Page 143 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

132 Musicological perspectives on composing

As alluded to in the introduction, the challenge is to trace fundamental
aspects by going beyond the mere enumeration of the manifold possibilities
for generating ideas. The best way to do this in what follows seems to be to
draw attention to the creative crux of the three composers’ composing processes.
I thus hope to remove the generating of ideas from its isolated observation and
integrate it into the unfolding of the composing process. Because of their different
initial circumstances, the three examples will enable me to give an overall idea
of the complexity of the subject matter. I will then elaborate on the fact that
ideas ultimately emerge primarily during processes and are not simply isolated
cognitive acts that precede their own implementation.
The comparison of aesthetic attitudes I outlined in the previous section
reveals that each of the three composers (Wozny, Essl, Ciciliani) sees the
creative crux of his or her composing as being located on a different level.
Joanna Wozny thinks and composes in sounds, or rather sound structures/
textures, in direct correspondence with the sound potential of instruments.
Initially, extra-musical impressions – such as the shoal of fish or flock of
birds – may play an impulse-like role in this; in fact, Wozny already ascribes a
certain musical dimension even to this visual imagination. It is also conceivable
that the sound ideas came first and brought the visual associations subse-
quently. In any case, it is obvious that this extra-musical dimension has no
significant role in the further composing process. Her whole work process is
then dedicated to developing, transforming and combining sound ideas.
Wozny uses sketch paper to develop elements of timing and articulation, and
for the diastematic setting (see Figure 4.2 below). Because of her direct work
with sounds, her method is primarily processual and less about filling in a
previously thought-out and fixed formal framework. However, this does not
allow us to draw direct conclusions about a generalised way of proceeding.
By contrast, Marko Ciciliani tends to see the creative crux, or rather the
springboard, for his creative work in elaborating a conceptual framework. As
a rule, he finds his first ideas for pieces in extra-musical contexts:

I usually find such contexts much more interesting and inspiring than, for
example, having a great timbre. I can enjoy timbres, but for me that in
itself doesn’t generate an idea for a whole piece. […] Musical discourse is
often about concepts of material in some way – how does someone use
his [musical] material, how does somebody else use his, etc. Frankly, I
don’t find that particularly interesting. Because the things that really
interest me are additional meanings or some kind of additional layers of
meaning that a certain choice of material can entail.

For Ciciliani, it is often elements from audiovisual media or pop culture that
form a reservoir of stimuli because of their strong potential for associations.
However, he also acknowledges a certain risk of losing himself in conceptual
ideas – hence the importance of tackling the musical transcription as quickly
as possible. The design of a conceptual framework, which may be as exciting