Composition: John Hodgman Offers A Non-Musical Example

John Gibbons recently opined that the genius of the truly great composers can be found not in the individual musical elements they employ but in what they make of them. In other words, what matters is the composition of those elements. It’s not this playful snippet of melody or that inventive chord progression. It’s how they’re put together. It’s the narrative they create.

This poignant, geeky talk by humorist John Hodgman (best known as “PC” in Apple Computer’s commercials) isn’t music, but it’s a wonderful example of composition in this sense.

The blurb for this 2008 TED appearance claims that Hodgman “rambles through a new story about aliens, physics, time, space and the way all of these somehow contribute to a sweet, perfect memory of falling in love.” But what Hodgman does here is the opposite of rambling. He introduces a theme (“I bet aliens are hiding among us”). He develops it via recurring-but-changing motifs (watching sci-fi movies, gazing at stars, and the “lost time” experienced by alien abductees). Along the way, he tosses in copious embellishments (an alien probe here, a tetanus shot there). Finally, he’s transfigured the theme (“We are not alone”). In the end, the aliens themselves are transformed from a relic of childhood magical thinking to the personification of an adult’s sense of the transcendent on the day he knew, really knew, how much in love he was.

Hodgman has fairly recently become one of those well-known faces whose name you may not know (unless you’re an NPR fan or follow his writing career). About four years ago he published The Areas of My Expertise, plugged the book on The Daily Show, and was funny enough to land a recurring gig as the show’s Resident Expert. (The topic? It doesn’t matter. He’s always the resident expert.) Then came the Apple ads that made him famous enough to be parodied, himself, in Microsoft’s new, retaliatory “I am PC” campaign. He seems to be cultivating a niche as “The Doctor” on such diverse projects as the Tina Fey comedy Baby Mama and an upcoming Battlestar Galactica episode. Before meandering his way on camera he was a writer and radio commentator whose credits include This American Life, and even a literary agent. His second book, More Information Than You Require, came out yesterday.

Listen to Maestro Hodgman’s video with your ear tuned to recurring imagery and enjoy how it all seems to make perfect sense in the end.

More Information Than You Require
by John Hodgman

The Areas of My Expertise
by John Hodgman