Hoontar

You seem to have changed time signatures quite liberally, could you explain the logic behind your frequent changes for me? I'm not asking critically it just seems arbitrary and I was wondering if there is some hidden genius at play!

Does anybody know roughly what the salary of an assistant conductor is these days? Let's divide the question in two "for a large orchestra" eg. LA philharmonic and a "second tier orchestra" eg. Calgary symphony orchestra. Thanks

Hey everyone, I'm in the process of creating a string orchestra for my university focusing on contemporary music, and performing in a way that is relevant and beneficial to society today. Consequently, I do not want to name this ensemble, "The Chesterfield Chamber Strings" if you understand what I'm getting at. Does anyone have any name ideas for a small string orchestra with an edge or modern appeal? Thanks.

Hi, just trying to get some information on an American school. I know that Berklee college of music (Boston) has a good rep as being one of the better music schools offering many programs in contemporary styles (electric guitar ect.), but I was wondering how good their composition departement is supposed to be? Thanks

I wet my pants listening to this I was so scared.

shostakovich, shostakovich, shostakovich

i'm actually surprised that so many people selected the "popular music, isn't that an oxymoron?" choice, I imagined there would be more classical music fans who appreciated modern music than vice versa

hmm composing rock music, to be honest, unless you are trying to write really technical rock music with key and tempo changes, I would just bust out a guitar and jam some chords till you find something that you want to headbang to.

Allright, it's too late for me to be doing this but whatever... So the water one - really liked it as far as thematic material goes, definetly made me think of water, it carries itself nicely, although it is peaceful and slow I find the pizz gives it a certain momentum that carries you through till the end. My only complaint is length, I feel you have enough ideas in there to carry the piece on much longer, I was enjoying it enough to listen to it for much longer than what you provided. I'm not sure I would want to study the thought process or theory behind the creation of this piece, largely due to the fact that the length restricts your developement and perspective on the various ideas you present in the piece. I think you could safely elongate this piece without jeapordizing (probably spelt that sucker wrong) the impact of what you have already completed. You use strings very nicely, and I have a certain softspot for people who emphasize strings, so I look forward to more orchestral pieces from you

Definetly could end up being my favorite piece you've done Marius, loving the harmonies near the beginning. You should contact Link and get him to do some vocals

PraeludiumUndFuge this is concerning your comment. Hmm, I dont really know how I stand on that. I think making midis is NOT composing - but making music is. I don't care if you are expressing yourself creatively with a feather pen over a candlit piano, or if you are clicking away at Finale on your new laptop, as far as I'm concerned, if you are succesfully combining elements which would comprise a musical composition (which I believe is the strictest of definitions for "composing") then in my books, you are "a composer." Maybe that's showing too much disregard for the meaning of the word in a traditional sense, maybe i'm just a reformist, it's all opinion anyways...everything about music, subjective...

Well firstly, I agree that music has elements that are unique from other forms of art, although that isn't meant to degrade the artistic value of a statue just because it can't be revised ten years later. My personal motive is pretty simple and is probably the same as everyone elses, I started off young playing an instrument (cello), grew to love music, eventually decided to try composing, and grew to love that as well...

haha wow sorry guys yeah guess I blanked last night, should've put jazz on that sucker, along with blues I guess too, oh well, the post is still accomplishing what I intended at least (finding out what people listen to beyond classical)

So I write classical music, and it's probably a fair assumption that if you are reading this then you are in some way involved in the composition or performance of music of this nature. I also play in a modern "progressive metal" band, I happen to enjoy shredding up solos on the guitar as much as a great symphony - anyways I'm curious what you guys listen to while not listening to classical music (hence the poll), and what modern music you recommend (of any sort) for other trained classical musicians like yourself who have sophisticated tastes and who demands more 'substance' in their music than can be provided by, jessica simpson, for example. NOTE! this is an official apology concerning forgetting jazz on the poll! Don't deal punishing blows to my body with a saxophone! please! I can start the list off (the following will be hard rock groups that you might enjoy if you like both extremely technical music, and fast metal) The human abstract www.myspace.com/thehumanabstract Protest the hero www.myspace.com/protestthehero

thanks for input, any other thoughts?