Francisco Martins

Tip away.

This debate no longer interests me.

Well, forgive me for being an ignorant, but I think music should be less about the sounds and ideas in it, and more about the actual MUSIC. The best example I can think of is baroque music, although it can be highly complex, it is pretty basic stuff compared to other styles. There is no in-depth timbral or philosophical exploitation, and the rules are simple and intuitive. You can even improvise multiple voice baroque music in real time! STILL, - for me - it is one of the best sounding music genres there is, probably the best sounding one! Nothing works for me like listening to the St. Matthew Passion. And now the important part: I can play baroque music with rock or jazz instruments, and it still sounds great! Why? Because the actual MUSIC is great. I can also play baroque music for a homeless guy or a construction worker and he will love it! The challenge in making modern music is to make something that is new and original, but sounds just as good as old music. Renaissance music was great, Baroque was great, Classical was great, Romantic was great, Late Romantic, Impressionist, Expressionist, all great. We should write music that is beyond philosophy and sound, instead of writing music that sucks but has a very intellectual academic reason to suck.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like harmony and melody.

I assume he meant you. Listening to gagaku is definitely not mainstream.

So... I just wrote "gagaku" on youtube. That was awful. Torture. Anoying as hell. I guess we just like opposite things, it's not worth debating.

You have really unusual sound preferences, what do you like then?

:horrified:

Again, spot-on! But I was looking for the mainstream opinion, as I said before all I did was google "best composers", can't get more mainstream than that. And yes, learning is the most important thing there is for me, especially as a composer and musician. I can be pretty arrogant because of my high self-esteem, but I sure know when to shut up and listen. Silence is underrated. It works when you agree, it works when you don't, and you always get some intel.

Then it was a successful troll, because I totally fell for it.

I know it sounded ignorant. I was just arguing against the "best composers are trombonists" statement. All I did was google "best composers".

Well that was a bit harsh, don't you think? I know I'm just a 17 year old, but I'm a student concert pianist, I've been studying music since I was in kindergarten. I just mentioned the "best composers" topic because it was mentioned to me, so I stated what the worldwide widespread agreement was, not mine. I agree, it's a stupid topic. Everything else you said was spot-on.

Pianists can hear music in their heads just as good as you can, they don't have to rely on the piano. What I was trying to say was that you can easily learn new harmony from playing piano repertoire.

No, it is not. The widespread agreement is that the top 3 best composers ever are Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. Also, conducting is not an instrument.

I'm having a hard time trying not to sound arrogant. I'm sure there are lots of great composers who don't play the piano or violin nowadays. My actual point: you don't actually need to be a great pianist, but if you want to be a great composer, write with a piano. Also, piano repertoire is the best there is, you can learn a lot.