As a student of composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, I am fortunate enough to be exposed continuously to the latest musical offerings from both Australian and international composers. I also enjoy the luxury of having an excuse to spend countless hours analysing and discussing a huge variety of works, predominantly composed in the past half-century or so. It is these experiences that I intend to share each week and I hope that you will help me make sense of this modern musical world in which we live.

Today, however, I’d like to share my thoughts on a slightly more mundane topic.

The Christmas/New Year period has, as usual, provided me with a number of  opportunities to catch up with some people I don’t often see throughout the year. Something you should know about me is that, in spite of the fact that I’ve taken on this blog, I don’t really like to talk about myself. On these annual catch-ups, however, the time inevitably comes when I have to explain what I’ve been doing for the past 12 months. And then, the dreaded question: “What style of music do you compose?”

Now, I’m not a fan of labels. It was (apparently) Søren Kierkegaard who said “Once you label me, you negate me.” While I’m not entirely sure what that means, I suspect that Mr. Kierkegaard and I are in agreement. We do, however, live in an age of quick-fixes. Plus, as I already mentioned, I don’t like talking about myself – so, brevity is a bonus. The label to which I tend to resort is “contemporary classical”.

So, you can surely see the problem with this phrase. But, how else do you label the work of modern composers continuing the traditions inherited from the common practice period?

“New music”? Well, I’m hardly going to write old music, am I?

“Art music”? What else is there – science music?

“Fine music”? I kind of like that one, but it seems a bit pretentious – and, it would probably offend my songwriter friends. They describe what they do as “popular music”. So, what does that leave me with? “Unpopular music”? Perhaps, but not by choice.

Back to my label of choice and another problem I have with the phrase. Why are we seen as doing the contemporary version of what those late composers of previous centuries were doing? Why can’t we drop the “contemporary” and assign them the label “legacy”?

OK, maybe I’m going too far – not to mention starting to use terminology that exposes my IT background. But, I would appreciate some comments. If nothing else, when I see my holiday-friends next year, I’d love to respond more confidently when called upon to justify my existence.