and write every day. It is the same. The other tricky thing I heard in a
quote heard down the table here is to become self-critical, and wean from the teacher or mentor.
My teacher, Paul Fetler, never said, "this is good...this is bad." He always said, "Well, let's
see...Let's look at the alto line. Are you pleased with what you have written?" And I would,
being young, say, "Oh, very pleased." Instead of pointing out that I had written 28 bars without
a rest, and all altos have to breathe, just like woodwind instruments. And he would say, "Well, is
there anything you would change?" And I would say, "Not a thing!" "Well if there was one thing
possibly that you might want to consider changing," and by this time behind me all the graduate
students were laughing, because they could see as plain as day that I hadn't allowed them time to
breathe. But if he had said, "Give the singers a chance to breathe," no—he used the Socratic
method and finally got it out of me, "That's right! I need to give them a chance to breathe." That
is a great skill that needs to be developed as soon as possible. Come back to a piece; I still do this
to this day. The more time after I have written a piece, to put it on the shelf—even if it is for one
Composers’ Dialogue #1, 08/06/2002