Composing music is both art and craft, in my estimation.  I have chosen to manipulate sound in a manner that affects the senses and sensibilities of others, and that is how I define composition as art.  Additionally, I feel it is incumbent upon me to work with these sonic materials with the same care, to the best of my ability, as that of a carpenter designing and building a fine piece of furniture or a vintner producing a complex varietal.  

That is the craft of composition.


I believe that music is experienced intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, and that all of these properties can be present in a piece of music.  And just as surely, a work may focus on just one of these facets.  While this is, perhaps, a matter of subjectivity, my
creative process typically identifies the parameters within which I will work.  Sometimes this is relatively simple, as when I am writing sacred music.  More often, it is a matter of synthesis.  The intellect need not be abandoned when music expresses the spiritual, just as great complexity can often invoke great emotion in certain listeners.


It is my desire that the music I compose communicates with those who hear it.  I believe that if I have been diligent in utilizing my craft, that will typically be the result. It matters not to me if  I am reaching their brain or their heart or their soul… or all three. 

 

In the common parlance, it’s all good.