PT84: “Music is not a Competitive Sport,” with Rain Worthington

Podium Time

Today we talk with composer Rain Worthington about how she started composing and without a background in theory, why a rigid analytical view of music can block creativity, and why we must not think of music as a competition.
Today we discuss:

• How New York’s Minimalist composers and the artistic culture of the city allowed Rain to experiment as a novice (13:11)
• How Rain and Luke found freedom by releasing themselves from the confines of western musical standards. (22:09)
• How composers and conductors fall in love with a fragment of music. (29.54)
• Being a self-taught composer, and how thinking too much about the theory of music can block creativity in composition and performance. (34:21)
• What makes a composer, a musician, a piece, or a performance unique when we have only 12 notes and almost everything has been done already. (40:06)
• The emotional content of music, taking the listener on a journey, and how programs that are too specific can separate the listener from the music. (44:53)
• Building a career by building relationships, understanding that art is not a competition, and realizing that every success for one is a success for everybody. (54:29)
• The pieces that best reflect Rain as a composer, her compositional efforts to process the tragedy of 9/11, and how we can respond to any tragedy as artists. (1:06:45)

Links from this episode:

• Rain’s Website: https://rainworthington.com/
• Within Deep Currents Score
• Livestream, August 13th: https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6298/
• Prisma Vol. 4: https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6298/
• Rain on the 1Track Podcast
• Rain’s Article for Sonograma Magazine
• Rain’s career coach, Tracy Friendlander
• New York Women Composers: https://www.newyorkwomencomposers.org/
• "From the 8BC to Carnegie Hall: The improbable journey of composer Rain Worthington"

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