How do you answer that question - “so you’re a composer - what kind of music do you write?” I usually evade the “kind of music” question by changing it into a question about the medium for which I write - “Oh, I do all kinds of things, chamber music, songs, sometimes orchestral music.” What can I possibly say about style that would be meaningful to most people? By saying something about the medium, I open a door for my questioner, showing them a room that they probably didn’t know was there, a place where a string quartet or orchestral work might be written, a place where some musical possibilities exist that can’t be found elsewhere in the house of music.
