Bruce’s new book, just published by Cambridge University Press, is Visions and Decisions: Imagination and Technique in Music Composition. It is focused primarily on composition and improvisation (in a wide range of styles past and present), and it also delves into playwriting, film, painting, and even falafels. The ideas in it are supported by scientific research, drawing on neuroscience, cognitive studies, dream/sleep studies, as well as recent research into creative processes. People referenced in the book include Duke Ellington, Kaija Saariaho, Sofia Gubaidulina, Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Reena Esmail, Anthony Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Harold Pinter, Picasso, Stravinsky, Gesualdo, and also Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Janacek, as well as scientists Antonio Damasio, Robert Stickgold, and more.
