Yeah, well, if you’re looking for an analysis of Janet Jackson’s hit tune of 1986, this ain’t it. For the sake of argument, I looked up the lyrics, and they pretty much match Sigmund Freud’s use of the phrase: “…instinctive seeking of pleasure and avoiding of pain to satisfy biological and psychological needs…,” which Freud frowns upon. I have no idea whether Ms. Jackson was referencing Freud when she wrote about abandoning a one-night stand, but the idea that the pursuit of immediate pleasure is best avoided definitely isn’t where I’m going.

When I write music, I listen to each change as I produce it, and go with what gives me immediate pleasure. As a result, I can depend on the finished composition being pleasurable for me as well, and I prove that to myself over and over again — when I’m running errands in my car, listening to my own compositions is often my default use of the sound system. It seems a bit egotistical, but, hey, this whole thing is a pursuit of something very personal through hard work, so that makes sense, doesn’t it?

Of course, there are a lot of technical details to composing, and I take delight in my successes overcoming those challenges as well. But simply listening to the sounds — the clusters of instruments playing tonal colors and abstract images — is at the top of my “pleasure principle.”

I have updated my website a bit, adding a whole page called “Notes on Style,” in which I describe in great detail how I write, what my goals are as I do so, and how it relates to the creation of a finished product which I hope can be recognized as uniquely my own. Apologies…that page is dense, full of music theory, and probably best appreciated by someone doing the sort of thing I’m doing. But as you know, I’m always as transparent as possible on the how, what, and why of my work, and I figured some detail on my general workflow, and the goal of having a distinct musical style reflected in the results, was about due.

In other news, you can expect a rendering of the 3rd section of “The Coast” (and a rendering of the entire piece up until then) in a few days. I’m working furiously, with a goal of completing the work before the start of the new academic semester early in January. On it!