A Composer on Composing: Thoughts on Creating Music to Convey Emotion

Is the core of creating and articulating emotionally inspired musical ideas completely instinctive? As a composer creates music in an instinctive fashion, there is a certain level of excitement. The dynamic exchange between subconscious and conscious experience results in emotionally charged pieces of music. Rollo May (1975) talks about the creative breakthrough occurring during times of transition, the vividness of the moment the breakthrough occurs, and the new idea that is born will complete an incomplete form. While there is caution in other areas of life and society to deny emotions from overriding logical thought and common sense, the composer can harness these moments into a prodigious, creative outburst.

A composer cannot always predict the timing of this breakthrough. Composers can at times experience a wide array of emotions as important deadlines approach. Some composers need deadlines under which to operate as they generate a sense of creative energy in their current project. Living on the edge of creativity repeatedly though may not be a healthy experience for the composer mentally, physically and emotionally. Still, one must consider if the emotions a composer experiences under duress might help clarify the process by which an emotion becomes a musical expression. A composer can incorporate their emotional maturity and life experience into the process. These filters help to develop and refine a piece, regardless if it is a masterwork, a small chamber piece, or a work for younger students.

The creative process is at points frustrating for the composer as they recognize that an idea or section is incongruous to their aural vision of the piece. While creative processes differ among composers, the common thread of a restless imagination seems to exist in the mind (and heart/spirit) of most composers. The ability to generate an idea, and yet go through a process of refinement and experimentation with that same idea cannot be understated. Interruptions, digressions, and following creative intuitiveness are a benefit to the composer in the creative process. In moments, the composer might feel (conscious) that a section of music is not what was intended as easily as another person might feel uneasy about the purchase of a pair of shoes at a department store or a change in feeling towards another in what was a romantic relationship. An important part to emphasize is that the composer feels that something is incorrect or in congruent. There may be no rule or guideline that explains it logically, but the composer feels that they must continue the process of refinement.

Music can trigger or enhance any emotional state a person might experience. The composer must find ways to open that channel so that a basic idea becomes complex, and an inner emotion moves outwards to a felt and shared experience. As a composer, emotions (subconscious) are informed by life experiences, and feelings (conscious) become tangible expressions. To be able to convey emotion through music is highly personal, intimate, and instinctive. A composer must place themselves into a human situation that requires them to tap into those emotions and trust their intuition.

Composers hear what has yet not been heard, reach into the subconscious (emotions) from the conscious (feelings) mind, and mold an emotion into sonic existence. Information comes in bits – sometimes all at once like a mighty river, and other times in through a slow, trickling faucet of developing ideas. Regardless of how much information is available to the composer, fundamental elements that are present suggest certain choices for development and refinement within the creative process (e.g., the line implies suitable harmonic structure, the desired texture influences the form).

Composers know their own emotional template and experiences will influence the creation of a work. If the composer is only concerned with satisfying a personal standard as Keane points out, they are within their right to do so and must deal with positive and negative reception to the work (Keane, 1982, p.335). The composer must remember the audience will each delineate their own emotions and express feelings from their interaction with the work. An ensemble or group that re-creates a piece will also draw out and impress their own feelings during the performance of that music. Still, if the composer has diligently worked through all possibilities to produce the most sincere and authentic representation of emotion, there can be little disagreement as to the feeling expressed and the experience that is shared. A composer communicates emotions that are shared in humanity through sonic feelings embodied in different tonalities, meters, textures, and elements of musical expression.

The manner in which the composer uses different elements of music and compositional devices can influence the degree of abstract thinking required by the ensemble and listener to understand the piece. Timbre, texture, melody, harmony, rhythm, expressive elements and shape all contribute to the ability of the composer to communicate an abstract, yet emotional, idea. How does the composer create the sound of sorrow emanating from a grieving adult, the unabashed and care-free joy of children at play, or the fearfulness of impending doom on the horizon? The composer uses those elements in various combinations to help the performer, ensemble or audience to fill in the blanks and enact the human ability to imagine that abstract representation. The composer (and by default the performer, ensemble, and audience) moves forward from the emotional impulse that served as the germinal idea. In part it is to fully explore the depth of that feeling in a felt, sonic existence. But beyond that, the music moves all who would interact with it past the human experience beyond what was thought possible.

References

Keane, D. (1982). A Composer’s Approach to Music, Cognition, and Emotion. The Musical Quarterly, 68(3), 324-336. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/742004

May, R. (1975). The courage to create, New York, N.Y.: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc.