Essays
Freely written essays, thoughts on composition, reading notes, music reviews, and more.
Essays Are We Speaking in “DAW-lish”?
The Blind Spot in the DAW Production EnvironmentThe DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) has, before ...
Essays Deconstructing DAW Music Production with “A Story of a Garden”: Solitude, Contingency, and Coexistence with AI
Tsunehiro Uno's "A Story of a Garden" is a thought-provoking book that offers a new perspective ...
Essays A Further Look at Composition: Why is Empathy Through Music Possible?
(Originally posted on November 12, 1999)In a previous column, "Gazing at Composition," I attempt...
Essays Music Theory from a Composer’s Perspective: Two Types of Music Theory and How to Approach Them
(Originally posted on October 22, 1999)Chapter 1: The Story Called TheoryFirst, let's look up th...
Essays Gazing at Composition: A Hypothetical Model for Understanding the Act of Composition
(Originally posted on October 21, 1999)The act of composition is often perceived, both by compos...
Essays Going on a Field Trip with the Song I’m Composing
(Originally posted on April 17, 2007)The weather was beautiful today, so I saved the song I'm wo...
Essays Trying Out the Jew’s Harp
(Originally posted on July 8, 2006)Encouraged by my recent experience with a "Kalimba Assembly K...
Essays Excellent Websites for Beginners to Learn Orchestration
For those who want to use authentic orchestral sounds with software instruments but don't know t...
Essays Thoughts on a Binding Spell
(Original posted on October 22, 1999)If there was one "binding spell" that often troubled me whe...
Essays The Mental State During Composition
(Original posted on June 26, 2009)This text is an attempt to describe the mental state of my cre...