Leaderboard

Personally, I really recommend using pencil. I know some people prefer pen, but I it would never work for me considering how frequently I have to erase. My penmanship is far from the best so i can hardly offer advice, but as long as it's readable for you, I think it's fine. Obviously, that's less true if you are a teacher writing on paper for instruction. Here's an example of my musical handwriting.

I use paper many times (not always). I think it's part of the creation process (for me). The paper allows writing comments, etc... sometimes I scan the sketch and put it in the final score, it's beautiful.

I sketch themes and important harmonic progressions on paper when I'm away from my notation software (e.g. when stuff comes to me while at work) but 95% of the time, I compose directly into notation software. If it weren't for notation software, there is no way I could compose music, at least of the same quality of what I do now.

Well, at least for my list, there's a fair amount of overlap between personal favorites and want to conduct threads. Note also that my personal situation may be different than some others, in that I have had the opportunity to conduct a lot of great wind ensemble literature, but not nearly enough orchestra literature. So my list winds up being more of an "if I had access to an orchestra, I would do x, y, and z" list than anything else. In terms of why I want to conduct a piece, my main criteria are: 1. I find the piece interesting 2. I want the opportunity to study and interpret the piece. 3. I believe I can lead an ensemble through a good performance of the piece. This last point is why the Rite of Spring isn't up there, even though I'd love the piece dearly. In terms of interpretation, the Beethovens have so much dimension to them yet are often taken too seriously for their own good. There are some nearly slapstick moments in the works that are missed by treating them too reverently.

This probably isn't inspiring but I've never had dreams of being a conductor, but had dreams of attending a concert and witnessing my stuff being played back in real time.

Klangfarbenmelodie was an interesting point you use a lot instead of "typical development". It's a very Debussy-type move and I think it paid off here. I think I like this one better because it travels somewhere. A clear "tonal" (more neotonal with timbral differences) beginning that devolves into something a lot more majestic and free. The section of rhythm and lowered volume and texture kind of distracted me a bit, but I can see what you were trying to do. Cheers!

Hi Julien, Just wanted to follow back up on this. Regarding the transitional material, it's not that it was bad material. The problem you had is one every composer has. We spend days or weeks, even months, living with a piece of music. We become intimately familiar with the material. So, when we're trying to do something interesting, it's tempting to reach for a new idea. That is interesting for us. Now, put yourself in the audience's position. They are hearing your piece for the first time. Every idea is new to them. They do not know what's important. In literature, Anton Chekhov stated this principle by saying, "Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." In music, we make sure that each new idea we bring into play has significance in the piece. Now, you could drop an idea into a transition and pay it off later. But in the case of this piece, the form is so tight otherwise I think you would create other problems for yourself by trying. But it's a handy trick to think about when conceiving a larger work.