trombtar53

I personally am a believer in Kotska Payne for reference, but not for recreational reading...I agree with the experimental composer...experiment. If the style you want sounds like Bach or Beethoven or most before the 20th century. BUt if you like a little more freedom, or not freedom per se...try moving to different chords and listening to the relationships and judge for yourself what is good... I don't beleive in total serialism or atonality...but I do agree that tonal harmony is good. I sit in the middle somewhere stealing liberally from each!

Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado expects the following out of its somposition students... enough finished work every year to total ten minutes. You may laugh, it is not alot for those who compose several pieces. It is not difficult even if you do 3 pieces chances are that is enough...are practice habits in composition enforced? no. are other colleges more strict? probably. I will be the first major in our newly budded composition degree (YAY) so I am thinking about my future...CU Boulder, CSU or Univeristy of Michigan for my masters in composing.... so i looked at the websites and they expect all composers to be quite proficient on piano, so now I practice 30 minutes first thing in the morning and do all my composing (1-2hrs on a good day) at the piano. I also try to learn pieces that challenge me etc... Now I get paid to play guitar for one of my churches, so I practice about 2hrs a week total to maintain my fingers, buit more in the summer or break times... The monster...Trombone very much...This semester will be 2-3 hours every day...gotta get those blasted 3 minor scales down in all twelve keys...arg, it should be easiuer, because the trombone section is becoming the most competitive in the school due to personel changes...mwa ha ha GROWTH time...I love new beginnings...

The Gabriel Faure Requiem Mass...never in my life have I felt so close to God as when I sang 'Hosana in Excelsis' at the top of my lungs in a Catholic cathedral in the middle of a huge bass section. It moved me in such a magical way, that I can't help but thank God for everything, all the bad all the good...all the things I am jaded about....Linda, I miss you pieces like that are why I compose, why music is me why my passion is to create music....

Well here are some features I liked. I liked the arpeggiating left hand throughout. I also liked how the last 30 seconds or so got more upbeat. That is cool but maybe that should be earlier two like somewhere in the B section. From what I could tell the form was ABAC is this correct? Umm I liked the way it sounded kind of an upbeat minor mode. IMy favorite part was the meter changes, but it was great I enjoyed listening to it!

I have a friend who writes without an instrument handy. It always blows me away! i mean I play trombone, euphonium and guitar and sing alot, but I am not very good at piano, but I find that when I pick a key and doodle around for a while in front of a piano I find several striking things...I aslo try to experiment with unconventional chords, because it is my belief that quartals, quintals and extended tertian chords add a surreal beauty to a piece. But its hard, I try to start with an idea about what I want then doodle on the piano in that mood. Do I use trombone or guitar...no. It might be a good idea. Just do what suits. Also when getting your start be content with the same three chords...get comfortable with them, leaern their limits and flexibilities then move on. Bach wrote tons of music with mostly 3 chords as did Mozart. Play around with inversions of chords and things.... I hope this helps

I don't think you are bad, just keep on working. Well let me tell you what. I will look at the music in finale and get back to you in a couple of days.

so writing something like a concerto or symphony...There is no real limit here. It is good to listen to the tempo of movements, but you will get things like andante sostenuto and that simply means slower than moderate speed and very sustained. Choose the form that suits your needs. If you would like to present Andante Sostenuto like a minuet or passacaglia or chaconne or whatever it is up to you. Use the net for a guide, but in the end composers change things all the time. Ein Deutches Requiem was written by Brahms who decided to do his own biblical research and prayer and chose different texts than traditonally used by the Catholic church. There were already standard lyrics and he changed them. But for learning there is no substitute for knowing the old rules, only then can you artistically break them. So maybe make your first symphony in this manner straight forward, immitating the form of another composer. I hope this helps

That seems a most practical idea. Yes music and art and literature and often parallel, and what better idea than to write a piece of music based on the novel.... so intro....A-transition(inciting moment *cymbal crash and bassoon solo here* :D )B rising action-another transition (*thunderous brass choir reaching the cataclysmic limits of sound*) then climax *add percussion going nuts!* then falling action *woodwind choir-o joy :happy: * then conclusion. I call it a short novella in 1 movement. A good Idea I like it! so it is another variant on through-composing or rhapsodic writing as you put it. ABC. That is good. If you leave little As in there you can almost make a little Rondo form too! Cool!

For some practical theoretical advice I noticed that my hands span an 11th on the keyboard and not many have such a reach...So I found I put chords that were too big or too spaced out. It is a pitfall I fell into...Also just if you wonder if something can be done, try to think if you have heard something like that before. I like the find a pianist advice-it works!

maybe some of the only advice I would give is to listen to all the others before and perhaps chill on the tempo. It seems very highly contrapuntal (I dunno I don't have finale in my room). It sounds very dance-like and happy and I can easily here a small vocal ensemble with a lute player. It reminds me of some of the old English Carols...I liked it though for its sound and forward motion.

