twilexia

Your posts, while supported by data and well-intentioned, do not actually answer the question of whether music "sans" emotion is worth listening to. You bring up the point that you derive emotions based on the chord, or based on the context. Tokkemon is arguing something much different, which is, does the music transcend mere technical interplay? For example, people are right in saying that even a C major scale can evoke SOME emotional reaction, but is it really going to have the same emotional provocativeness as the opening lines of Beethoven's 5th? Hardly. Chords by themselves are meaningless, you can hear it and feel nothing. But it's what's around the chord that makes it meaningful - i.e., how did the composer build up the section, what melodic, dynamics, and harmonic elements did they use, to make that exact chord MEANINGFUL in some way? So I can go on my computer right now, and write out a couple of simple chords and melodies, and maybe it'll sound good, maybe not. But is it worth listening to? No. There's a difference between something that sounds good, and something that's worth listening to. People have generally figured out, that if you have 4 measures, start with the minor chord, and then do 2 other chords, finish up with the dominant chord, and go back to the minor chord, you are almost 100% guaranteed to have a good sounding song. Don't believe me, try it. But is it worth listening to? No. Because there's none of that hidden, that intangible emotional factor involved.

F sharp major. hehe jk. D major.

Dear lord, i don't even know if I'm qualified to be in this discussion, as my knowledge of music theory is rather limited. I do understand all the scales and counterpoint and dynamics and techniques, but for some of the more advanced ones, I'm not too familiar with. Still, I'd be happy to participate, since usually when I see a piece of sheet music, I immediately have have a million reactions left and right, even if they might not be said in technically-acceptable jargon.

a love scene between a sailor and a mermaid in d minor

Woot, I got my own hates too. Haters gonna hate. 1. I hate music that bores me. 2. I hate composers that don't understand the concept of audience attention, and how to retain it. What pisses me off more than anything else is listening to a piece, enjoying it, and then suddenly, the music goes off on a tangent that makes no sense whatsoever. That's when I die a little inside. 3. I hate music with words, it's just my thing. I get super annoyed when there's a nice song that comes up, like, a fantastic, melodic orchestral beginning, and then suddenly the voice comes in, the orchestra gets cut out or begins playing only chords, and then the song just becomes another borefest. 4. I hate performers who don't realize that 99% of what they're playing is utter crap. Next time just skip those parts and move on to the entertaining bits. If you're playing something and I'm looking bored, you're doing something wrong. 5. I hate the fact that the industry is so unstructured. This means a lot of people are writing music, yet, there's no market for it. This causes people who actually write GOOD music, to not even get any hits/buys. (I'm not talking about my own music) but rather some other people that I think are REALLY good, yet cannot get their word out and end up playing on the subway).

I liked what you said about, you wait until you are in a neutral mode before you edit your pieces. That is a great thing to do. Sometimes I edit my work out of a fit of anger, and I end up making it worse. (Yes, I get angry easily, but don't worry, if you ever talk to me, you will think I am the nicest person ever. Lol yea, very bipolar)

Since no one has any thoughts, I will try and do my own review of this piece, as well as what went through my head while I was writing it. At first, it began as a piano piece for the first slow section. I then added a cello part when I felt like the melody was not being articulated well enough by the piano. I ended up just doubling notes for the first section, which is a rather elementary compositional error. When the B section started, it kind of sounded like a Space theme, in which I borrowed the Star Trek chord progression - a minor - F major - B flat major - E major then back to a - minor, as a cornerstone of a few passages. this chord progression is great if you want to get that space effect. I also wanted to note that the piano part itself is actually very simple to play, and can be learned quickly. Same with the cello part, which is why this piece is actually one of the easiest to learn, great for beginning players. I admit, the last two sections are definitely inadequate. For the glissando section, that melody could have been extended by a lot, which would have made the piece more satisfying. Then, at the end, when I return to the quieter parts, the idea could have been extended further. There are some pieces that inspire comment and are noteworthy, but unfortunately this is not one of them. This is very simply, a piece of music that sounds good on a basic level, but isn't anything special.

