Author : Matthew Lane
Description : Why we don't drive to Dvorák explores the benefits of FAST outside its usual applications, specifically in the domain of classical music composition. Principally, it examines how FAST (Function Analysis System Technique) stimulates creativity, and how music benefits from a function-based approach. It presents the notion that the quality of music, often shied away from as a subjective idea, can be much more objectively assessed by applying a function-based model. Using FAST, classical music can overcome some of its struggle to find new relevance, and as an audience, our listening approaches can be similarly modified or refined. The presentation discusses the inherent link between analysis and composition, other function-based precedents in musical analysis, and how FAST diagrams can help reconcile some of the divide between musical analysis and musical composition. It will take a brief look at some other musical genres and how function-analysis could or does benefit them, as well as sharing M. Lane's approach to incorporating FAST into his writing.