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Composers Forum |
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Question #2 - Who were early influences on your compositional style? MSB - M. Susan Brown; SH - Steve Hahn; TK - Tim Krueger; TS - Terry Schlenker |
MSB - My family played Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and many piano and vocal works from the Romantic era. In my own piano studies I was intrigued by Baroque music. One can’t get away from influences of all sorts. Once I found a reference to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (a musical comedy) in a serious composition I had written. (Where did that come from?!) SH - As a teen, I was influenced by a mix of classical composers—Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Hindemith, Kent Kennan, Halsey Stevens—and jazz and rock bands such as Doc Severinson, Cold Blood, Chicago, Todd Rungren, Tower of Power, the Flock (which led into the Mahivishnu Orchestra), Weather Report, Brecker Brothers, Gentle Giant, PFM, Chase, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Several of these composers/groups have been ongoing influences. TK - When I was a teen-ager, they were Mozart and Clementi. TS - My first exposure to contemporary music was through the music of Paul Hindemith. Even though I attended a very small high school in North Dakota, we had an exceptional music program. An amazing number of students were great musicians, among them several clarinetists. I accompanied a couple of them on Hindemith’s Clarinet Sonata. I was instantly hooked on the new sounds. I continue to have the greatest respect for Hindemith’s music. Coincidentally, I ended up studying composition with one of his students. I really didn’t listen to much classical music until I actually studied music. I can’t speak to specific influences, but I do believe we are influenced by the music we listen to. As I was exposed to the wonderful world of classical music in graduate school, I began to listen to a great deal of orchestral music. I immersed myself in the music of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, Copland, Barber, Britten, Sibelius, and, of course, Hindemith. |