Composing

Painters are very much composers, if you put it into musical terms. The painter doesn't just play someone else's music He always is composing, while playing.

The thing that I do not understand is why a 21st century composer would never consider not having had played and studied music prior to the 21st century, let alone the 20th. In the case of contemporary painters, most have done a master study here and there, I fail to see many developing a full understand of the language as the musician does. The ones that study techniques from the past usually never make the transition to make it there own. This is where the difference between musician and composer comes into play. The musician has to be able to play from all periods and enjoys this. The composer like the artist, is expected to have a full understanding of and is always a contemporary artist.

When I think of someone like Gershwin sitting down at the piano, I am reasonably sure that had the ability to experiment with the full understanding of harmony, melody, texture and rhythm. When I here recordings of him playing variations on his own works, I have no doubt that he has complete control over the music as well as the expression of his innermost feelings.

Studying color harmony and paint/pigment handling along with reading literature and science, helps for the better the appreciation of the medium.