
Originally Posted by
rwayland
Well, thank you for your time and remarks. Your question caused me some serious pondering. First answer, nobody. to blame but myself except maybe Walter Piston's statment that the rules came from practice. That os what really opened my eyes and ears. From then on, I composed as seemed good to me. Later reinforcement came from Paul Hindemith and Duke Ellington, who said substantially the same thing. Deems Tayloor was helpful when he wrote that you are on your way when people hear your music and say, oh, that must be by --.
I should add that I had somne years as a performing musician befor I began composing, and I admit to a few real garbage compositions, most of which are happily lost. My first teacher was my mother. My last teacher was a Julliard grad, which did not last long because she said there was nothing she could teach me. So I listened to mountains recordings, wnet to many concerts, spent much time in cocktail lounges in San Francisco, until I finally realized that I could outperform all the pianists but one, and from him I learned much. After 25 years or more, I gained enough confidence to begin composing. During that time, I also did plenty of piano and organ performing, and a bit of brass.
Now I write as I please, but the techniques which I use would probably be recognized by J.S. Bach. My friend Antonio, for whom this work was named, says there is a lot of Bach in my work. That is a mountain of verbiage, and I wonder if I hava answered your question.
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