Page 29 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

18 The topography of composing work

Younger or childless composers often seem to have less marked time
restraints, meaning that they can work late into the night if necessary.
Nevertheless, many composers struggle with a lack of time regardless of their
individual life situation because very few live exclusively off composing.
Many of our interviewees have strict work hours. Bernhard Gander
explained: “I have an incredibly well-ordered daily work routine. I get up at
six, start at seven, work until eleven. Then I have my lunchbreak, and then I
work again from two until six, seven at the latest. On Saturdays I only work
until noon, and I never work on Sundays. That’show I fill 40 hours a week.”
Katharina Klement similarly reported that her work day was “as disciplined
as possible”: “So that I’m at work for my few uninterrupted hours a day.
That’s the most important thing. […] Just so I know: from nine till noon,
mobile off, door closed!” Christof Dienz mentions “multiple pressures”: “I
have a family, I’m taking part in a festival, I’m the curator of a festival, I have
to work in many different fields. I have to plan quite a lot. […] Basically, I
have a daily work routine like a civil servant.”
Because of these time restraints and their multiple activities, composers
have to learn to deal with pressure, “or I wouldn’tbeabletodothisjob”,as
Christof Dienz sums it up. Judit Varga added that she was currently unable
to compose at night “because if I do, I’ll fall asleep the next day while
teaching at university. And yet the work gets done anyway. I don’t know
how the human brain can function in this way. Now that I’munder time
pressure, I get considerably more done in three days than I did in a month in
the past five years.” However, time pressure is not always experienced as a
positive factor. On the contrary, in extreme cases it can become such a
burden, as one composer reported, that she felt “completely paralysed”.The
time available, in other words, is less an objective factor than a subjective
experience.
In these accounts, self-discipline is indispensable and not connoted nega-
tively. John Dewey viewed self-discipline as a central feature of human efforts.
When human beings have a plan and want to achieve something, they enter
into a process in which they act in anticipation of the desired state. This
process, argues Dewey (1916/1941: 161f.), “demands continuity of attention
and endurance. This attitude is what is practically meant by will. Discipline
[…] is its fruit.” But you have to practice to attain such a concentrated focus
on a work task and to develop stamina. Judith Unterpertinger described this
process:

First I actually had to learn how to work from home. I found it hard, but
I’ve learnt how. […] I try to get into a rhythm, but in fact I never stick to
it and ultimately everything gets pushed back into the night. That means
I can only work properly when it’s dark and there are no more distrac-
tions. […] In the morning, over lunch and in the afternoon, I tend to take
care of all the office work, meaning emails, organising, phone calls,
and so on.