Honesty vital to creativity

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 19

Honesty vital to creativity

By

KAY FORRESTER

Jack Body says the thing he encourages most in his music students at Wellington’s Victoria University is rabid atheism. He believes that a belief in a fundamental Christian ethic limits the creative freedom of young musicians. “I have some students who do everything for the glory of God. All their music is for God.” Surely that does not stop them writing music? "No, but it doesn’t encourage good music.” The music lecturer and composer believes that to write music well a composer must be free of restrictions. “To be really creative you must be really honest. And to be honest you must con-

front reality, and that includes the unpleasant things also. I don’t believe some of my students have done that because of their attitude. “They have to go out and live life. They have to question, work, and struggle.” “They have to have the freedom to be creative. But they also need a discipline - in their work.” The composer who has taught at the university for about five years, says he enjoys the social atmosphere of teaching and of i working with young people. < Composition is recognised < now as an alternative to performance or musicology ’ in music studies, he says. ' When he was a student, ] the option was never open, i “It was there for the 1 ‘special talents’ who were < rare. Now it is recognised s that stimulating composing

skills can develop a talent rather than vice versa.” But recognising the value of encouraging composers does not make earning a living as a composer any easier. For Jack Body, the security of his well-paid job gives him the freedom to pick and choose what compositions he will write. If a commission does not particularly interest him he can afford to say no. He acknowledges that for other, especially younger, composers it is more difficult. “It is in any country, except a Socialist country where presumably composers would receive an allowance, certainly in the West earning a decent living as a composer is impossible.” In New Zealand, however,

things are beginning to change. The Nelson School of Music will have a composer in residence for the first time this year and the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council is eager to assist more such residencies. The only existing one is the Mozart Fellowship at Otago University. The Wellington composer, who is in Christchurch as the musical director of a 10 day course for Australian and New Zealand choreographers and composers, finds his own composing hard work. “It can be laborious, especially if you haven’t done it for a while." His recent works include an orchestral piece to mark the fortieth anniversity of the Cambridge Music School and a piano duet. Both were commissions,

the latter from the Music Federation. The composer prefers to keep all his options open in terms of what sort of music he writes. Asian music holds a particular interest, probably because he lived in Indonesia for two years. The lifestyle and language of Asia, from which he believes the music is inseparable, he finds fascinating. He does not find the Maori and Polynesian music of this country as interesting. “Maori people tend to see their music as their own cultural property and regard the intrusion into it with jealousy. Polynesian music, I find, does not have the same sophistication as Asian music.” During the Christchurch course Jack Body plans to

encourage the musicians on the course to contribute as much as they can to the choreography of original dances. “They need to be bold in their ideas and to initate those ideas rather than waiting for a choreographer to come up with an idea and then write the music to that specification. Why not write the music first, with a dance in mind?” The composer has had experience of working with a dancer to create dances. In the early 1970 s he worked with John Cassidy and toured some original works through New Zealand. He has also worked with the Impulse Dance Company and the Limbs Dance Company and with a dancer from Wellington named Michael Parmenter.