Thursday, April 9, 2015

A to Z Challenge: H is for Harmony

H is for Harmony

A good story is the sound of harmony on paper.

I’m a music educator. I enjoy performing in orchestral and wind ensembles, but what I really love is conducting—that’s where the real fun is, and that’s also where the work is. Conducting gives you the opportunity to analyze a musical score from all angles. A great composition is no accident. It’s crafted with a careful balance of rules and intuition created from the heart of a gifted composer. The fun comes when I can connect with the language of the composer and convey the meaning to the members of the symphony so they can execute a breathtaking performance.

The writing process is so very similar. A memorable novel is no accident. Technique takes years to learn and a lifetime to master. There are layers upon layers of depth and meaning in each line of writing, all waiting for the reader to discover and enjoy. As a newbie, I’ve come to love this process of creating harmony on paper. It’s a challenge, it’s hard work, it’s relentless, but it is worth the effort.


My dream is for everyone to one day sing my story. 

4 comments:

  1. Music and conducting is a great analogy for writing. It takes a strong personality to pull everything together and make it play and sing in harmony.

    Stephen Tremp
    A to Z Co-host
    Twitter: @StephenTremp

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    1. True. It wasn't until I began analyzing my favorite novels that I discovered the similarities between musical composition and crafting a novel. Hats off to those for whom this comes easy!

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  2. What a great post! I've never been on the conductor end, but I definitely appreciate the work and effort put into an ensemble piece of music. So much time, effort, trial and error, experimenting and so on. I had difficulty writing just for me for solos.

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    1. And then add to that, everything a good novelist needs to do to publish--critiques, edits, formatting, cover design, finding a publisher, marketing! My head hurts thinking about it. A novelist's work is never done!

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