Connecting you with the University of Missouri’s innovative research and creative activityWriting Music that Speaks to the Human Spirit
A visit with Thomas McKenney, Professor, Composition and Music Theory
Additional Interview Clips
What research and creative activity looks like for music composer W. Thomas McKenney
From score study to original musical composition: How research and creative activity inform each other
Employing harmonic vocabulary
More on tonal systems and McKenney’s philosophy of music
McKenney's compositional process: Combining old and new technologies
More on the pros and cons of using computerized software to compose music
The types of musical pieces McKenney composes and the compositional process he employs
The dilemma of publishing for composers
"Music needs to balance emotion and intellect"
Writing music to elicit an emotional response
Teaching music at MU
McKenney’s philosophy of music
Topics:
human_spirit
electronic_music
“Music has to speak to the human spirit. That’s what it’s really all about,” McKenney states. The violin is a wooden box with metal strings, “yet, put in the hands of an artist, the most beautiful things in the world can come out of it.” Consider as well the human voice. “We could scream and say really nasty, horrible things to other human beings, or we could sing and make beautiful sounds,” McKenney explains. “That’s really what the human spirit is all about.”