Specialists

   A quite few people believe that if a person was major in music at music conservatories or university, he must be a specialist in music; have deep knowledge about music, history; have advanced skills of performance or composition, and etc. Of course, this is not the case most of the time.

   Let’s imagine a person, a 23 year old newly graduate in economics from a famous university. Do you consider this person as a economist? Probably, no, right? Imagine another person, a 23 year old newly graduate in biology. Do you consider this person as a bio-specialist? Again, no, right? Now, imagine a person, a 23 year old newly graduate in music from a famous music conservatory. Do you still consider this person as a specialist in music? ...Well, no...

   As far as the knowledge is concerned, there is not much difference in any major at undergraduate level. So, a music student would know a bit more about music than economics student, and a business student would know a bit more about business than a music student. This is the reality.

   The true value of university is in the graduate school. This is where the simple learning ends, and the research starts. You don’t have to be in the school to do research, but the doing research is almost a requirement for being specialist in a certain area.

   Consciously or unconsciously, all specialists in any area do research, and ability to do research in a certain area is the difference between a specialist and non-specialist. When you meet a so-called “musician” next time, ask him what he is researching currently. Really good musician will be happy to share his true area of interest with you.

Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven

   Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. These three are the most important composers of the classical period, and sometime called the First Viennese School. With pieces by Bach and Handel, works by those three composers form the essential core of the Western Classical music repertoires.

   Among these three composers, I find that Haydn provide the most accessible and balanced materials to those who wish to study composition. So, I usually use a certain string quartet, and couple other compositions of Haydn to teach my private students who wish to apply part-writing theory to actual pieces. 

    Unlike Haydn’s, I find Beethoven’s pieces are inappropriate for beginning composition students in many ways. However, they are great materials for learning forms and developmental techniques. So, I usually give some of his piano sonatas to those who wish to try to write larger works.

   Unfortunately, I have never used Mozart pieces in my private composition lessons as study materials. However, his symphonies and operas are full of great conducting materials. So, I use them in my conducting lessons.

   I am grateful that Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven proves us great musical and study materials, and I am glad that they passed away so long ago that their music is in public domain!

Brahms, the songwriter

   Brahms is said to represent the conservative side of Romantic era. His works are very balanced and well-constructed, and these are quality the Classicists would appreciate. Some people would said Brahms’s music is less Romantic, since his symphonic works would be more rigid and less colorful if we compare them to the works of Wagner and others. When I first learned the works of Brahms, they are symphonies and chamber music. I thought that the works are pretty boring and less romantic, and I put Brahms into “B” composers’ files in my mind.

 

   However, my view on Brahms changed completely when I learned his songs. His songs (lieder) are some of the most Romantic sounded works of all time. Some of his piano pieces are certainly romantic enough, but his lieder surpass in every romantic way. So, I started to wonder why Brahms, who can be utterly romantic in music, did not put his romanticism into his symphony or other larger works. I believe if he tried in Symphonic Poem (which he didn’t), I am sure he would certainly created the superb symphonic works which are very personal and intimate.

Being a male and teaching voices

   Being a man has certain disadvantage, if one wants to be a singer. One of such disadvantage is of course “voice change.” He really has to relearn how to use his voice and it takes time.

   However, this disadvantage became advantage when he is to teach voices, because he now have vocal experience in both male range and female (or kid) range. Female singers will never be able to produce the male range and to know what voice change really is. I found that this is one of the big issues for female music teachers.

   Needless to say, even for the male singers, in order to use this advantage, he has to remember how he felt and sang when he was a kid. Fortunately, I remember how I sang clearly when I was a kid, and there are a lot of tapes that recorded my performances and practices when I was a kid and adolescent. These are wonderful personal resources.

   By the way, my performances as a boy soprano are pretty good, if I may say so. But it just makes me shoot myself to listen to practice recordings from my junior high and high school time. :)

Nationalism in Choral Music

  If you studied Western music history, you would find a section of “Nationalism” in the Romantic era. It was basically the answer or musical rebellion to the German dominance in music by non-German composers. Composers tried to use materials from own cultures and to create something they feel their own. The results are compositions that are hugely popular among composer’s “own people” but virtually unknown outside of the circle. Most of such music were already lost, or would be gone eventually. 

  There is a book called “A Composer’s World” by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), a German composer who immigrated to the US, and in this book he alarms composers who consciously or unconsciously became nationalist to gain “national popularities.”

  In the instrumental concert music world, such nationalistic composers are now rare. However in choral music world, there are many composers who falls into this category. This is of course because choral music has texts. We often see a composer who is very popular among own language world, but their compositions fail to go over the wall of language or culture. Of course, in music history there have been composers who are nationalists but go beyond the wall. So, I know that it is very possible to break the nationalistic or local expression to have some universal quality.

  Partly because I read Hindemith’s book, and partly because I am a Japanese whose main working area has been the US, I have been thinking very hard in order to write choral composition that speaks to people regardless of texts. Technically speaking, the execution of texts has to be perfect, but the music (the notes and structure of the piece) has to be very independent from the text, and has to stand by itself.

  “Multicultural” seems to be very popular in choral world nowadays, but I consider that this is just a trend and will gone eventually. This is because ultimately compositions live not because they are “different,” but because people believes they are worth to be performed and listened to.

  We cannot deny the fact that it is easy for anyone to listen to, perform, and understand a choral music which text is in his own. With that stated, I will continue to try to create choral compositions that are worth listening to, and are wanted to be performed regardless of understating of the texts.

Law and Chaos

One of the good effects of learning harmony is that students learn to think about relationship of each notes in detail. And one of the bad effects of learning harmony is that students tend to think music is the sum of independent events or chords.


The students, who learned harmony but doesn’t have enough practical experience, tend to try to make everything perfect. They might be thinking the sum of perfect parts would be perfect whole. The result of such sum is often dull music.


I consider the balance is the most important aspect in music: the balance between unity and variety; something familiar and something different; something we know and something we don’t; and etc. In other words, the balance between law and chaos. It seems that dynamic reaction between the law and chaos in time makes arts living.


What we call music theory usually teaches only “law” side of the music. I found that it is very important to encourage students to retain and/or practice impulsive, spontaneous, and childlike compositional approach while they learn theory.


All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. This seems to be applicable to arts also.