Tag: Gustav Mahler

TBT^256: Mahler’s Composing Shack

The Portly Politico2 Comments

My album Koi Dance is still 90% off with promo code koipond. Pick it up today! —TPP

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with Roman Riva of Opium Tales. Regular readers will know that I’ve been reviewing his series of novellas (read my reviews of the first four books here, here, here, and here). We discussed music (Roman is a talented heavy metal guitarist), dogs, koi, art, and all manner of other topics. You can watch the interview on Substack or on YouTube:

Amid our conversation we talked about composing and my various musical influences. It reminded me of this post about Gustav Mahler’s composing habits.

I love this time of year, as the crisp, cool weather is conducive to creative activity. Time seems to speed up after summer, too, which creates an underlying sense of urgency to create and produce. I’ve been a tad lax on creating new works lately, as I’ve been doing some arranging for my students, but I’m eager to get back to composing original works.

With that, here is 2 October 2025’s “TBT^16: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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TBT^16: Mahler’s Composing Shack

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I’m slamming out Spooky Season IV, and it’s nowhere near as ingenious as the works of Gustav Mahler.  But what I find so fascinating is how composers and other creative types work, especially when they’re trying to churn out major projects.

“Workflow” get tossed around a lot, but it really is remarkable to see how the most dedicated craftsmen and artists create a consistent and detailed schedule of daily habits and rituals.  I especially love to learn about what they ate for breakfast—probably my favorite ritual of the day.

With that, here is 3 October 2024’s “TBT^4: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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TBT^4: Mahler’s Composing Shack

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While it still doesn’t quite feel like autumn here in South Carolina, there’s the slightest bit of crisp autumnal tanginess lingering in the air in the early morning hours, that enticing little promise, that intriguing little nip, of fall fun.

Music has always seemed better to me in the autumn—indeed, just about everything is.  The colder air, though, makes sound waves travel further, and while I don’t pretend to know how that magically makes everything sound better—or if it even does in reality—it surely seems to be an improvement.  Perhaps it’s the fact that one can hear a string quartet performing outdoors, or attend an outdoor rock concert, or listen to a bluegrass band at a fall festival, without sweating profusely that makes the difference.

Whatever the reason, yours portly has been writing quite a big of music lately.  My biggest release of the year—and the ninth album and/or EP in 2023—Spooky Season III, hits all streaming platforms tomorrow, 4 October 2024—including, for the first time in almost a year, Spotify!  Yes, yes, I’m compromising my principles, but it’s for a good reason—money!  Actually, it’s due to demand from listeners who want to listen to my music but who remain loyal to the largest streaming platform in the world, even if it is stealing royalties from artists’ pockets.

Anyway, it seemed like a good time to reblog this post about Gustav Mahler’s composing routine—and his cozy, Spartan little shack by the sea.  What a wonderful place to hunker down and write music!

With that, here is 5 October 2023’s “TBT^2: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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TBT^2: Mahler’s Composing Shack

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Ah, yes—autumn.  Music sounds sweeter, food tastes better, girls look prettier.  What is it about the autumn that rings everything in a warm, golden glow?  Is it the coming crispness in the air?  The shorter days, the chilly nights?  Or perhaps the leaves falling from the trees, the continuous cycle of death and renewal circling ever onwards?

Whatever it is, it’s a great time to compose and play music.  As I noted last year, it’s “the time of year when my personal creativity seems to spark.”  Indeed, the sequel to Spooky Season (now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube), Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids releases tomorrow, Friday, 6 October 2023 on Bandcamp.

I’ve been using a free trial of Noteflight to compose lately, and I’ve really enjoyed it.  It’s very robust, although it (surprisingly) lacks some of the depth and breadth of sounds as my ancient copy of Cakewalk 3.0.  Unlike Cakewalk 3.0, however, it will run on a modern operating system, so it’s good enough for me!

I don’t have a nice, tidy composing routine like Gustav Mahler or Beethoven.  I kind of jot down ideas in my music journal when I have a few spare lines of staff paper, then try to expand those motifs into full pieces (or just compose twelve-second pieces—ha!).  Then I slap everything into Noteflight approximately whenever I feel like it, or when I’m on a composing tear and can’t stop!

With that, here is 6 October 2022’s “TBT: Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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TBT: Mahler’s Composing Shack

The Portly Politico3 Comments

We’re getting into the time of year when my personal creativity seems to spark.  I should be way more productive creatively in the summer, when I enjoy loads of unstructured time, but I find that I work better in the constrains and confines of a busy schedule.  For whatever reason, that extra pressure helps me to eke out, if not diamonds, then at least some lesser gems.

One well from which I have drawn some considerable inspiration the last couple of years was my Pre-AP Music Appreciation class.  It was a broad survey of Western music from the medieval period to the present, with a strong emphasis on the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.  Due to a combination of scheduling difficulties and lower enrollment last year, the class did not run this year.

On the one hand, I’m thankful—it’s given me more time to focus on other endeavors.  On the other, I do miss the almost-daily baptism in the works of some of the greatest composers in the Western canon.

One element of the course that was particularly intriguing was learning about the lives and creative processes of the composers.  Many of them lived quite tragic lives; others (rarer, it seems, among composers) lived quite contentedly.

Gustav Mahler seemed to have developed a nice little work routine, as detailed in this post from October 2021.  I like the idea of having a stripped-down cottage by the sea, with a healthy breakfast brought to me as I work.  Sounds like the good life!

With that, here is 13 October 2021’s “Mahler’s Composing Shack“:

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