The Language of Music Continues to Develop

The language of classical music is powerful and inspiring. It moves to action those of us who love music. And those who work within its disciplines face long hours of hard work in pursuing our craft for a sometimes fleeting moment of recognition and, maybe, glory. Music’s power is so great that its universality is taken upon as a personal music, so that the music becomes one’s own, and we worry when the music composed today does not fit into our definitions of music.

The language of music is not dead to composers of today (“Classical Music Tapped Out,” June 6) but is there to be formed by their skills and individuality. Their works may not conform to all listeners as correct or useful and, indeed, may appear to be dead. It certainly is not.

The music I compose and that of my colleague and fellow Independent Composers Assn. officer Burt Goldstein is not the same musical language, yet it is still part of the overall continuum of the language of music.

I base my music on theme, harmony and a steady rhythm; perhaps a reiteration of past music or just a continuance of music based upon consonance and scales, somewhat rooted in the ancient chants. This is different from Goldstein’s compositions, which are rooted in the more immediate past of sharper dissonance, shorter melodic gestures and changing rhythm structure.

However, to say one is right and one is wrong is upon the ear of the beholder. But to dismiss our musically divergent styles as either ugly and isolated or hopelessly imitative of the past is when one does not examine the past and the perceptions of our current musical masters. To look into the past for inspiration is not to transgress the Muse but to fall into the other world of composers who do not add new technique but refine existing ones. Neither world is incorrect.

The most disturbing factor of those opposed to today’s continuum of music is the lack of faith in our individuality, that we are not capable today of creating music of lasting quality and beauty and perfection. It is really quite sad to think that our works as composers today are perceived as doomed before the ink dries, that the individuality and creative spark put into music is unworthy, as some have closed down their ability to experience the new.

MATTHEW LAWRENCE HETZ

Secretary

Independent Composers Assn.

Los Angeles