Expanding the Self: Complicating Creativity with Alternative Approaches to Musical Composition

Over the course of the year, I have been working to reimagine the role of composer as curatorial rather than generative. I adopted compositional strategies that were as far as possible from the Romantic understanding of authenticity. In all of my work, I found ways to rely on musical materials that originated outside of me. In this paper, I will examine the work of two composers, David Cope and Maryanne Amacher who have both informed and inspired elements of my practice. The work produced by these musicians complicates and subverts Romantic assumptions about creativity and genius, although the subversion is not always intentional or without internal contradictions.