New endeavors

It was really great to have Kaya come and talk to our class about her compositions. There were several things that she said that really stood out to me. The first was that she composes for what's available or needed. I really think this is where ingenuity comes in. I talked before about how Barber had unlimited resources granted to him when composing Anthony and Cleopatra, and this is one of the reasons it was such a big flop. When you have limitations such as staging and even what type of performers are available, you have to be creative about how to overcome those issues. We see examples of this all throughout Western music history. Entire new genres of music were created based on one person's or even a group's particular need. This is why we must be open minded to composers like Kaya, who are willing to step out of the bounds simply to be able to make a living at composing. It is a worthwhile endeavor and extremely important to our culture if we are to continue the creative process without depending solely on the cinema for our entertainment (something I fear is the future for our civilization). The other concept I really enjoyed was her mixing of genres. As we live in a society today that is becoming more global, and more resources than ever are becoming available to us, we must try to make some sense to the sensory overload that is ever present. While I will always be a fan of older operatic styles and feel it is very much worthwhile to see these productions and educate others so that they might also enjoy, I feel like it is still important to always be creating. Finding new ways to say things that is also accessible to others is a worthwhile endeavor.