Karahashianders

I'd like to enter this contest as well

I'm very surprised no one mentioned Bruce Broughton. I suppose he hasn't done big blockbusters like Williams or Zimmer have, but his soundtrack for The Rescuers Down Under is fantastic, just check out the song called "Cody's Flight." I think James Horner would have to be my favorite because he has done my favorite movie soundtrack of all time - Balto. He has written plenty of forgettable scores as well though.

Jeremy Soule - Sunrise of Flutes One of the greatest flute melodies ever written! This piece never fails to evoke a sense of relaxation in me. Paul Anthony Romero - Valhalla An excellent display of the triumph and majesty that can come out of a melancholic melody. Paul Anthony Romero - The Last Battle Amazing use of the progressive building of tension to a dynamic climax James Horner - Heritage of the Wolf This piece has an element of nostalgia to it for me because I remember hearing it along with the animated film Balto. It remains as one of the most special pieces of music to me - it contains the entire range of human emotion, from fear and desperation to triumph and happiness. Ennio Morricone - State of Grace One comment on the video for this piece is "It sounds like something is breaking my heart," and that's a perfect description of what it sounds like. The contrast of the flute playing major scale notes with the minor scaled saxophone mirrors the protagonist's conflict of his fantasy of how things will be with the way things actually are.

My answer: Enough variety in rhythm, instrumentation, and melody to sound unique, and enough repetition to give the piece a sense of coherence. What constitutes "enough" is up for discussion.

Excellent topic. I would start by saying that everything you hear, music or otherwise, gets stored in your subconscious. With enough repetition and enough motivation, we are able to reproduce and arrange those sounds to our liking, in the form of language and music. With language, the first motivation is survival and a sense of connectedness, and with music, the motivation can vary, but usually is motivated by the pleasure that comes from arranging tones in a certain fashion. This explains why the "elites" in most any field of discipline were exposed to and instructed in their area of expertise from a very young age when the neural plasticity is at its highest. Because everything we hear is stored in our subconscious, our styles as composers are constantly being formed based on what we listen to from others and what we play ourselves. It's interesting to me to consider how different the development process is for us as modern-day composers compared to the likes of Bach and Handel and Brahms. We have thousands or millions of times the capabilities to add to our subconscious arsenal than they did so it's quite possible our ability to progress as composers can happen on a shorter time-scale than theirs.

Important questions. What has not been stated yet that I feel is a vital aspect of developing as a composer is to LISTEN to composers you love, frequently, and analytically. This doesn't mean you have to break down the theory of all the music you love, but simply following the chords on your piano when listening to a piece you like can help you get some ideas on what chord arrangements you particularly like. Music is a language and everyone learns languages by first hearing language, then producing it themselves. Honestly, I think Johnbucket's advice is nonsense. DON'T be afraid of imitation. Every modern-day songwriter I enjoy has in an interview somewhere their favorite bands or composers from childhood and talks about how obsessed they were with that group or that guy. Now as you progress as a musician, and as your range of influences becomes broader, your works will sound less generic and eventually you will have your own style that could loosely be called a mix of your influences. Everything you listen to, music or otherwise, is stored in your subconscious, so if you like a certain composer, LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN ANALYZE! There is no such thing as a childhood prodigy. Those who are called childhood prodigies are people who were either trained from a very young age by parents or other teachers, or who were able to get out of the public school system and spend their time the way they wanted to. Read about Laszlo Polgar - he homeschooled and trained his 3 daughters in chess from a very young age and 2/3 became Grandmasters. So there's very strong evidence, from a wide range of sources that geniuses are made, not born. People tend to like this idea of the childhood prodigy (not necessarily you) because it gives them a cop-out for not achieving excellence. "Well, I'm not talented enough to do this," is a common thing that goes on in people's heads. Also, check out ANY Youtube video of a virtuoso in ANY category and you will see comments like "I am in despair. Doubt I will ever play like that..." (I just copied and pasted that from an 11 year old virtuoso violinist'svideo). People who know they are underachieving either watch a master and get inspiration or get demotivated because they see what they are capable of, or at least what is possible and know they are not dedicated to achieve their maximum potential.

I've experienced this before, which is similar: I write an 8 bar melody and I get emotionally attached to that melody on its own, and am afraid to put the melody in the context of a full song because it the song might not do it justice. At such times, I just sit down on the keyboard and experiment with chords, use my DAW, or listen to one of my favorite composers and I usually come up with another piece of the puzzle. But I'm never in a mindset where I feel I have to write something, because I don't think you can will inspiration.