Exhaustive

After finishing the scores to send to the ECM, and many sighs of relief, I began to reflect on the process that was composing this piece. The realization came to me a little late that notes weren't enough. Pitch and rhythm don't make music. In fact there's music out there that disregards both (maybe not so much rhythm, but pitch). So what does this leave us with?

Expression
mood
gesture

The discovery of this came after the fact that most of my piece was completed. But I now know and see how much a gesture can effect the music that precedes and proceeds it. It has so much to do with the mood and the tone established, that the notes are not as important, and with these things we get closer to what we want to convey....musicality.

I now feel silly looking back on my other compositions with how little direction I have given the performers. I am thankful that my works were not performed by robots and that the performers were able to interpret what they thought I had wanted instead of play the expressionless notes that I had written. My intent has to be in the score, and every note needs direction, a way to help determine the phrase.

If nothing else, I am happy to have had this experience if for nothing else than to realize the amount of detail I was neglecting in my composition.