Umm lets see. Try some unconventional harmonies! Not necessarily very gritty, but try extending into some extended tertian chords, quartals or quintals. Also try tuplets and things in the left hand to spice up a melody. The sky is as they say the limit, but other things to try are parallel octaves in a harmonic pattern, to build intensity. Or you can take a page out of Jazz and throw in some tritone substitution. But on the whole, you are your worst critic. Your style is your style, so don't hate it if those parts are "you" so to speak. Greatest of luck

Well lets see...Jazz. Well Jazz can often be hazy, but here are some starters one very common chord progression- ii7-V7-I . You hear it alot! Pretty much think of some melody that goes with that as a starter. Another thing you can do to spice up this chord progression is a thing called tritone substitution just take any of the chords in that above progression and substitute it with the chord a tritone away...example dm7 - G7 - C ii7-V7-I a-flatm7 - G7- C dm7 - d-flatm7 - C dm7 - G7 - G-flat As far as melody, this method is hacneyed of course but mess around with a blues scale... C-Eflat-F-Gflat-G-Bflat-C or for transposition purposes...1, flat3, 4, flat5, 5, flat7, 1 and above all listen to other jazz. I liked the suggestion of Halleonard.com for marching band... Have fun!

The piano or whatever your home instrument is your biggest ally. As I composer I often hum nonsensical things without thinking, and never write them down, to my chagrin later. Just sing something or doodle on the piano until you hear something that you like. Often deciding on a scale can be immensly helpful. You can always stray but just pick a scale. Try working with the modes, try working with whole tone and octotonic and blues scales. Be adventerous and don't overanalyze. Often something you wrote may sound like garbage the next day...its okay. Don't change it right away, give it time to breathe. One thing I like to do since I am in the same boat as you is write melodies myself under certain conditions. I will say things like there has to be a meter change, or it has to modulate, etc. etc. Also tear apart melodies from your favorite composers and see what leaps, what motives, etc make them tick and just try to emmulate... I hope this helps

okay this is the difficult part of music. In my form and anaylsis class they show you over an intensive semester what some forms are...I shall sum up for you. Sonata form- A famous form from about the late baroque to now. There is a theme presented in one key. it is usually the first thing you hear. From here it transitions to a new theme in a different tonal area or key. After that there is another transition and some other endings and things. This whole section is called the Exposition. The next section is called the development and is often hazy and highly developmental. You will see composers going through many different keys and restating the melodies from the first and second tonal area(from the exposition) in new keys or new rhythms...there is usually a transition to each section of this development that takes you to the next key. this can go on forever. The Recapitulation is the third and final part. In form it resembles the Exposition. In this section you here the first tonal area(from exposition) restated. Then you hear a similar transition to the second theme, only this time it stays in the tonic key (which is the first key and often mentioned in the title of the piece eg. Sonata in F major) then you hear some more little endings and sometimes a little tag at the end. There is Sonata Form... Requiem-This is another name for a mass, which is a movement of several sacred choral works. The form is unimportant, and each movement has the text that relates to it...some common movement titles are: Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Credo. All these are historically derived from the catholic mass and fit with the service. A requiem mass is one for a funeral. One touching mass is the Requiem by Gabriel Faure...Let me tell you there are few experiences in life that equal being a singer for this piece. i did it in a cathedral and at a protestant church. Rondo- Basically the form looks like this ABACA this means that there are three sets of material all presented in this order. They can be in any key and often there are transitions between each of the sections. Another form of Rondo is the extended form ABACABA. The C section is typically te longest and the most highly developmental. I hope this helps....

I am in the experimental stage...I haven't found one method I prefer yet. My college has a finale lab with macintoshes (WHOO!) with piano midi controllers and such. I composed an oboe and piano piece completely with finale. I did plunking and stuff on the piano, but I cheated by experimenting with the sounds trying to find the best chord that was in my head...I like the piece, it was good, but I think editing programs such as finale create a cruch that can impede the creative process. One should in theory be able to sing each part in your head or out loud, or at least whistle it. Frank Ticheli said that people shouldn't write what they can't sing. I don't know how I feel about that, but I think a good way to compose, would be to go from sketches at a piano or not for those lucky people with perfect or excellent relative pitch. Then once your sketch is complete then write it on manuscript, then take it to finale. Finale can catch embarrassing errors, but I think it is dangerous if leaned upon too heavily. John Clyde