Expert: David Froom - 12/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: Okay, so im a 16 year old saxophonist and im wondering if you have any tips on music making. How can i make a good sounding piece? How do i start out doing it?

ANSWER: Well, that's really a big question.  How can you make a good sounding piece?  If it were easy, everyone would do it.  Sort of like asking:  I am a composer, but want tips on playing the saxophone.  How can I get a good sound?

To begin, though . . .

You try to imagine what you want the music to sound like.  You can start by trying to imitate a favorite piece.  Or, if no one has written the piece you want to hear, you try to imagine what that piece would sound like.

Then you start asking yourself questions:  what is the mood?  what is the range of mood?  how long will it be?  how does it start?  does it have a highpoint, and if so, what is that like?  how will it end?  what will the mood be when it is done?

Then, to achieve the goal of the imagined piece:  what is the musical language -- melodically, harmonically, rhythmically?  how do dynamics and articulation make things work better?  

Then you try to write it, and revise as you go, trying to make things more effective.

It is not easy.  Even a genius like Mozart, who could imitate pretty well at the age of 5, didn't write really fabulous music until he'd been at it for 10 years.

At first, your frustration will be that you can't get what you write down to sound as good as your imagined piece.  Then, after a few years of doing this regularly, your imagined piece will basically match the written piece.  Then, after a few more years, the process of writing it down will improve it.  As you do this, you'll start to question more and more what it is you have to say as a composer.  How do you decide for yourself what is good and what isn't?  How can you make something that already is good sound even better?  

So that's where you start.  It helps to have a good teacher.  

David Froom

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: In your opinion, which do you like better, classical or jazz music?

Answer
I like all kinds of music, including rock, jazz, and classical music.  Duke Ellington once said "if it sounds good, it is good."  

In my career, I am a classical composer.  But I used to play jazz, and I used to play rock.  They are all really good.  My instincts as a composer work best in a classical context.  So much so that I was not a good jazz or rock composer.  

David Froom