Paul Novak (he/him)

Get To Know Composer Paul Novak

What has been your favorite part of working on the Amplify Series thus far?

I've loved being a part of the Amplify Series so far, and it's been a joy to collaborate with an organization as inclusive as Lynx Project. For me, my favorite part of the process has been reading poetry submissions by autistic writers who are primarily non-speaking from all over the country. It was so humbling and incredible to hear from all of these talented voices! It's also been wonderful getting to know my cohort of composer and performer fellows. 

How did you discover your passion for composition and what do you love most about it?

When I started playing music as a kid, the main thing that drew me to it was social and interactive types of music-making: the incredible, joyful feeling of creating art with other people. This is the thing I love the most about being a composer: everything we do is collaborative! Even though sometimes we spend a lot of our time on our own, all of our music-making isn't possible with the collaboration of others. 

How would you describe the process of composing a piece of music?

For me, my exact process really depends on the piece - however, something that I try to think about whenever I'm writing is how to dismantle some of the hierarchies that are typically present in the relationship between composers and performers. Usually what this means is incorporating and amplifying as many different voices (of performers, of artists in other disciplines) into the compositional process - making composition a shared act rather than an individual one.