Composing

Playing to Your Strengths and Finding Your Voice

As a young composer, I struggled to the point of nearly abandoning music writing altogether because of the fear that I had nothing to...

A Composer's Quest for the Sublime

In my last post, I mentioned the author C.S. Lewis. In his autobiographical work Surprised by Joy he talks about an experience he had...

Arashiyama

One of the most popular tourist spots in Kyoto, Japan is Arashiyama. It means "storm mountain" in Japanese, but whenever I've gone there...

Sunrise on a New World

If you've ever started a new venture, if you've ever moved to the big city, if you've ever begun a new life you'll understand how I felt....

One Weird Trick to Break Through Writer's Block

You've probably seen the hashtags or reddit threads where people post their "shower thoughts." Many of them are quite funny, but there...

Will It Be Awesome?

Several years ago, I had a very humorous boss who used to always ask us the same few questions. This would come at times when you were...

Writing for Fans not Phantoms

Modern classical music has become a respected genre in the last ten years or so thanks to the likes of Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds. The...

Planning for Inspiration

Many composers and artists speak of the ideas or experiences that inspire them to create. But often when I sit down to the piano I find...