Well as some of you may know I am a music composition major here at BYU. I'd like to articulate a simple thought I've developed over the years concerning good composition technique; I think this can readily be translated into other fields of composition and writing.
For westerners, any one piece of music has an innumerable amount of aspects to analyze - tempo, dynamics, instrumentation, voicing, texture, etc. As I've sought to figure out what writing methods lead to good compositions, I've come to realize that the most important thing, and perhaps the only important thing, is form. There's a saying - "there are no such things as poisons, only poisonous doses" - and that's somewhat relevant here. Cyanide, ricin, and even VFDF (short for Very Fast Death Factor) are all inhibitors that, in the proper amounts, can actually help fight certain diseases and ailments. Timbres, textures, frequencies, orchestrations - these may all lie at various points on the spectra of personal experience, but in the right place, for the right duration, and perhaps combined with the right admixtures, any musical element may contribute positively to a piece of music. This is what I've noticed with the masters: the content of their work is usually derived from their reactions to the previous genre. In every age there are many who try to be artists and writers, but only a relative few surface to lasting fame. They often use the same artistic materials, but those whose names we are familiar with placed these with a keen understanding of what the listener was expecting. After all, compelling communication by definition does not meet the expectations of the audience, otherwise they would pass over it as readily as they chew their daily meals.
For westerners, any one piece of music has an innumerable amount of aspects to analyze - tempo, dynamics, instrumentation, voicing, texture, etc. As I've sought to figure out what writing methods lead to good compositions, I've come to realize that the most important thing, and perhaps the only important thing, is form. There's a saying - "there are no such things as poisons, only poisonous doses" - and that's somewhat relevant here. Cyanide, ricin, and even VFDF (short for Very Fast Death Factor) are all inhibitors that, in the proper amounts, can actually help fight certain diseases and ailments. Timbres, textures, frequencies, orchestrations - these may all lie at various points on the spectra of personal experience, but in the right place, for the right duration, and perhaps combined with the right admixtures, any musical element may contribute positively to a piece of music. This is what I've noticed with the masters: the content of their work is usually derived from their reactions to the previous genre. In every age there are many who try to be artists and writers, but only a relative few surface to lasting fame. They often use the same artistic materials, but those whose names we are familiar with placed these with a keen understanding of what the listener was expecting. After all, compelling communication by definition does not meet the expectations of the audience, otherwise they would pass over it as readily as they chew their daily meals.
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