Stick Time: Vast Inspirational Riches

Edsel.  Beta-max.  New Coke.

 

In their respective days, these were supposed to be the “next big thing,” products that were thought to be so revolutionary that the paradigm would be re-written in their glorious image.

 

Not so much.  Contrary to what advertisers (particularly, it seems, the purveyors of various iGadgets) scream, “new” is not a synonym for “better.”  Sometimes the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ought to be the guide.

 

It is also true in the musical arts.  While some composers have developed new forms that never took hold (conduct a lot of 12-tone music in your program, do you?), many others turn to the vast riches of established forms for their inspiration.  Even the winner of this year’s Brock Student Composition found his muse in one of the oldest musical forms, the Mass.

 

Among the forms that seem to have almost limitless potential to inspire new compositions are various folk idioms.  Even though a melody may have been set many times before, composers seem able to draw continually fresh inspiration from them.  Here is just one such example of a spiritual melody that has had numerous settings; this is a performance from a recent ACDA divisional conference.