Why Composition?

I like organizing things. That is not to say, of course, that I am an organized person by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, as anybody who knows me well can testify, in most facets of my life I am decidedly disorganized. The disarray of my day to day life, however, has not precluded from, on occasion, finding enjoyment in the act of organization. It was on one of these occasions that I discovered my love of composition, for, borrowing from the reflections of Edgard Varèse, music is simply organized sound.

My experience with music started badly: when my mother signed me up for piano lessons in the 5th grade. It was a nightmare for both me and my teacher, and although it may difficult to determine how much of that was due to our vastly different personalities, it is safe to say I was hardly inspired to be the next Mozart. As I have often remarked, the only good thing to come from it was the addition of a piano to the household.

Five years later, during the summer before 10th grade, I was drawn back to the piano. I like to remember it as a magical moment of discovery, but in reality is was just an attempt to pick out the melody of "Axel F" from Beverly Hills Cop. Humble beginnings, I suppose. Soon after, I became fascinated with music, and spent a good portion of the summer exploring it.

When school started, I befriended some of my peers who were already accomplished musicians and from them I learned two things. First, I had an incredibly underdeveloped ability to play instruments compared to my peers. And second, I had a surprisingly overdeveloped theoretical understanding of how music worked, to the point that I had already surpassed my peers. It was the combination of these two facts that inspired me to try my hand at composition.

~Ned