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Composer Phil, you're really annoying with your sarcastic and unpleasant answers. :mad:

The answer to your question is, in principle, no; however you must be able to devote yourself to learning your craft as a performer and/or composer, something which may be trickier than starting as a child or teen as you will have to also find a means of supporting yourself and funding your education. I often have to point out the importance of learning an instrument in order to learn how to compose, for numerous reasons which I will not go into much detail on here, suffice to say that I cannot think of a single 'classical' composer to this day who did not also play an instrument to near-professional standard (and a good few were active professionals), and that doing so will give you a knowledge of existing repertoire that will aid your compositional development. I would consider electro-acoustic and 'media' music the field in which playing ability is least vital (although certainly not unnecessary), as it tends to demand more knowledge of software and hardware than actual instruments. Community college is a good first step, but be aware the entry requirements for university are not there to catch you out but because you will need a good all-round ability to cope with specialising in any segment of musical study. Ideally you would play piano and one other orchestral instrument to near-professional standard, be able to sing a capella, have a working knowledge of music history and theory, be able to arrange and compose in several styles including having studied tonal harmony and counterpoint, have some practical pop and jazz knowledge, have a working knowledge of all common instruments and have performance and possibly directing experience There is, of course, no reason why with a little pointing you could not become an excellent self-taught composer (Elgar is the shining example) but again we come back to this being a product of having abilities as a performer (Elgar was also an excellent violinist and pianist) and exposure to repertoire and other musicians. We haven't mentioned the lifestyle of a professional musician either: for me I can summarise this as the joy of being able to play, compose and teach to a high standard offsetting the many pressures and difficulties that come with this career choice.

I've practiced composition since I was about 13 years old on my computer, but I only just took up playing an instrument seriously a few months ago. I've decided that I wanted to be a career musician and sound designer, but most of the composition programs I've seen require an audition of an instrument during admissions. I'm nearly 24 years old right now and I'm attending a community college with hopes to later transfer to a music college on a composition major. Have I just missed the boat here? I was never too interested in performing but I always made time to write. Is it impossible to be a career composer if composing is in fact the only thing you know how to do?

muhmuhmuhmusic told me about it.

@Austenite I wouldn't go that far. It depends on what you want to compose. I don't think it's realistic for even seasoned professional to make a living solely on composition work ( A lot of people do mixing, rent out their studio, sound design, and etcetera ), but the work is out there for composition. Without knowing an instrument, finding a good teacher has become a bit challenging, though. @Phil A google search wouldn't have given me the answer siwi did. Sometimes it's worth it to hear someone's point of view. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Furthermore: "It's a little irking when I'm working my donkey off towards starting my own career and someone prances along trying to do what I want to do, though clearly putting 1/100th of the effort in." Was that called for? With all due respect, you don't know me. It sounds like you're trolling.

Enough said. Do what you think you should be doing.

I am not so sure. Interesting question. I think todays contemporary music is somewhat ecclectic. You pick elements you like and the way the composer blends that together can make him unique. On a more personal note, you mght be tempted to go to the New Complexity camp, but since you speak rather incomprehensible, i study your music first to get an idea what the textual description ( that should have elaborated the work instead of my other way around ;) ). But if you wrote new complexity works, the music too would become incomprehensible to me

I play clarinet and I would have to say in terms of contemporary music I think John Corigliano's concerto is amazing but ridiculously hard. Here's a link to the

Since most of the answers are, sadly, silly jokes, let me try: First listen to all finest concertos for bassoon. Pay close attention to form, motivic gradations, harmonic background, orchestration, the usage of the instrument. But you should inform us, how much experience do you have as a composer and which composers you favour as your influences. I remember when I started to compose at the age of 18, I wrote an oboe concerto with strings. It is terrible, since I had no knowledge of form and motivic workout. I made some melodies in oboe and use strings as a background harmonies with occasional solo exhibitions, in moderato-slow-quasi fast movements. But it's a try-out piece after all...

Ok well since you already have a good grasp of music theory, I don't feel as though we need to go over the intervals harmonic progressions etc.. I feel that we could start with guitar. Since you asked about odd techinques I have some listening assignments I'd like you to go over so you can get a grasp of what we'll be going for here. First lesson is "Percussive Guitar" This is the flashy sort of thing that really can get an audience's attention. Here is the list I'd like you to listen to for some ideas of this technique. The really great thing about these techniques is that it's very easy to develop your own, the key though is to either develop a style that uses them effectively and not so much that it bores the listener. Here's the songs I'd like you to listen to. Take some notes as well. I would like you to take notes in these areas Tempo:How does the technique affect the tempo of the piece? Usage:Is the technique tastefully used? Or is it what the piece revolves around? Here are the pieces I'd like you to listen to, most of them are on Youtube but my server keeps messing it up and the videos won't load for me. But I'm sure you're more than capable of doing searches for them :) "Blasting Cap" by Preston Reed "Aerial Boundaries" by Michael Hedges "Playing with Pink Noise" by Kaki King "Kewpie Station" by Kaki King "Ritual Dance" by Michael Hedges Those are the ones to get started. Do you have Finale notepad? Or some form of program that will allow you to use and read Finale files?