In the years that I studied composition with the compositional masters Lukas Foss, Tom McKinley, Marjorie Merryman and Charles Fussell, I probably composed more types of instrumental music than I even thought were possible. Beginning with my long-awaited dream of composing a trio for flute cello and piano (something I begun back in 1971), my classical compositional career extended for about 16 years (1989-2005).
After a couple of years of studies, the one thing that had been missing was the technique of putting words to music. This had always been a challenge for me. Fortunately, Charles Fussell was a master at this. In our lessons we talked about the mastery of American composer Virgil Thomson. Charles even recommended Thomson’s book Music With Words. In his humility he never told me that he had been practically the co-author.
If I had to boil the book’s (and Charles’) lessons down to one concept, it would be this: speak the words and set them to the music in the same way that you would imagine them sounding. Since that time, I’ve had the experience of noticing how incorrectly words are set to music in a variety of styles. Nevertheless, when it comes to how composer Richard Rodgers put music to the words of Lorenz Hart, There is no one better.
