Paul Moravec quotes

I had the opportunity to hear a lecture by Paul Moravec last week on the topic of music and memory. He's the 2004 Puiltzer Prize winner, so I was honored to be able to listen to what he had to say, some of which was quite quotable!

For instance, he said "Time is the medium of music." How so? Well, because we can't make sense of music without being able to remember music from earlier in the composition. We were also encouraged to make sense of music that is in our own memory, from childhood, perhaps, and consider how it affects us as composers today.

When we see something with our eyes, we try to make sense of it. When we hear music. it goes more directly to the subconscious. Think about how that affects us over the years when we hear a great piece of music again and again.

We got into a conversation about how music should have a certain inevitability to it. Paul Moravec added: "But if it's inevitable and you can see it coming a mile away, what good is that?"

And finally: "A bridge will collapse if all the tension goes out of it. So will a composition."

Some things to think about!