Rob Cureton
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Rob Cureton |
| ASCAP | Classical Music Composition |
| Backstory I left Los Angeles for San Diego some time ago to attend graduate school in psychology. The change of city was dramatic for me. San Diego has a pace and a peace to it that Los Angeles probably has not had for 100 years. But the transition also occurred at a time of life for me that made the cities seem an even greater contrast. Los Angeles is incomprehensibly vast. San Diego is a city that can give you confidence to explore and try new things. So it was for me. I have always composed classical music, but never with feedback or erudite supervision. My mentors have been Mozart and Beethoven. They are great instructors if you simply listen. While they don't discuss their work, all they need to say is in their music. They can stimulate, inform, model, and inspire. What more could you want from a teacher? Well, it probably helps when your teachers are alive. Or does it? When I studied music at USC, I asked a professor:, "If Beethoven were composing today, do you think anyone would take interest in him?" my instructor said, "Probably not." Apparently, his era has passed. Ouch! That's not really the world I want to live in. I think there's a great deal of classical music that has yet to be composed. My Blog has traced my discoveries and the unfolding of my compositional style over the past year or so. While I regularly perform popular and jazz music in live forums, the opportunities to perform classical are dramatically limited. Let's be frank--classical music has very limited draw for the public. Classical music is, however, ideally suited to soundtracks. In 2006, I contributed to or wholly supplied the score for three independent films. The full length, Mint in Box; The student film, Live Without You; and the comedy, Rage Against the Machine. The latter was a competition "short" filmed by Kirsten Gallon. Kirsten had performed with me the year before in a musical staged in San Diego called Dream Secrets and Broken Glass. This musical blended jazz and poetry to explore the fragmented psyche of an individual through dreams. The show, my first completely theatrical composition, continued for 3 months and brought together a delightful collection of disparate talent from throughout San Diego and Mexico. |
Music samples: June 2005 Operatifs Capriccio (Sonatina 6) 8/06 Music for Film AcunaOther samples are at my website: Music for Film: Music for Film |
| News: It was my delight to unveil a Capriccio written for San Diego's Operatifs on Sunday August 30th. These enterprising artists hold their next event October 1st. The Capriccio, (Sonata 6), was a duet performed with my colleague, Matthias von Herrath on Violin. A sample recording is posted below. Work is now afoot on developing the second component of a 6 piece set of Capriccios, called Hexpressiva. The second of the hex is in the key of E minor, and should be completed in the next 10 days or so. |
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Music by Commission Please contact me if you need classical music composed for:
I welcome a challenge! |
| The Blog Now remember, not many people listen to classical music. Even fewer compose it. I was not able to discern any organized group on the internet that exchanged information, ideas and inspiration. My "mentors" have been speechless for over 200 years. So imagine the isolation. This is a problem I have not solved. My response is simply to keep composing and to begin writing. Late last year I began a blog of my thoughts and discoveries in the domain of classical composition. It's a somewhat metaphoric journey reflecting on musical insights I uncover through composing and listening to classical music. Here's the link: Rob's Classical Composition Weblog |
A comment on Keys Composers and announcers are fond of describing a classical piece based on its key: So we here about a Beethoven's Sonata in A minor, Bach's Toccatta and Fugue in D, etc. Why do they do this? How many in the audience could tell if it was in A minor versus in B minor? Just because a song begins in E minor, does it stay there? No. Songs modulate their key. As a composer, I care because some keys are just harder to play in. On a piano, the confoiguration of white keys to black keys changes substantially, throwing off your fingers in a game of digital twister. Similarly, if I write a piece for piano and violin, I want my violinist to be able to play the piece without undue discomfort. So key's matter somewhat to the composer, but they shouldn't really matter to an audience. |