Composition Matters

So, what do musicians need to explore and advocate for the new music they are interested in? Source material–probably recordings. Well, that should be easy. All you’d have to do is call up the orchestra that last played the piece and ask them to send a copy and…oh, right. That recording, if there is one, does not officially exist and so cannot be sent to you. Sorry.

Robert has outlined very clearly ways in which a new piece could be structured and presented to make learning and performing it more enjoyable to him. If you asked 200 composers Family Feud-style what they would like most to change about current circumstances, I’d bet at least 188 of them would say they want a recording to take home. I know there’s a lot of positive negotiation occurring in the recording agreement arena right now between musicians and management, but even more than the wonderful world of Internet sales and downloads, composers need to walk away from the performance with a sound recording that can be used for their own study and the promotion of the piece (i.e. to secure future live performances by other wage-earning musicians). I’m not sure how many musicians actually object to this usage and how much of it is just an old rule that no one has changed. Most composers are so thankful that the orchestra is playing/commissioning them in the first place that when they are denied a recording of their work they will not press the issue too hard. But it’s a very important one if the piece is to have any life at all after its premiere.

The most common objection to this idea is a fear that the recording will be sold and the musicians will not be consulted or properly compensated. Is a composer who does such a thing wrong? Absolutely. Does it happen? I’ve never run across such a case, but I have heard a rumor of it happening. So when this issue next comes up for discussion among the players in your own ensemble, I’d ask those wary of such a proposal to consider this: Think about how much your orchestra’s last record made, then discount that figure to approximate the black-market, underground Internet rate for new music. (And if you think “classical music” sales numbers are down, you should see new music. Makes jazz look positively lucrative.) Then weigh that risk of financial loss if someone breaks the rules against the education of your composers and their ability to write even better music because of what they have studied and learned. Just put a price tag on that and compare.