David Dean Mendoza

Usually composers do not develop in the same way as performers.  In fact all composers should in my opinion come from some sort of performance background.  In my case, I started playing piano at age seven, and viola at the age of ten in my elementary school.  Truthfully, I was quite horrible.  I did not become a capable performer until after my studies at the university. Through perseverance and practice I have overcome many anxieties that have hindered my development, and have performed solo at many concerts with only manageable stage fright. 

To be a composer performer means total freedom.  The freedom of not being able to depend on having to ask performs to play new music.  This is a tremendous advantage over those composers who don’t play their own music.  Still,some composition professors in academia would have young composers believe thatit is easy to get performers to play new works.  On the contrary, young composers do not have the easy access to performers as their professors do. Sometimes getting performers is rather easy, yes, but in many cases, a string quartet for example or any forces larger than two persons poses a very real problem for young composers. It takes good communication skills to get other people to do somethingthey might not want to do.  Another problem arises when as an advanced undergraduate or masters student writes works for the orchestra. How do these talented young composers get played? 

Going into the university environment one would think thatnetworking would make it simpler to advance the music of young composers, but in reality the composer is perhaps the most isolated of all musicians.  Lets face it; most performers scoff at composers even though they may be acquaintances or friends with them.  The truth is that most people including performers, music theorists, musicologists, music educators, and others in themusic fields do not see any value in new music.   

Composers cannot be discouraged from these developments forthere is a path towards freedom of expression.  In our times today we have access to two new developments that can improve our situation. There are: the internet and improved technology.  The internet has brought us the ability to create our own website, the ability to network across the globe with other music makers, access to purchase western and non western instruments, access to buy sheet music directly from publishers, access to learn about all kinds of musical systems

Improved technology has given us the power to buy computers and other devices in which to create, record, and master electronic music, and laser printers in order to print our music, and the ability to create electronic instruments and sounds.

With all of this and all that it implies one must ask, why attend university?  While I agree that a great deal of music making can be learned from home, the disciple of the academic environment in combination with the facilities such as practice rooms,concert halls, electronic music studios, office spaces, and the general university experience is worth at least a bachelor’s degree.  The rising cost of such degree is something for the composer to think about.  As someone told me, “Don’t go into debt with a degree in the arts!”

And what about the future?  Without a doubt the composer has to be prepared for what’s awaiting in the so-called “real world” The positions of the past are long gone,such as the copyist, but there is hope. To be a music teacher in the public sector takes a lot a patience and skill.  Without a degree in music education it can be rather difficult to get into the school system, but the question is, would a composer want to? It’s a hard road to travel, but I am optimistic about the future.  People need music, even our music.