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From the Fall 2003 Issue of CMP Insight

by Randy Swiggum

There's no better way to clarify your understanding and figure out what you really know (or don't know) about something than to try to explain it—especially to write about it. I discovered that back in November 1990, when I wrote an article for the Wisconsin School Musician titled "Going to the Heart." It was a significant exercise for me as a teacher, as I tried to put into words certain ideas that had been floating around in my head for the several years I had been a member of the CMP Project.

Finding the "heart" of a piece of music was an expression which had been part of CMP jargon from the earliest days of the project and was usually introduced as part of the Analysis point of the model. My goal in the article was to enlarge upon the ideas presented in the summer workshop and put them into written form. Writing about this somewhat abstract idea had the effect of shaping what I already believed, but it also made me think in new ways about exactly we meant when we spoke of a piece of music's "heart."

Rereading the article today, I still agree with its main points:

• The heart can be thought of in several ways—as the "why" of the piece, its single most important musical element, the thing which makes it "work" or holds it together, or the composer's intention.
• "Composer's intention" can sometimes be discerned by "decomposing" the piece—trying to trace the compositional process backwards to the composer's original idea or materials. (Intention is a loaded word these days since, if you think about it, it can never be really or completely known.)
• Deciding upon the heart of a piece helps in choosing meaningful outcomes (we called them "objectives" back in 1990) that spring naturally from it, as well as planning strategies that relate closely to it.
• Knowing the heart of the piece (which might be its most exciting element) helps the teacher plan a dynamic way to introduce it to students on the first day.
• While it's true that music ultimately defies complete analysis—it's just too elusive, too spiritual, too metaphysical, too something to put into words—it is helpful to try. Attempting to decide and describe how a piece of music works at least brings us closer to understanding it.
• Our ultimate goal is students' passionate engagement with the music they perform. Finding the heart of the piece, and then building meaningful outcomes and exciting strategies on it helps students connect with the piece—making a "heart to heart" relationship between them.

In the years since the article was published, I have continued to ponder the meaning of the musical "heart." I have enlarged my own understanding of it, and have some new or different ideas to add to the points above.

In the next issue of CMP Insights, I'll share some of the aspects of the article that I would express differently, as well as expand on this question: what are we really doing when we analyze a piece to find its heart?