Jeff K: 10 ? for Charles Lipp

"Generate as much music as you can and discard what you dislike."---Debussy

1. Were you trained traditionally in music?
Traditional academic training leading to a doctorate in composition from the University of Illinois, Urbana and Fulbright Fellowship in Poland. Formative experiences: composition studies with Brun and Martirano (Urbana), Schaeffer and Lutoslawski (Poland).

2. When did you first compose a piece of music? What is your earliest opus?
In high school, composed pieces for jazz band (now lost). Pieces for Bassoon (1970).

3. When did you first use computers for composing music?
About ten years ago I used Finale to prepare a score and parts for a chamber piece.

4. Who are the living composers (both in Chicago and abroad) that you feel deserve attention? Marek Choloniewski in Krakow, Poland, is relatively unknown in the United States. See a video of one of his pieces at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAmCFCPQIQ

5. What is good and bad about the new music scene here in Chicago?
It's large enough and varied enough to be called Good. Interaction between groups and collective promotion would be less Bad than the ever-present self-promotion.


6a. What is your opinion about the intersection of political ideas and new music?
Music and political ideas must intersect since they take place in the same social sphere, but it's beyond the analytical powers of sociologists and anthropologists to make definitive statements about this intersection. Philosophers draw conclusions that are more or less convincing depending on their presentation skills.

6b. Do you think it is futile for composers to be socially engaged?
No more or less futile than the social engagement of any other worker.

6c. Do you consider your work to be political in any way?
No more or less than the product of any other worker.

7. Describe your compositional process at the current time.
"Generate as much music as you can and discard what you dislike."---Debussy

8. What is your prediction for the use of computers in the future of music?
As computing power increases, the likelihood of generating good music increases and the likelihood of generating bad music increases.

9. If you had to pick one work, or collection of works by a single composer to bring with you to a desert island, what would it be?
Beethoven last quartets.

10. What is your advice to young composers studying today, what do they absolutely need to know?
When composing, follow your Plan A. When generating financial security, follow Plan B.