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Indeed.

What is the point in this thread really? I mean, we just going to whine over what another composer does? Why not just write your music the way you want to and I'll write mine the way that I want to? Seems ignorant to just sit and harp on each other all the time...

Yep. :phones: Nothing new.

I wasn't trying to be overly mean in my post. I did post what I do not like about some music I hear, though I also tried to not use over-generalizations. As in, I tried to avoid saying things like it should *always* this way, *never* this way, etc. I've heard some music "without melodies" that have sounded pretty cool, but I've also heard a lot that sounded really bad. In the drum and bugle corps world today, for example, there's a lot of corps that play "intellectual" music, music that's not immediately catchy or anything like that. And I personally hate it. Sure, it's technically clean, and all that, but the audience doesn't get it, and I would bet the ensemble doesn't always get it either. In some situations, this can be ok, but in other settings, like this one for example, it's not the point. As for instrumentation. What my point was, is that sometimes what might seem like a cool idea, because it's theoretically possible, can turn out to be a horrible idea because players cannot handle it with any proficiency. Sometimes, sure, try it. You just don't always have to push that part just because you can. I've written music that pushes instruments, plenty of times. But I've also learned that sometimes, it can result in a disaster, after seeing musicians take the music I had written and actually tried to play it. Some brilliant masterpieces push the limits of what an instrument can do. So, my point is, know what your players can do, then decide if you want push that or not. It's just like most anything in composition, you should know the "rules" first, even if you decide to break all of them anyway. I've heard some "weird" music that I like, that steps outside the box. Holsinger and Bernstein are two that come to mind for wacky, yet amazing music. Then there's other music that's wacky, and that's it, and for the most part, I'm not interested in it. So what I said is not an end-all statement. I've heard exceptions to everything I said that I legitimately enjoyed. As per topic, I mentioned things I've heard from composers that personally really bothered me. It was not meant to hateful or spiteful, and I apologize if you got that intention.

I laughed so much after reading this. Could you just imagine? You walk into a concert hall and EVERYONE is looking at the wall. :lol: Thank You. I also don't like how a lot of composers (and artists in general) have this idea that they need to be these spaced out, introverts who do drugs or something. Why can't artists be normal people too? Why do we have to be outcasts all the time, and why is it fashionable? I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I wasn't "attacking" modern music. I won't deny I hate what I've heard of modern music, but I also won't deny that I probably know very little. I'm just speaking from my experience, which is this; it's alright if I want to abandon the tradition syntax in favor of more modern techniques, but the moment I try to do the opposite I'm being close minded? That seems a little biased to me. And your making me out to be more hateful than I am. I don't like modern music, but I don't wish it dead or anything. And I do hate it for reasons; personally when I listen to a modern piece, it either sounds like endless nothingness, random notes that make no sense to me, or it isn't music at all (i.e. 4'33", "I'm Sitting in a Room", and that guitar piece I mentioned earlier. Yes it was a real piece.). I've tried composing modern music when I took composition lessons. I felt like I was writing random notes. I told my teacher as such, but he didn't seem to care, so I quit. I also hate the fact that every "modernist" I've met has the predisposition that I need to be "enlightened" or something. I came across this especially when I visited college professors...we rarely discussed MY interests, and when we did, it was only briefly. My point is that I haven't been scheming on how best to take down modern music. Quite the opposite, I feel very afraid and frustrated that my interests and tastes lie in a period way before my time. No one aspires to be a little known composer-neither do I. But I'm also not going to start composing in a different style just so I can please everyone who says I'm "closed-minded", or to remain "current" or relevant. I'm going to write in a language that I like, and that I feel represent me; just like you. And just like everyone else.

I don't get this, what puns? I also don't get this. Look at performers? ... Uh? Because at performances people tend to stare at the walls instead, of course. I suppose it's "sonata in G major" for you or it's "stupid?" This sounds extremely short-sighted. Good'ol stereotypes. I bet we'll be seeing more people say the same damn thing over and over in this thread (as there's already 3 posts that have this so far!) I don't even know what the gently caress anyone is referring to specifically when they say "tonality" because it's 400+ years of very different music to begin with. The typical "I hate modern music (for no reason)" attacks are always very classy. Let's see more of this please since there isn't enough of it in this forum already. Good to see we're continuing the above trend with the attacks. Guys? You're not doing anyone any favors by "defending" music that is almost already 99% of what gets played. Nobody plays modern music practically save for select few ensembles, it makes composing in any style (or composing at all really) pointless in most cases since you can't compete with The Greats, etc etc. So let up the attacks. I think it's uncool to tell people how they should write their music.

It is VERY incomplete lol. Why else would it be in the "incomplete works section" XD

Stop with the "what isn't music?" question. You write a "piece" where a man is just destroying a guitar, and you think you're being deep or creative or something? Artistic freedom doesn't mean whatever you write is GOOD. It just means you can write whatever you want. So stop using it as an excuse for why your latest work is a masterpiece. I second the puns thing. Not clever. Why is tonality so bad, boring, restrictive etc etc? What is with your obsession on writing something that's completely new? What's with the preoccupation on being at the forefront of a "new era" or whatever. Edit: You were making this out to be a rant thread.....right?

Stop it with the puns LOOK at performers who play the instruments you write for! Stupid titles that you desperately try to form a composition around; cling to straws to do it. Makes you look cheap. Tonality != evil Just because people who like aesthetically pleasing music don't like your music doesn't mean your music is good/high art. Commercial music is music too.

It's a pretty stupid stereotype, but whatever if they want to buy into it they can. I'm most interested in the actual stuff they do, not who they are.