As any composer will tell you, we study quiet a bit. A good composer will never “tune out” but uses the background of social chaos as a protagonist for creation.
In the 80’s , I composed things a young man would compose. More interested in stormy, defiant pieces, my psychiatrist father would laugh and say “Great piece son, are you angry at me?”
Now as an older, and hopefully wiser man, I try and write pieces that reflect the era we are living in — these modern times of confusion.
Much has been said about the recent issue of gun control. We are all , yes all, horrified by the violence perpetuated at the work place, the movie theatre, and now our schools. Nobody sane would not question or attempt to find out why such horror seems to grow, encroaching into the most scared areas of our lives. We have had it good for a long time. So good, that we still use words like recession to describe a depression, and conspiracy theorist to confront someone who’s belief systems do not match ours. I stay out of the gun control debate because I have friends on both sides of the issue. I believe that our heroes have fallen, from Armstrong, to Schwarzenegger to Travolta and Saville and so on and so forth.
And I believe many do not believe that Gov, NRA, or the man from Mars is going to save them. The underlying issue here is trust. Not many gun advocates I know believe that a deranged shooter will be targeting them. They are responsible people and they resent being lumped into the same category as the shooters in these tragedies. They are suspicious of anyone wanting to claim their instruments of protections, and perhaps they should be.On the other hand, where is the need to have such banal and aggressive death weapons like assault weapons ? Should we arm every citizen with A Bombs or should we take away all guns, knives, forks, spoons, and baseball bats?
I know where I stand. I plan to write more music, the greatest weapon I can use in my crusade to foster peace and understanding in today’s stressed out generation.I do not believe we are in a mere recession, but something far worse., I do not believe we can make 300 million guns in America disappear But I do believe that we have to do whatever we can to leave children out of the national debate, even as they have been innocent victims of the outrage. And we must seek answers to the riddles of modern life by finding precedent in bygone eras.
T. Andrew Schoenberger