“How to Write Music in No Easy Lessons: A Self Interview” [1939]

Abstract In Rodgers’s “Self Interview; the “alleged” composer responds to frequently posed questions, including the inevitable “Which comes first-the words or the music?” As he would for nearly the next forty years, Rodgers emphasizes that he is inspired only by specific dramatic situations and that his usual compositional procedure with Hart was to create the tune or title first. He also explains why he leaves the orchestration of his “complicated” scores to someone else, espouses the importance of making sure that each song in a show “bear[s] a family resemblance to the other material;’ and praises critics for their eminent fairness and appreciation of novelty, despite their lack of musical knowledge. It is also in this early “self interview” that Rodgers, after briefly describing his historic first meeting, at the age of sixteen, with Hart, then twenty-three, first quipped that he “left Hart’s house having acquired in one afternoon a career, a partner, a best friend, and a source of permanent irritation:’ After this selection appeared in Theatre Arts, Rodgers may have felt he had answered enough questions for a while. In any event, readers would not hear much from Rodgers either as a writer or interviewee for more than a decade. As an alleged composer I am asked certain questions with regularity. It appears that the average person considers musical composition either one of the darkest of the black arts or the result of heaven-sent compulsion. There is never any between ground. Resorting to analogy for answers doesn’t help much, but I try it. I say: “Look, you have to write a letter to your Aunt Tessie, a rich old gal who will eventually die. You’d like the letter to be a good one. You have certain equipment at your disposal, such as pen, ink, paper and, most important of all, your knowledge of the language. You’re on your own, and the quality of your letter will depend largely on how well you are able to use your equipment. My problem is the same, only related into terms of music. Aunt Tessie is the public or, frequently, my own satisfaction. My equipment consists of paper, pencil, piano, the ability to hum, whistle or sing (horribly) and a knowledge of musical language acquired in the theatres, on the streets and in serious study.” I lean back with a glow of self-admiration, having