Learning by Doing

I began composing and arranging music for fun around age fifteen. For a decade and a half, I explored a variety of stylistic materials—from blues and jazz to Renaissance madrigals, and from classical tonality to modernist atonality. During this period, I learned by doing—by composing pieces. I didn't study composition with a teacher until beginning a doctorate.

After completing a master’s degree in performance (French horn) at the University of Colorado, I enlisted in the Air Force to serve in military bands. (Otherwise, I faced being drafted to serve in Vietnam.) During my four-year enlistment, I wrote compositions for my colleagues. While serving in the band at the Air Force Academy, I performed in the Colorado Springs Symphony and composed chamber works that included strings.

After finishing my enlistment, I completed a doctorate in composition at the University of Illinois, studying primarily with microtonal composer Ben Johnston. Johnston worked with multiple approaches to composition, and he encouraged to continue exploring, which I did.

A Prophetic Prediction from Ben Johnston

Near the end of my studies with Johnston, he told me he had enjoyed hearing traces of vernacular elements in the art music I had submitted to apply to their doctoral program. He also noted I had stopped using stylistic mixtures in my latest works, and he questioned whether that choice was wise.

In my early works, Johnston felt mixing in vernacular influences had added a sense of vitality and free-spirited enthusiasm. He suspected that sometime in the future, I might again find incorporating elements of vernacular music into my art music more fascinating than suppressing my vernacular interests altogether. I was skeptical, but...

Moving On

As I composed new works, I worked more spontaneously, and as I worked, I paid close attention to my gut-level responses.

From 1975 to 1979, I composed several vocal and instrumental works. Among the vocal works, three used vernacular-influenced poetry and prose: (1) a trio of choral pieces used poems by e. e. cummings, (2) a full-length opera used a libretto by New Orleans poet Leven Dawson, and (3) a set of solo songs for tenor and harpsichord used poems by e. e. cummings.

While working with vernacular-influenced texts, I composed vernacular-influenced music. I loved working this way and realized the wisdom of Johnston’s foresight. Not only was I working exuberantly, but I was also exploring a vastly expanded expressive range. Since then, I have mixed vernacular influences into my art music whenever it suits my expressive intent.¹