On Composition

For me, composing is like painting; a tombed improvisation; a palette of colours, tones and strokes to be sealed in strict form forever.  How might one create without tools?  And for what purpose is the effort if the fruits of labour are not to be preserved?

Having studied the piano compositions of Liszt and Chopin, as well as read at unimaginably great length on their performance styles, especially that of improvisation by the former, I have come to understand that creating new paths and being absolutely true to the 'self' is the way a Purposeful musician must live.  His subconscious must be trained, through repetition, to enjoy the enhanced receptivity of his senses which provide seemingly endless supplies of inspiration... inspiration in the form of sights, sounds and physical experiences.

Once acquired, the Purposeful musician can begin to associate colours and tones, or chords and melodies, with these realisations, creating an honest representation of what he has experienced.  It would then be the difficult task of an interpreter to play the compositions with his own similar experiences and purposes to give them any justice they may deserve... and herein lies the reason I have drifted towards composition rather than performance.

There are many excellent pianists in the world playing many excellent compositions by many excellent composers... of the past.  I fear that this enormity of performers and meagreness of genuine, purposeful, modern composers will put a huge stop on the progress of piano composition in the years to come.  If it were not for Liszt and Chopin, our performers of today would have a much less rich repertoire; imagine all the Chopin études we would miss, the Liszt rhapsodies and symphonic poems we would never know or be able to produce ourselves.  This thought sends shivers down my spine.

For this very reason, I have decided to attach myself entirely to the spark I felt upon moving to Budapest and travel my own path of piano composition with the absolute intention of creating performance-worthy, purposeful, melodic and memorable compositions for myself and other musicians to play.  Due to the composition method I have recognised to use naturally, I do not 'score' my music to manuscript, I simply write the chords à la jazz lead sheets, and encourage the performers to learn my melodies by ear yet study and use the chords I provide (from my website).

In this way, my songs are flexible yet do not lose their structure or form.  Jazz trios, orchestras, solo violin, guitar duos and bands can all perform my compositions by adapting the chords and melody to a particular rhythm; studying a score is not required.  Some people will say this is not true composition, but many people said that Liszt's B minor Sonata was a joke... including Clara Schumann.  Deterred, I am not.

The first step I took in finding my niche was to spend many, many weeks researching, digging up and listening to so-called 'contemporary composers'.  I used YouTube and personal websites to vigorously devour this new music and see what I liked, didn't like, to analyse what was appreciate by listeners and what was not, as well as trying to find purposes behind the music.

Whilst I have obviously not heard every composers' every composition, I heard many nonetheless.  My conclusion was:  disappointment.  I found little in emotion, progressive thinking or unexpected melodies or chords.  This is not to say I disliked everything; au contratire, I found many enjoyable pieces, but in general, I heard very similar styles, structures, chord sequences and techniques, the most common of which is to play a so-called melody using only the notes of the chord that the left hand is playing.  This became numbing after a number of days.

I wrote what I liked, did not like and could see was proving successful for that particular composer, and spent much time carving out what I felt was my most natural approach to composition.  I discovered that I enjoy complex chords, a light touch, unpredictable progressions, not too much modification of melody for fear of losing the listener, durations of around 3 and a half minutes and, to make a humble comparison, a mix of Liszt virtuosity (parallel scales, rapid right hand arpeggios), Chopin gentleness (octave melodies, trills) and some jazz chords thrown in here and there (9ths, 13ths) to add a little colour to the overall sound.

Once I home in on a particular emotion following a particular event or thought, I simply seek the equivalent emotion on the piano.  I select a key with my eyes closed and begin to fill a bag of ideas both in terms of chords and melodies.  This develops and techniques are added as required.  Over a few days, I polish the piece and record it.  When I listen to it, I hope to experience the same emotion that I had when I started - if I do not, I rework or completely destroy the piece.  Once satisfied, I release it.

In the event that you wish to comment or ask more about my approach to composition, feel free to contact me: danthecomposer@gmail.com - Check out the other pages of my blog for more insights into jazz piano, discover my jazz piano book, my website itself and please share anything you may have enjoyed.

I use SoundCloud for compositions which are not on an album, but anything on an album is available in sample form on my website and SoundCloud.

Thank you for reading.