Editing Aaron Copland (section)

== Critic, writer, teacher ==
Copland did not consider himself a professional writer. He called his writing "a byproduct of my trade" as "a kind of salesman for contemporary music".{{sfn|Copland|Perlis|1984|p=175}} As such, he wrote prolifically about music, including pieces on music criticism analysis, on musical trends, and on his own compositions.{{sfn|Smith|1953|p=265}} An avid lecturer and lecturer-performer, Copland eventually collected his presentation notes into three books, ''What to Listen for in Music'' (1939), ''Our New Music'' (1941), and ''Music and Imagination'' (1952).{{sfn|Smith|1953|p=264}} In the 1980s, he collaborated with Vivian Perlis on a two-volume autobiography, ''Copland: 1900 Through 1942'' (1984) and ''Copland Since 1943'' (1989). Along with the composer's first-person narrative, these two books incorporate 11 "interludes" by Perlis and other sections from friends and peers.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=545}} Some controversy arose over the second volume's increased reliance over the first on old documents for source material. Due to the then-advanced stage of Copland's Alzheimer's and the resulting memory loss, however, this fallback to previous material was inevitable.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=545}} The use in both books of letters and other unpublished sources, expertly researched and organized, made them what Pollack terms "invaluable".{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=545}}

During his career, Copland met and helped hundreds of young composers, whom he met and who were drawn to him by his continual interest and acuity into the contemporary musical scene.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=178–79}}{{sfn|Smith|1953|p=285}} This assistance came mainly outside an institutional framework—other than his summers at the [[Berkshire Music Center]] at Tanglewood, a decade of teaching and curating at The New School, and a few semesters at Harvard and the State University of New York at Buffalo, Copland operated outside an academic setting.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=179}} Pollack writes: "Those composers who actually studied with him were small in number and did so for only brief periods; rather, Copland helped younger composers more informally, with intermittent advice and aid."{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=179}} This advice included focusing on expressive content rather than on purely technical points and on developing a personal style.{{sfn|Smith|1953|p=290}}{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=194}}

Copland's willingness to foster talent extended to critiquing scores in progress that were presented to him by his peers. Composer [[William Schuman]] writes: "As a teacher, Aaron was extraordinary.... Copland would look at your music and try to understand what ''you'' were after [italics Schuman]. He didn't want to turn you into another Aaron Copland.... When he questioned something, it was in a manner that might make you want to question it yourself. Everything he said was helpful in making a younger composer realize the potential of a particular work. On the other hand, Aaron could be strongly critical."{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=191–92}}