These are all good questions! Often times, when solos are given in these kinds of creative contexts, the soloists can make up music on the spot. There's an understanding between the lead musician (here, Yanni) and the invited soloist that whatever they make up would still be stylistically appropriate while they are exercising a certain amount of creative freedom. So, while it's possible that Yanni is writing down every single note of the solo and the player is just playing that, I would guess that it's more likely they are improvising.

As for choosing to use the conductor -- That will depend on not just the piece of music (is it complex?), but also whether the players have enough rehearsal time to do it without the help of the conductor. Sometimes, the conductor is the lead personality, so it's going to start with that person and even if the music is not super complex or needs the conductor to keep everything together, the vision is the conductor's, so the ensemble will feature that person. It just all kind of depends.

Good questions.

Thanks for the kind words!

You know, over the years, there has been a lot of material that has wound up on the cutting room floor, stuff that doesn't make it into the deadlined piece on hand but still have some creative fire in them. So, I save all of that stuff into a huge library of binders I keep in my home studio. Now, when I start a new piece, I don't worry about staring at a blank page. If nothing's coming to me, then I can go consult my binders (and over the years, different categories have emerged, such as "good for vocal music" or "When you need the gnarly" or "symphonic ideas"). Sometimes this stuff will just help me to light the match to entirely new ideas, or they are completely transformed to something unrecognizable, but they can still be an essential part of the puzzle.

I also keep in shape... I don't just work on the music that's contracted, but I do the composerly equivalent of shooting a hundred baskets on the court each morning, or scales on an instrument. I might warm up in the morning with one of my favorite exercises, for instance, which is a "transitions" exercise... say, connecting eight bars of music from a Bartok string quartet to eight bars of another composer's music. I'll give myself a few minutes to play around with that. By doing stuff like this, your brain is busting with ideas, "warmed up" for your own work.

By investing creative time like this, you won't be bereft for ideas, from a narrative or musical standpoint. I do improvise, but don't need that skill so much anymore; and I usually can hear everything in my head but sometimes, I'll use NotePerformer (a new tool for me) for some playback from the computer, too.

Muy, muy serio...

Ja ja ja... Excellent.

You may have heard of an artist named Yanni. I’ve always wondered this but don’t know where to ask: in his concerts, almost every song (except the ones where he solo piano), he’d give a chance for some artists to have some solo moments, does he write every single note of these solos? Also, why some shows have a conductor and some don’t? What is really the point of having him there if band members can get by just fine in other shows?

Hi Gabriela, I heard your piece Hilos several years ago and was very blown away by your use of dissonance and tension throughout. When it comes to composing, how do you come up with your ideas? Do you improvise and keep the best stuff? Do you have it all in your head and write it down? What's your process like for actually notating?

Yeah, the shock of hearing something coming to life can feel very similar to the shock of your music being played incorrectly. When I mentor aspiring composers, I tell them it's important for them to take a breath when hearing something for the first time in real life, not just on the computer or in their head. After a little while, your memory of its first life might fade for what is actually real.

Then, if you get multiple performances of your music, you'll begin to see how rich different interpretations are. This is the greatest compliment a performer can give a composer, to teach us everything that our ideas promise. We may originate the ideas but we don't fully know everything they are capable of. Kind of like having kids who grow up and form their own opinions. :)

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your response and it made me think of two things

One is that sometimes working with limitations can lead to really creative solutions.

The other is working with other creative people. I remember hearing someone play my music for the first time, and thinking no, that wasn't what I wanted, but then thinking what they did was better and incorporating it.

I am a (now) deaf former musician. How can I reach you with an idea I have toyed with for years to illustrate the experience musically? Through you AMA I have just become a fan! Good luck with the premiere!

That would make me crazy. Stick to the standard.

Ennio Morricone all the way... I grew up on those spaghetti westerns...

Favorite film score/composer?

Thanks for writing in, and sending you good vibes for that calling!

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Yeah, everyone needs to know how they work even as they constantly expand their creative toolkit.

Man I'd never thought you'd really reply haha this feels really special. It's really cool to see that you were walking down your decided path and all of a sudden you went off to pursue something totally different. I bet that takes courage and I've been thinking if I too would find my calling like that one day.

Also I try to learn a lot of instruments and listen to different types of music. I'll be checking out some of your music as well. Again thanks for replying and have a fantastic day!

Do I have to buy anything to dine in?

Great reply!

Db is a great key - but very serious.

> El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego

Thanks for that reply. As a composer, I can relate to the problems with the software that we use - whether using a DAW or Finale, there are still some compromising features that we wish could all be solved using one program. I use Finale because I relate best to the written score visually.

I love the Please Touch Museum! I used to take my nephew there when my brother was still teaching at Penn.

What's your favorite part of Philly?

Thank you, Turandot!

Yeah, you misspelled “toaster”

Hi, Wise!

When I first heard the Game of Thrones theme, years ago, I rolled my eyes... ja ja ja... And now, omigod, it's stuck in my brain and I have to admit that it's bluntly effective. I wish they had called me, though. I'd do a lot more with staggered strings, blends of unusual colors, themes reacting to one another, etc. You know, the good stuff. :)

As to how I started to do this... I always enjoyed music and would improvise at the piano, but I didn't know that you could be professional. So, I was scholastically a high achiever and in high school, was studying Russian literature, language, politics... This was the time of Gorbachev, glasnost, the Wall was tumbling in Europe, regimes changing in Latin America. I thought I was going to be a political science major and I was likely headed to law school. But in the summer of my last year of high school, I took a music composition program, and was changed instantly. I fell -- hard -- for composing.

I knew, then, that I had a lot of catching up to do. I didn't know much repertoire and even my music-reading skills weren't the best. But, somewhere inside me, I also thought the world needed me... lol... innocent hubris of my youth and all that... I never looked back, though. I'm very grateful.