David Lang, Paul Mellon Distinguished Fellow Lecture 2011

David Lang gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about his many years as a professor, classical musician, and composer. Sound is very important for Lang, and he relates it as being a type of byproduct which is related from piece to piece. This has allowed Lang to resist sounding a particular way. For Lang, the need to question classical music has also been important, for it allows him to understand how it can become a form of music that can lead to being more universal. Lang also reflects on themes of religion, death and pain, and how music is a conduit that allows these three ideas to tell their messages. Lang talks about the importance of music as a way to manage one’s emotional life, the ways in which it gives us the time to sit with grief and pain, and how it can allow people to come to terms with their mortality. Music has taught Lang that when we die, we are in connection with our loved ones; those who have passed before us, those who are still living, and those who will come after us.