COURTNEE CESTA
Assistant Reverb Editor
When Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Stucky held a series of workshops at the School of Music last weekend, many students learned they are much more similar to the accomplished composer than they realized.
“When I have to compose a piece … I really put it off as long as possible,” Stucky said in one of last weekend’s pre-concert lectures. “I have stage fright in front of the task.”
Surprised but almost relieved, the audience — an estimated 85 percent of which were studying to be composers — reacted with empathetic looks and head nods as if they’ve all felt the same way.
Stucky sat center stage in Rosch Recital Hall and graciously answered a series of questions led by SUNY Fredonia head of composition, Dr. Rob Deemer, followed by a short recital of Stuckey’s work. The event was hosted by the Ethos New Music Society, a student-run group dedicated to advocating contemporary music.
Inquiries about his composing career, from the beginning to today, were presented in question after question, but none laid in front of Stucky went unanswered. He told of the struggles of his early years and of individuals who influenced him the most. He answered the nearly impossible question of “why do you compose?” with ease.
“It’s a brief question, but a lifetime answer. I compose because I can’t help it,” Stucky said. “Composing is hard, almost everything in life is easier, it takes a certain stimulus to make it happen.”
Even when he was little, Stucky was drawn to music and to the art of composing. He tried his hand at writing at the age of five, after taking a liking to his mother’s record collection; his favorites were “Peter and the Wolf,” by Sergei Prokofiev, and Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“New World Symphony”), by Antonin Dvorak.
Of course at five years old, Stucky, like other children his age, could barely read and write. But his imagination took him much further.
“I pretended to compose … some people think I’m still doing that,” Stucky joked.
Doing the best he knew how, Stucky would draw staff lines and sprinkle notes with sharps and flats along the page. Decades later (according to Stucky, “we won’t focus too much on just how many decades”) and Stucky has evolved from that point to winning the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for his Second Concerto for Orchestra — a trip he calls a “lucky accident.”
Growing up, Stucky could not afford the cost of music lessons, but was lucky enough that someone taught him for free. He suffered a discouraging early career; however, it was determination and a new realization of comfort that got him through.
In the beginning stages of being a college professor, Stucky started looking into other careers, unsatisfied with himself and with the seemingly unpromising field of new music composition. But Stucky couldn’t foresee what dealing with self doubt would do for his career. He would never what was coming, simply as a result of being critical of himself.
“I had low periods where I didn’t trust myself,” Stucky said. “We all want to be critical of ourselves in some way and it can be paralyzing. By having some success and having it be affirmed that other people can find some value in what I’m doing … that is the first thing you want.”
Stucky has since realized his own potential and, after teaching at Cornell University since 1980, was recently appointed to faculty at Juilliard.
The funny thing is that, even after more than 30 years of being a music teacher, Stucky doesn’t focus so much on being a teacher as much a friend.
“The crucial thing in being a mentor of other composers is being their colleague. They can figure out technique themselves. What you need are role models of how to be honest … another pair of ears … somebody to talk to,” confessed Stucky.
The talented composer hoped to bring budding composers in the audience close to his magic without giving away too much of the magic. He advised students upfront to follow their dreams.
“If it’s something that is important to you, try it,” Stucky said. “Dreams are the most important thing to have, but remember that we all have to be realistic.”