I enjoyed David's note, and while one composer dismissed the piece as some
kind of command to composers, it was, to me, a plea.

The further call for David to study music theory did not help.  There's no
question why performance of new music was greeted with great anticipation
in the older days - when composers didn't demand of their audiences that
they study music theory to understand them.  Let composers write for other
composers for the joy it does bring, but don't expect that the audience
will want to go study more to help composers make a living.

Joseph Sowa wrote:

>Another sort of similar experience is when you listen to a song, it ends,
>and the the mood of the song has overtaken you and it takes you a short
>bit to apreciate that the song has ended.  One (actually two) of the songs
>I wrote does that.  (Not to brag.) The first is from my string quartet.  It
>was performed and got a standing ovation.  The second is the slow movement
>of my symphony, not yet formally performed, but it really moved those who
>heard it.

It'd probably be worthwhile if you did put some of this on mp3 so those
of us who buy music could hear it.  I do think it's a good opportunity.

I'm not as likely to go to hear, though, a composer who dismissed David's
perspective entirely.

- A