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Songs should have an infectious melody and rhythm.
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Collaboration is being open to each other's ideas and benefiting from each other's perspectives in an open way. Collaboration is all about rewriting and rewriting and rewriting and helping each other to constantly improve a piece. And, it's also about spurring each other on to doing really great, hard work — it's easier to do it in a collaboration than on your own.
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Composing easy? I find it easy if - big if - the idea is right, if I have the right collaborator, and if my collaborator is in the room. I like my collaborator to be in the room.
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Music can be witty, but it's not funny unless it's conceptually funny.
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Music is a gestalt. Songs are a life force and they have specific vocabulary to them. You hear a few notes, and they take you into a world of association.
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When I write the music for any of my songs, I write as a composer-lyricist in my head.
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I've been very fortunate as a composer to be involved with projects that have really propelled my scores forward. I'm very proud of it.
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Whatever I gain from writing lyrics, I feel I lose a little bit for the musical aspect by having that lyrical burden on me. But when I'm liberated from worrying about the words, frankly, I feel I'm a better composer.
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If you're writing for yourself as an artist, you are always pulling on your own experiences.
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My favorite thing is a brand-new project from scratch because you really never know how they're going to come to life. Going back for the third and fourth time to old ones is very gratifying, but it's not my favorite use of my creativity.
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Most successful musicals need to attach themselves to something bigger than themselves, a concept that will make people feel immediately connected to it.
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Having a tradition is a great thing to work within, and maybe today it is the only way to really land musically dramatic work.