Standing next to a MacBook and a soundboard, Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Augusta Read Thomas progressed confidently through her lecture, “The A.R.T. of Composing,” to an attentive crowd of about 15 on Tuesday.
The 2007 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music sustained an upbeat, almost hurried tempo, pausing at particular spots to play snippets of her compositions. Thomas likened her relationship with composing to Robert Frost’s description of poetry.
“Composition is my condition,” she said, “not my profession.”
Thomas’ description of composers in general is similarly high-minded. She said composers are well-rounded, intelligent individuals.
When applied to Thomas, this label hits the right note.
During the lecture, she played a violin duet she modeled on the structure of DNA. The violins parts were written to circle around each other throughout the piece as if they were the backbones of the molecule.
Other inspirations for her pieces include the electromagnetic radiation of neutron stars and e.e. cummings’ poetry.
Despite the complexity of Thomas’ pieces, composition graduate student Crystal Birdsong said Thomas is humble about everything.
Thomas visited Birdsong’s composition class in addition to stopping by music appreciation classes. The opportunity to receive feedback from Thomas was unparalleled, Birdsong said.
“The constructive criticism we got was amazing,” she said. “It’s inspiring that she’s really rooting for young composers.”
This support for student composers goes beyond the campuses she’s visited. Thomas, who teaches at the University of Chicago, has tight relationships with her own students.
“I’m the godmother for some of my students’ children,” she said. “When you spend so much time working with students, you develop a strong relationship with them.”
Her passion for teaching was evident in her presentation, which had 10 key points about composition she returned to throughout the lecture.
“It’s all a braided life,” she said.
Despite her distinctly academic background, Thomas remains a true artist.
She wrote a piece called “Resounding Earth” with Chicago percussion group Third Coast Percussion, which utilized about 300 different percussion bells.
“I just wrote the piece because I needed to make it,” Thomas said.
She also recalled an instance when famed Chinese pianist Lang Lang, after hearing her work, asked her to arrange a piece for him to perform.
“I don’t do arrangements,” Thomas said. “I’ve spent my life making one-off, unique pieces of art.”
Her artwork may be spontaneous, but it’s far from improvised. Thomas said she writes all of her music by hand on large manuscripts, which takes up much of her time.
“I spend a lot of my life standing at drafting tables,” she said.
Despite the availability of digital music composition software, Thomas said she prefers handwriting all of her music. It’s the way she’s always done it, so it’s more natural to her, she said.
Thomas said she thinks the digital composition software is too often used as a crutch.
“Instead of making music for each moment, people make music by the yard,” she said.