w.shipley

In your opinion, must beautiful music be technically challenging? Is simplicity too boring to you?

How much time do you spend writing per week? On a good week? On a bad one?

My professor is making me write a theme and variations, too. It may help to take an already popular theme and work that one first before coming up with your own. :)

Thank you so much! :)

No one else can tell you how to write; just because your instructor says to do it one way doesn't necessarily mean that's the best way for you. He or she may do it that way, but if it isn't right for you, I wouldn't try to force it.

Hello, composers. Lately, (the last three months or so) I've been having a lot of problems. I can write melodies, but I always end up hating them; as I mentioned in another thread, to me they always sound dumb or baroque. So, rather than trying to change that, I want to embrace that as my style and work with it with confidence. However, I don't know how to do that. I'm not so much worried about writing technically difficult music, or music that pushes boundaries on how we think of music; I want to write beautiful music that conveys emotion, drama. But I really feel that until I accept my sound as a composer I won't be able to do that. Basically, how do you, as a composer, accept the sound and stay true to how you write music without regard to what others think? "Oh, this sounds dated; this era is over; I've heard this before; this is too easy." Any help? Thank you all so very much.

I really, really like this. I play viola and I would LOVE to play this sometime, but why didn't the viola get to play at the end like the other strings? :( I really have nothing to say; I really enjoyed it.

I actually really liked it. That's all I can say, really. It sounded like it fit well. Good job. :)

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly do they help with?

So, I've been having an abnormal amount of problems with confidence and an inability to write something decent, so my composition instructor said I should try writing a theme and variations using Paganini's 24th Caprice. Is this bad? Does this mean that I'm no good, or is it just an exercise; are Theme and Variation works generally listened to for pleasure?

I'm really stuck on the second movement of Tchaikovsky's first and fifth symphonies. They're just... fantastic.

Thank you all so much. I really, really do appreciate it. :)

I really want to write modern-ish music, but with Romantic influences, but I'm having problems. Thank you guys for all of your suggestions. Any other ideas? :)

I've already agreed to focus on bassoon. I play in my school's (college) band and viola in a string quartet, so that's what I'll do. Thank you all for the advice. :)

I'll try that, but I barely get past four measure of pure melody, which is never anything I want to work with. I don't get to even writing the chords. :(