helgarr

People who say stuff like "real composing is done with pencil and paper" are most often people who feel the need to uplift themselves by demeaning others, which the feeling of being different and more 'hardcore' will fulfill. I personally find it difficult to write on paper, I don't write fast enough to cover what is in my head. I use the piano and computer mostly. But also I find that using such medium will help your inner ear and eye memory develop which makes composing straight onto paper easier. Do what feels right for you. We're in the 21st century, to not use the technology we have to help ourselves would simply not makes sense.

I am trying to finish a quartet I started last semester. I've only finished one movement and am currently looking into more string quartets for inspiration on idiomatic writing. I've looked into some such as Bart

Yes, I think the piece would benefit from another theme/part. But what you have here is good. But another thing: You don't write any dynamics. One of the things that my teacher keeps stressing is how important to a piece's feel the dynamics are. They give the piece life. This waltz does not have any markings, not even at the beginning, which gives it an unfinished feel. When you live your dynamics they become an irreplaceable part of your compositions (unless you take a determined stand to not write any). Just wanted to mention it. :)

Music has been a part of my life since I was born. My father was a piano instructor (and tuner) and at the age of 3 I demanded that he gave me lessons. My mom tells me that at the age of 5 I started putting melodies and chords together on the piano. I didn't do much with it for years, because I thought that musical talent was granted to everyone (both my parents have musical background, they met as he accompanied her clarinet on the piano). I was 19 when I realised that I wanted something to do with music, and conducting came to mind. I enrolled in college with no musical educational background and after 1 week of theory I changed to composition. I am now a second year student and I can tell you, school makes all the difference. Harmony f.ex. was all in my head from listening to music, but giving the tricks names and learning how to utilise them has helped me greatly. Hmm... and that's my life's story, I guess. /rant

Nice try, but no cigar. That would be 'Maestoso'. Ahh...

I'm an undergrad composition student (4th semester of 6) and I plan to go abroad for my Masters. I'm thinking of going to Japan, for a different musical culture. :)

Exactly! As I said, who'd guess that '

Personally, being a fundamentally non-English speaker, I think that one traditional language in music makes perfect sense. If I'd write out my compositions in my native language ("hr

To me both sound good. They might be fit for different occasions. The only problem I found was that sometimes in the cello/violin version the cello repeatedly ends up on the same tone without apparent direction. This happens in the first part after the violin comes in. Hitting the same note (that is highest or lowest pitch of the melody at the time) can give a feeling of being trapped or not going anywhere. It can be used effectively, f.ex. G-H-G-C-G-D and then used as a base, but if no structure is visible and the melody (in this case the cello's melody) does not get a new base note for some time this can lead to boredom or insecurity of the melody. But otherwise I thought it was good, not too cluttered and straight to the point. :)

As a fan of both HP and Elfman I would have been disappointed if he scored the series. He is too obvious a choice for anything magical, and he's kind of got repetitive over the last few years (although Meet the Robinsons was quite interesting). I'd like to see him branch out of his comfort zone. I never got the whole Williams phenomenon. His work is grand and I do respect him for what he did when he started out, but I don't believe that he has created a score specially designed for one movie for over 10 years. He makes beautiful main themes, but then the rest is kind of all the same. I do think Hedwig's theme is quite on cue for HP, and the whole first score is quite good, but the second I did not care for. Three was OK. Doyle was adequate, but still there was something missing. So far I like Hooper's approach best, mostly because he was able to take the unbelievably dull and pubescent OotP and create something that was true to the story, yet rich in emotion. I don't feel that usage of simple motives such as Umbridge's theme makes for a worse composition.

Some format other than .mus would help us non-Finale users. Also, your location? Am I crazy, or does it stand for Throne of Bhaal? ;)

If you want you can go from V to your original key, f.ex. I (IV/V) - V/V - V - vi etc.. Since V belongs to your original key you don't need to worry much unless you've used a lot of chords borrowed from the V-key. You can just call it an emphasis, not a modulation. I'm not sure I know that well enough to teach, I'm sorry.

Ah, I'm sorry. Just sounded like one of those "go read the book" answers you see far too often. :)

Why on earth do we have this forum if questions cannot be addressed? Well, I really cannot add much to what pianoman said. Secondary dominants are a popular flavor in music and can be used for many things - it really depends on where you go from V whether or not you've modulated. It is not uncommon to see IV(or ii) - V/V - V - I in a cadence (you can also use #vii