Do you remembering playing a game when you were young where everyone would sit in a circle and the first person would whisper a sentence in the second person’s ear and the second person would repeat it to the third person and so on all around the circle.  When you got to the end, the last person would repeat the phrase out loud and often with hilarious results because the sentence degraded as it moved through the circle.  It’s one of the problems with communication.  If you want your message delivered with complete accuracy, it is best to delivered to the intended ears yourself.

Now think about how you have just finished performing the premiere of a new piece of music that you have been sweating over for months.  This is the very first time the audience has heard a performance of this piece.  You know you aren’t going to please everyone but you really hope the majority of the audience enjoyed the piece.   You also know it is going to be tough when you hear someone say that they just did not enjoy it.  I’m here to tell you that it is alright.  If the audience liked it, if they disliked it, if they have an opinion about it positive or negative, you have managed to communicate with the audience.  You have elicited a reaction.  What you do not want is for the majority of the audience to leave with no opinion on what they just heard because that means that you have failed as a communicator.

This is just like when you give a speech about a topic that is close to your heart.  People may either agree or disagree with what you have said.  That is their right.  The really important thing to remember is that if they have an opinion, at least they heard you.  If they walk away with absolutely no opinion then you most likely failed as a communicator.

When I write a piece of music I am trying to elicit a response from both the musician and the audience.  This is more difficult that direct communication.  If I actually play the music, I can interpret the music through my dynamics, melodies and rhythms to try and reach those that are listening.  If someone else is playing the music that I have written, I am leaving that interpretation in the hands of a third party and yes, things can get lost in translation.  There has to be a certain level of trust between the composer and the musician.  The musician and the composer have to be in sync if the musician is going to accurately purvey the emotional content and meaning behind the piece that the composer intended.  A quality piece of music that has been appropriately played can leave an audience ecstatic or in tears, depending on the interpretation of the music.  It is when the audience leaves with no feeling at all that I have to accept the fact that I have failed to deliver my message as a composer.

To most composers, hearing someone sing or hum a tune that they have written is a huge compliment.  “They heard it.  They liked it.  They liked it enough to learn it.  My message got through!”  I have learned through years of hard knocks that they really don’t have to love it or hate it as long as they listen and actually have an opinion about it, I can be satisfied.  I learn from their opinions.  I learn how to make my music more interesting, more satisfying.  And maybe next time they will be whistling a tune when after hearing what I was trying to tell them.