“It’s rare for a composer – any composer – to have access to an orchestra in a laboratory situation. Normally you write and then you just have to present to an orchestra who’s got no time, and they quickly learn it”.
Richard Tognetti – Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO).
“Composing could be months of work and then it’s all over in an afternoon. It’s a bit like planning a firework display; Lots of planning then it’s over in the length of the piece of music.
“It was amazing to have workshop time, to hear lots of things and to have the luxury of being able to edit things out and get it right”.
Jonny Greenwood – Radiohead
This brief snippet caught my eye having stumbled on a video of a conversation between Tognetti and Greenwood. Having had a work commissioned by the ACO, Radiohead’s Greenwood was celebrating the opportunity to collaborate with them rather than just deliver a final product.
It struck me as a great example of the value of taking small steps – experimenting on what works and tweaking as a you go, when most compositions are offered as a final product because there is no time for anything else. Sounds a lot like how many projects are delivered.
In other words, when creating something new together, it pays to test ideas, learn through success and failure and build something together that none could have built alone. Even creative geniuses value this approach, so I guess it’s good enough for the rest of us.