Modern day greatness

Blog Post 15.5.17: One of the best things I’ve come to realise in compiling this unit; is that when looking into music of the last 25years, we have access to great documentation from the composers themselves. We have access to their blogs, websites and many wonderful resources that have been created, analysing and discussing their music with the composer’s input. Instead of trying to guess of whether Bach used pedal in his later works, trawling through research journals that may have access to some of his letters, we have the intent directly provided by the composer and readily accessible, better still - we can ask them! For all the Australian composers I’ve approached asking questions about their work, or permission to have them used in my unit for educational purposes, all have been responsive and welcoming of the questions. Being able to connect students directly or indirectly with modern day composers I believe can provide students with such contextually relevant information, looking at modern day achievements and how composers have built on the greatness from the distant past. I've tried therefore to be able to provide students with a summary and links to what I've found the composers have said about their works through "Composer Insights" pages, hoping to shed some greater contextual insight - I know I find it interesting!