I believe Stravinsky was right, in the sense that a composer can’t put together a series of notes and expect that every listener will derive the same meaning from the way those notes are organized.

On the other hand, I certainly feel things when I listen to music. I feel, quite deeply, a sense of hope and triumph when listening to the finale of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

Not everyone will feel this same sense of hope when listening to Beethoven’s 9th, however. A composer and a performer cannot control how the listener will interpret their musical offering, as each listener brings a unique set of life experiences and listening abilities to the table. So, since music’s communication is inexact, it’s communication of any sort of one-dimensional meaning is inexact as well.

But let’s go back to what that reviewer was saying for a moment. Does a composer write differently based on their particular set of life experiences?

Of course they do.

If I look back at my own work, I believe there’s more heart and soul in the works I’ve created since becoming a father. If you ask me to explain what particular aspects of the music are deeper, I’ll be at a loss. What I can say, for a fact, is that the whole process of creating music has been much more moving to me, since having kids.

For artists then, a silver lining may be found even in life’s worst experiences, as they will provide another shade of emotional content to be communicated. Artists may be incapable of doing anything else than grieving at the height of these travesties, but somewhere, down the road, we can deal with these painful life experiences through our art.

A few years back, I was going through a bit of a rough patch at work in one of my previous positions. I felt as though I had a lot more to offer, but most of my ideas for improvements were shot down out of the gate. After awhile, I gave up offering suggestions and began going to work and simply going with the flow. Over my lunch breaks during that period, I wrote a lament for violin and piano. You can listen to an excerpt of the piece by clicking on the link below.