#composing

David McMullin @mcmullin@musicians.today

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@composers@fedigroups.social A bit more about this piece, which is close to my heart. These are poems that my wife (fiancée back then) and her parents love. The initial idea was that my father-in-law would sing them—he has a beautiful voice—but what I wrote turned out to be too strange. He likes my music but this is pretty hard to sing if you’re not used to atonality. 1/n #composing

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David McMullin @mcmullin@musicians.today

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie Yes, I’ve heard plenty of examples of cultural appropriation in new music, some detestable. And I can understand how someone might accuse me of that regarding a couple of my compositions, but I do my best to approach other cultures, when I do, with humility and respect. In this case, there were special circumstances too; I wasn’t really even going outside my family. @composers@fedigroups.social #composing

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David McMullin @mcmullin@musicians.today

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@PatrickOBeirne@mastodon.ie I touched on that topic a bit in this old thread too. https://musicians.today/@mcmullin/112094655861658591 @composers@fedigroups.social #composing

musicians.today

David McMullin (@mcmullin@musicians.today)

At the ISCM festival in Hong Kong in 2002, I was on a composers discussion panel where the topic (I can’t remember exactly how they framed it) had something to do with how composers choose whether to participate in the international mainstream, to borrow from other cultures or to draw on their own culture’s musical traditions. It seemed to be assumed that such categories were clearly defined, and at least implied that these were mutually exclusive choices. 2/12

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