Stirling Newberry replies to Don Satz:

>>It must be nit-picking time.  I'd say that the emotion would be felt
>>during the creative process, and when that takes place for different
>>individuals, I have no idea.
>
>This reduces the formulation to meaninglessness - one might as well say
>"to be a composer one must feel, at some time or another."

The problem may be that our definition of "emotion" is too limited.  A
composer may very well feel the emotions of exhilaration when the writing
is going well and tedium when it is not.  As Stirling suggests, however,
it might not be the emotional content of the piece being written.

>Often the most powerful statements come from pure manipulation, and then
>realising what has been found.  Poor composers often walk past their best
>ideas.  Not because they don't feel, or feel less, but are too busy feeling
>things other than the music.  Emotion which clouds judgement is useless.

Hear!  Hear!  I just finished reading Fermat's Enigma by Singh on how
Fermat's last theorem was finally proven in 1994.  Andrew Wiles finally
solved it (after seven years of concentrated work) when he realized that
something he had worked on and rejected was actually essential.  Granted,
mathematics isn't music, but at this level, it's certainly creative.

Steve Schwartz