Katherine Young
Bassoon Tutor
Which skill, that you’ve learned by writing for/working with an ensemble, helps you in everyday life?
Every time I work with an ensemble, I learn something new about the piece I’ve written, and in so doing, I learn and relearn humility and the skill of inhabiting uncertainty.
Is music science? Why (not)?
Music is not a science when I’m making it, but I bet there’s someone out there for whom it is.
Where are the limits of notation?
Quickly, I see a few ways to think about the question of the limits of musical notation:
first, no musical notation is complete; all musical notation leaves details unspecified, questions unanswered. Second, as far as what can function as musical notation, those limits are prescribed by the notaters’ and interpreters’ imagination and analytic skills. Third, musical notation reaches a limit when it’s not needed, when memory or spontaneity take over.