Donnacha Dennehy · Episode 17
This Grammy-Winner Told Me to Shut Out the World and Write
Overtones, changing light, and the discipline of protecting creative focus
Grammy-winning Irish composer, Princeton professor, and Crash Ensemble founder
The full conversation
30:08Watch Donnacha and Vonn’s conversation.
The story at the center
This episode makes composing tangible: listen closely, notice what an idea can become, then protect the time required to follow it all the way through.
Episode notes
Donnacha Dennehy takes Vonn inside three pieces that begin with sharply different ideas: the physical giddiness of Head from Limina, the microtonal movement of sean-nós singing in Grá agus Bás, and the changing Irish light that shapes every month of Land of Winter.
The conversation follows those ideas from first impulse to finished music. Donnacha explains how particular performers change what he writes, how the overtone series became a harmonic resource, what winning a Grammy actually felt like, and why serious composing sometimes begins by turning off the internet and protecting an hour from distraction.
Explore Donnacha’s work
On protecting the work
Hear Donnacha on focus and trusting your ear 27:46 ▶“Two main things, I think, are shutting out distractions and then trusting your ear.”
Donnacha Dennehy
Chapters
Start with the moment that interests you.
Each chapter begins the full episode at that moment without taking you away from the page.
- 01What makes your music yours?Vonn begins with the question beneath the whole conversation: how does a composer develop a voice that is recognizably their own?00:00 ▶
- 02Limina and HeadDonnacha describes writing for pianist Eliza McCarthy and turning the physical sensation of giddiness into musical motion.01:36 ▶
- 03Grá agus Bás and sean-nósA traditional Irish vocal practice opens a new way of hearing pitch, ornament, and the expressive grain of a human voice.09:14 ▶
- 04Building harmony from the overtone seriesThe notes within a sung tone become the raw material for harmony rather than a system imposed from outside the sound.15:50 ▶
- 05Winning a Grammy for Land of WinterDonnacha recalls the ceremony, the delayed arrival of the statuette, and the recognition shared with Alarm Will Sound.18:40 ▶
- 06July: turning light into musicA full year of changing daylight determines the proportions, density, and bright energy of a twelve-part musical form.21:55 ▶
- 07Shut out the world and writeDonnacha gives Vonn a practical assignment: protect five focused writing sessions, remove the distractions, and trust the ear.25:47 ▶
From Vonn
What stayed with me
What stayed with me was how quickly Donnacha moved from the largest questions about artistic voice to a concrete assignment. Turn off the internet. Put away the phone. Set the clock. Write. His advice made focus feel less like a mood to wait for and more like a condition a composer can deliberately create.
Your turn
What helps you shut out distractions and concentrate on creating?
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