Kim Patrick Clow <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>How would the professors know that the pieces he was writing were NOT in
>his own unique voice? Just because they were written in particular style?
>Let me guess...if this same student was a Lit Major and wrote sonnets in
>the style of Shakespeare, they would get rejected?

I don't really have an opinion on this either way, having never heard the
student's work.  But it does seem to me that a contemporary artistic voice
can not honestly be identical to one which existed 250 years ago, one which
had developed quite naturally from its predecessors.  Musical language has
changed significantly, as has the English language.  Wouldn't you think
it strange to find a volume of contemporary poetry written in a style
identical to the Shakespeare of the Sonnets? I know I would.

Steve Schwartz asks:

>What if his voice was similar to Mozart's?

Perhaps his voice was similar to Mozart's, but I suppose the fact that he
insisted on writing in an antiquated musical syntax was a sticking point
for the professors.  To which I'll add (sort of off the subject), that I
don't see how Mozart could've possibly produced the same musical output,
had he lived in our time.

>I would be willing to bet, however, they wouldn't have minded if he had
>turned in pastiches of George Crumb or of Warren Darcy or even (as is
>very often the case of composition students) of the faculty member he was
>studying with.

Yeah, as the undergrads say, "true dat".  A good point, and the only thing
I can suggest is that it's harder to identify pastiche when the source
lacks obvious coherency to begin with...it would be easier to identify
a pastiche of someone like Avro Part, whose current compositional style
is immediately recognizeable.  We can only hope that any kind of strict
imitation would be discouraged...

Krishan Oberoi
Providence, RI   USA