By David Smooke
Sometimes we get stressed and tired and we hear the same pieces over and over again and we forget the most important thing.

By David Smooke
Is Baltimore ready for a new music naissance?

By David Smooke
Each concert that you attend might be that transcendent experience that remains with you for the rest of your life. And scientists confirm that your money will be well spent.

By David Smooke
I imagine that, if the procaninic and felinophilic composers began comparing musical styles, we quickly would find ourselves in the midst of an apocalyptic battle that would make the uptown/downtown tension of the 1960s and ’70s seem quaint by comparison.

By David Smooke
The three labors (nine less than Hercules!) with which I charge any student entering a graduate program.

By David Smooke
I feel the need to remind myself of this process, because I’m beginning a new piece—one that is larger than any I’ve attempted to date—and I’m frightened.

By David Smooke
Like music itself, success (and its inverse: failure) is a difficult phenomenon to pin down, and that the more I work to create a specific definition of a successful composer, the more the issue becomes slippery and difficult to grasp firmly.

By David Smooke
I kept encountering performers who would tell me how much they liked my music and would promise to perform pieces if I could find a venue or would express their desire to commission if funding could be found; there is no magic panacea and instead I would need to create my own opportunities.

By David Smooke
My attempt at creating a simple piece resulted in a fast microtonal composition for singing violist playing scordatura while using extended vocalizations.

By David Smooke
My composerly advice: listen to everything possible.