This chapter explores the importance of adapting for a composer, whether that be in their own creative practice (for example by adapting stories for the stage or screen) or in their engagement with others’ works through arrangements or orchestrations. It considers what a suitable definition of adaptation might be, and where the boundaries of originality might lie in adapting someone else’s work, before arguing that adaption necessitates a valuable set of composition skills that require us to think actively and conscientiously about our role in history and society.

Chapter 4 looks at the more recent (and largely negative) concept of ‘perfectionism’ and, specifically (and with some reservations), at the distinction between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism within socio-psychology. This chapter looks critically at a recent ethical discussion by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics of cosmetic procedures designed to give people a ‘perfect body,’ but also notes that some form of obsessive perfectionism seems to be a feature of artistic, sporting and even moral genius. It offers human examples of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, including Steve Jobs, Ludwig Wittgenstein and the theatre producer Peter Brook, and concludes that perfectionism can be both dysfunctional and functional.