The muse

My composer friend says she hears the music inside her head. She used to think that everyone did and wondered why only she had the urge to play and write it down. The Romantics believed in inspiration, the touch of God on the genius creator. This afternoon at the ABC Classic FM Sunday Live Concert at Llewellyn Hall I discovered Anne Boyd’s Bali Moods I and could only agree with Wordsworth’s musings. Canberra flautist Teresa Rabe and pianist Phillipa Candy evoked the beauty and mystery of Bali with skill and sensitivity.
We can hardly ignore twentieth century thinking on creativity though. Anne Boyd not only spent years steeped in the theory and technologies of music composition, she was influenced by Peter Sculthorpe and Asian music early in her career. Working in different countries around the world and then the academy has kept her in touch with the many discourses on music and art permeating our culture. The artist is but a catalyst for a play of forces and discourses. At their intersection Boyd employs her skills and knowledge to construct a product recognisable to a similarly acculturated audience.
My friend left a well paid professional career to follow her muse through the School of Music. A combination of inspiration, knowledge and hard work may mean that we will soon hear her compositions at Sunday Live Concerts, too. We can’t ignore the fact that some people have it – creative genius in a certain field – and most of us don’t, however much we wish for it!