Aaron Rabushka wrote:

>How else do you think anyone does it?

It is not enough to sit down and decide you are going to write great music,
and then write it.

First you have to be inspired, and then you have to hear it in your mind,
over and over again, bar by bar.

Then you sketch what you have heard in your mind.

Then you wait until you hear it some more in your mind and take it a little
farther.

Then you write down some more of what you have heard in your mind.

Finally, you take the sketches and put them away somewhere, and start all
over again.

If you just sit down and start writing without inspiration, then you are
faking the creative process, and trying to write music greater than you
feel.

I hope this helps you understand what I was trying to say

>Note that Thomas Mann's book was about a writer of words

Of course.  I used the title of Mann's novella metaphorically, to suggest
that no great artistic creation in whatever medium is likely to allude
comprehensively to another artist who has not produced a great work
himself.

John Dalmas
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