I am almost finished with a new piano piece. In getting down to the last stages of editing, when I must open my mind to allow any last bits of inspiration to flow forth, I have looked back on my first and only previous piece for solo piano: my requiem. I have been studying and playing with it, trying to figure out where my mind was when I wrote it, and it is a fascinating experience to see just how different I am today from the kid who was only just becoming comfortable with the title "composer." The writing is by no means sloppy, nor is it uninspired, but it is limited. And I can see now how much I could have done with it. So, while still trying to finish my newest piece, I decided a few days ago to spend some time "reworking" the requiem the way I would write it now. After trying and feeling that any change I make to it seem unoriginal, I realized that to change that piece would be to go back and rewrite a journal entry from long ago. My mind is no longer where it was, but that is okay. I have to leave what is already done. I have some question that have been churning in my mind. I posit to fellow artists (of any media): how do you feel about borrowing from oneself? Is an earlier version of oneself almost like a completely different person? Does it hold extra meaning to borrow from a requiem, a piece initiated by a death and inspired by a life, if all energy is eventually converted and redirected? If each of us are simply a sum total of our experiences, will the life and death of a friend that inspired my requiem come to color all that I write?
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 00:28:04 +0000
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