Thanks Hecklephone for your review! I do have a score, albeit I am slightly embarrassed by it since I basically use the most simple scoring techniques to get the most amount of sound. I agree, it gets kind of monotonous with the repeated 16th notes, and without a slower B section, the entire piece just feels like a relay race where one guy forgets to pass on the baton. The flute is actually a piccolo, and I make a grave composition error here in that I actually have the piccolo play below its range for a few of the notes. Same with the Guitar, I have it play above its normal range. (I have never been good at keeping in range, honestly). Thanks for your ideas and review!

I like your posts, Tokkemon. But unfortunately, you are kind of hitting a dead end in this discussion. I quite agree with your opinion, that "intellect and logic" do NOT make good music. That emotion is the primary driver of what inspires people. You can have the same notes, yet, if played without emotion, is meaningless (this is regarding performance). As for composition, you can have the most complicated melody in the world, but if it inspires nothing in the listener, it is also meaningless. However, just because you and I and some others may share this opinion, does not mean everyone does. Some composers are well in the camp that emotions are arbitrary and subjective, and that there is no universal rule for emotions. They believe any music can be emotional and enjoyable. While we may not agree with this, we can also simply run around in circles discussing it, because the world of music is so diverse, so expansive, that there are really no absolutes, and millions upon millions of exceptions. However, I will encourage you to pursue this discussion further, and I believe scientific experimentation is the best way to do it. Get a few test subjects, make sure they are in controlled states of emotion, and play them different pieces and see how they respond. That will give you a very basic data set of what music inspires emotion and what kinds of music don't. From there on, testing can go infinitely, so I would highly encourage you to collect as much data as possible, perhaps, you should see if any researchers or psychology majors will help you out. I support you on this, and look forward to hearing future discussions on this matter.

Partly inspired by the movie of the same name, partly inspired by me wanting to write a piece with cello. Please review if you have any thoughts! Thanks =) Space Odyssey

I like Jason's interpretation on Reconstruction vs. Artistic Interpretation. While he does nitpick a bit much on the definition (after all, who's to say that Reconstruction cannot mean the same thing?), it also portrays quite accurately the challenges of a musician. Everyone wants to portray a piece in a way that pays tribute to the composer, yet, has enough of their own touch, to make it unique. Otherwise, you might as well be a machine. I also wanted to comment on Tokkemon's statement that good music is "universal." I like to look at it from the perspective of... what makes music, "bad?" Now definitions as to what kind of music is "bad" will vary from culture to culture, but I believe "bad" is more of a "check-off" list. Meaning, does your music fulfill one of these purposes? 1. Gives audience enjoyment/what they want to hear/doesn't bore them (commercial music) 2. Sets the mood for something else (i.e. film/tv music) (ambience music) 3. Heightens/stretches the study of music in some meaningful way (artistic music) 4. Conveys meaning of some kind that people can understand. (cultural/story music) There might be more 'purposes' that music seeks to fulfill, and I don't want to pigeonhole myself by saying that the above 4 are the ONLY purposes for music. But if a piece of music does not fulfill a single objective, then I can "objectively" say, that it is bad. For example, hitting random keys on the piano consists of "bad" music, just as drawing a couple of random shapes on a piece of paper is considered "bad" art. I quite agree with Tokkemon when he says, if there are no rules for good or bad, then what are we doing here on this site? While the criteria for "good" is far too wide to pigeonhole into a few sentences, I also believe that, as composers, our goal is certainly not to create "bad" music. Therefore, this site is a platform for us to share ideas in the pursuit of creating "good" music, and if the only definition that I can safely attribute to "good" music is that it is not "bad" music, then that is still, a universal definition.

So what's your routine/steps you take? Where does your inspiration come from?

A light, upbeat piece that I recently wrote on Sibelius. While I was writing it I was thinking of Road Rash 2, a very old motorcycle game that I used to play, and I was thinking fondly of the Sierra Nevada map. Thanks for listening! Sierra Escape

Wow this is.. eerie. It's really good. The violin melody line... is mysteriously evocative. Great job.

Sounds very childlike the beginning. Some of the phrases need a slightly better ending, but the piece definitely ends well. A longer version of this should sound really good, but I would definitely add a few more parts, and perhaps a longer melodic line (I'm a sucker for those).