kenhimura

Arvo Pärt has a minimalistic approach to music I like much. I tried to use tintinnabuli in a couple of pieces, what a magnificent effect!

Minimalistic mass? Have you heard Arvo Pärt's ouvre and his minimalistic counterpoint technique ("tintinnabuli")? I think you can use some of that features, even the instrumentations are similar.

Cool! My master's thesis are linked to this idea of algorithmic music. Have you look over David Cope?

You have to explore your material, as BryanSegers said. A good place to start is to systematize what colors you wanna find. So, look over archetypes. I use a catalog of mood when composing a soundtrack, and try to adapt my material for each archetype (and its subtopics). There are: Climax - catastrophe; molto dramatic; solemn atmosphere, nature "mystery"; Mystery tension - sinister night/ambient; menacing night/ambient; anxious ambient (agitato usually); magic appearance, imminence (something is going to happen soon); Action tension - persecution/chase; combat; heroic/epic combat; battle (mass combat); terror; tumult; natural disaster (storms, vulcans, earthquakes etc); Apassionato (climax or not) - love; despair; passionate lament; excitation; joy; victory; festivity. Try to adapt your material for each subtopic (or others you create, if you need, e.g. "slapstick punctuation"). Disney composers (and orchestrators) are masters of archetype manipulation, so before trying each one you should hear a lot of examples, just to figuring out the characteristics. A good tip is never discard any material - because each one (even the weirdest) can work under a certain archetype.

For Renaissance and earlier, you should look over book by musicologists, like Knud Jeppesen's "Counterpoint - The polyphonic vocal style of XVI century". For styles using a fugal structure, you can search the titles quoted in the first chapter of Alfred Mann's "The Study of Fugue". Ah, also you can search at Wikipedia, the list of resources (the end of the page) of each composer/style you wanna learn. Try out "ars nova", "ars antiqua", "rhythmic modes", "organum" etc.

Schoenberg's Fundamentals is a good choice. Theory of Harmony too, but I would use another harmony book before this because in my opinion the language is very very formal, it's an extra difficulty. Later on, look over counterpoint and orchestration books too.

Do you wanna know who launched these Celtic-based (or Medievo) styles? Or when did it began? You must look over a study (or book, or do it yourself) about the history of movie soundtracks. Probably, it started in 40's and 50's epics, when a lot of European composers went to US and were absorbed by Hollywood. These decades were milestones to the forming of what we today know as "soundtrack sound" - and this very clear ambientation is a characteristic of soundtrack, in particular epic (heritage from verismo operas). Quotations from a past era always had place in music (e.g.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ius8hx63Hso ), but I think you're searching for soundtracks.

Softwares Notation: Finale, MuseScore (free), Sibelius; Perception: Auralia, Earope, Ear Tuner, many YouTube videos; Digital Audio Workstation: Cubase, Digital Performer, FL Studio, Logic, ProTools, Reaper and a lot of others; With this, you just need a metronome, books and sheet (most of both you can find at internet) to achieve your dreams.

I prefer Finale over Sibelius. But you can choose one (or both) to write your sheet - the pro copyists are experts in both. But if you don't have money for the license, you have 2 choices: download a Jack Sparrow's version (hahaha!) or find a free software. In the last option, a free soft I like is MuseScore, it works overall well - except for large orchestra, where I found it hard to handle when compared to my Finale background. But it's free and has a good interface, you should try!

May this'll kill your doubt: http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5/5c/IMSLP09187-Ernst_-_Etudes_-_Cranz.pdf Ernst - Polyphonic Etudes. Study them well, specially the etude 6 ("The Last Rose of Summer"). There's a lot of examples of pizz + arco, mostly left handed, but a few played with the right hand. And another features as arpeggio + another voice in pizz, three stopping, double harmonics...

For me, fame it's not necessary, neither I pursue this. My ambitions are most linked to my own capacity than anything else. I think the only exception is the fact I wanna earn a lot of money to do and have lot of things that are really expensive, as sport cars, habanos, premium wines, Hans Zimmer' studio... hahaha. Now, serious, I do wanna earn a respectable money with this - not needing to work as anything else, to focus 100% of my labor efforts in music - and enjoy a good life. And do some trips around the world. I plan to speak fluently 8 or 9 languages until 2018 (the year I hope finish my doctorate); currently I have only proficiency in 2, and understand more 2, but I'm slowly forgetting these because I'm not practicing them (to train again is a thing it's in my new year goals list). I'll start another 2 languages in 2013 (latest at early-2014). Finish my music books and thesis is a good goal too. Also, I wanna do a study on sacred music, maybe a graduate - i'm currently thinking in get back to study latin at uni to approach this, or even do self-study. For the money, I want someday to work on Hollywood - the harder part of my dream, I know. But who knows what future reserves?

For this, I prefer use pencil and paper, as Dominus stated. I always have a little music notebook in my bag, to note down any idea that pops in my head when I'm out of home, university or studio. I prefer to do the ground work at free hand: compose a motif, some little variations, some ideas for harmonizing, ideas on instrumentation, scales, sometimes counterpoint et cetera. So, when I'm done with this, I really start the composition.

Ha! Now we have a sort of real argument. You and your colleagues think it's gibberish, you have this right. I don't, neither a lot of people I know. Who is wrong? Nobody and both of us. That's the point. If you don't like the book, just had to say "I don't like it because this, that and that". But you behave as an average frustrated chump, like many musicologists around the world. =P The main point is: like or not, deserve a reading. If you don't like it, don't use as source of constant referring. Just so.

Argumentum ad verecundiam again. Spend your lifetime doesn't prove nothing - just proves that you've spent your time. If it was worthy or not, only the results can tell... not the time. It's exactly what I'm saying. If someone spent much time researching to produce a work, or a book, it at least deserves consideration. Even if you just take a look, but deserves. Not what was said in this topic, taking a book as gibberish because they don't like it. This is a commom "idiot academicist" behavior. That injustified arrogance...