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I have long considered writing some kind of manual suggesting exercises to practice composition. I think being exposed to, and trying out, as much as possible is key - far too many young composers simply imitate one or two favourite composers without bringing anything new, and as a result their work just sounds second-rate and derivative. In general you should try and do exercises that introduce ideas so far unfamiliar to you. For example, writing for untuned percussion forces you to think about using rhythm and timbre as the main variables, rather than harmony or melody. One thing my second-year composition teacher had us do was write pieces that were a maximum of ten seconds in length. This again forced us to focus on devising very small units of material and condensing ideas as far as possible. So, off the top of my head, I would reccomend: - Write for instruments you have little or no knowledge of. This will make you read up on their capabilities but also introduce new sounds. - Write exercises in which a certain parameter is fixed or removed (melody, timbre, note values, etc). This will make you more creative with the other variables. - As above, write very short pieces, maybe a few seconds in duration, for as many sizes of ensemble as possible. How can you use a full orchestra in ten seconds? - Experiment with following historical forms to the letter (serialism, sonata forms, rondo) then write something that deliberately subverts the rules of these forms. - Orchestrate music by others. This will not only help your learn about instruments but give you an intimate knowledge of the work being done. The purpose of these exercises is not to make your music into some kind of eclectic post-modernist grab-all that doesn't have any individualisty, quite the opposite. If you experiment with as many ideas as possible you can decide what you want to use and what to reject. And don't worry if anything you write sounds terrible, because it's just an exercise. No-one cares about student pieces or exercises, they care about the good work that eventually results from doing all of that.

OK... If you're going to do it like this you need to be consistent with nomenclature and not have the ability to change your "avatar" or "profile pic," whatever you're calling it, in multiple places. You should be able to handle everything you need to within your settings. But why not keep it so that we have separate profile pics and forum avatars? That wouldn't be confusing as long as you could handle both clearly within your settings. If you're looking for input, I prefer to have my forum avatar separate from my profile pic because it's more likely that people are going to look at my forum posts than at my profile. I don't want an image of myself showing up on all of my posts, but I wouldn't mind having an image of myself in my profile.

Hey Miggy! I checked out your choral piece as promised. I enjoyed it a lot! It had a really warm, happy, prideful type of atmosphere. Very nice. Now, I haven't read any of the others' replies so as not to taint my opinion; so here is what I think if you're looking for a bit of criticism or suggestions. Firstly, as I heard the opening, I really enjoyed the melody and such, but it felt... odd. I couldn't put my tongue on it. And then it hit me! Here's an idea I thought you could try. I felt like the beginning opened too boldly and fast paced, like march-like. To change this, maybe, from measures 1 through 5 (up through "sky:") make the tempo sort of... 'Freely'. Like, quarter note = low 50s, possibly even 60. So it's like a free, expressive opening figure. Sort of like a cadenza I suppose. And then they hold out this beautiful "Sky!", and then break out into the central story and melody of "So it was when my life began". Ya know what I'm saying? Just a suggestion, just my opinion, you don't have to. :) Next, measure 14. I think the rhythm is awkward with the words. If it were me, this is exactly what I would do. Make "it" a dotted quarter note, put "when" on the 'and' of beat 4, and make "I shall" two eighth notes on the downbeat of measure 15. I think it'd sound less awkward. Speaking of measure 15, in my personal opinion, I think the altos should resolve from C to B with the tenors. Just sayin'. Again, you don't have to. Lastly, in the last four measures, I have a tiny suggestion. In measure 34, "natural" has the option of being three syllables; as in, na-tu-ral. Maybe make beat 1 two eighth notes (maintaining the same pitches) instead of a quarter? I dunno, that's just what I think. Again! These are all just my opinions; I'm no professional. Heck I'm not even out of high school, I haven't taken any composition anythings. My suggestions are just based on instinct; take 'em or throw 'em out. :) Nice work! I'd like to see more! Cheers! -Keegan

Glad to see that fixed the problem. Also, to make things easier, the avatar and profile picture are the same. Thus, your profile picture IS your avatar, and vice versa.

Then how come changing my profile picture doesn't change my forum avatar?? I've changed it 3 times in 4 hours by following the little link below my picture. My forum avatar is still the same picture it's been since I joined.