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• Kareem McCullough reflects on his compositional process, beginning with improvisation, experimentation, and musical discovery.
• He discusses how pieces such as “Finding My Way,” “Aftermath,” and “Internal Shadows” came into existence.
• Kareem explores the relationship between improvisation and music theory, and how theory helps him develop ideas rather than dictate them.
• He discusses his fascination with modal mixture, harmonic ambiguity, major 7th and 9th chords, and internal dissonance.
• He reflects on how the guitar itself shapes his compositional language, particularly through its ability to blend and “warm” dissonant sonorities.
• Kareem describes composition as an archaeological process of discovery, including the experience of musical ideas emerging through dreams and improvisation.
• He discusses the influence of blues, jazz, rock, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and classical guitar on his musical voice.
• Kareem considers what makes music Black music, emphasizing lived experience rather than a fixed collection of rhythms, scales, or stylistic characteristics.
• He reflects on the autobiographical nature of his music and the ways his experiences as a Black man in the United States inform his creative practice.
• Kareem discusses race, identity, class, solidarity, and the evolving way he understands his place within American society and the classical music world.
• He addresses the challenges Black musicians face in entering classical music, including access to private instruction, socioeconomic inequality, and representation.
• Kareem discusses the importance of seeing people who look like you in spaces where you may not initially see yourself.
• He encourages the next generation of Black musicians to “expand the net” rather than limiting themselves to a single musical or cultural category.
• Kareem reflects on his hope that, eventually, Black music can simply be understood as music—while still acknowledging the importance of preserving and discussing Black cultural history.
• Finally, Kareem considers legacy and memory, sharing what he hopes listeners and musicians might discover in his music generations from now.

Themes: Composition · Improvisation · Black Musical Identity · Classical Guitar · Race & Identity · Representation · Access · Class · Tradition · Musical Memory · Legacy