Daß es Funktioniert
by rachMiel

Some time back, my composition class in Freiburg was visited by an East German composer of some renown. A wild-eyed student asked the composer what the most important thing was for him in his music. The composer thought and said, “Daß es funktioniert,” which means ‘that it works’.

This has stuck with me: the notion that a composition is successful when it works. When it fulfils its promises, achieves its goals, remains true to itself and does what it has to do: nothing more, nothing less.

One of the toughest challenges composers face is the ability to regard their own work with the right amount of self-critique. Too little and weak phrases, passages – even entire pieces – will slip through the cracks. Too much and you’ll be paralysed by self-doubt.

To help you attain the kind of self-critique that will nudge you forward in your compositional evolution, I offer this pair of questions, courtesy of our East German friend: What, in your music, works, and what doesn’t work? You need to engage your entire being to answer these questions: head and heart. And you need courage: it’s painful to look critically at your artistic children.

Try this approach. Ease into an expectation-free state, then listen to your pieces as if they had been written by a friend or colleague. Do they work? If not, why not? How might you fix whatever it is that needs fixing?

Every great artist is a great self-critiquer and self-editor. I encourage you to develop these skills as much as you would any other musical technique.