KiwiMuso

Well my parents' (rather good I must admit) music collection has served me well so far, but now I'm starting to branch out a bit more and to my regret I've realised that one Richard Strauss has had no attention from me so far. His instrumentation in some things I've heard seems pretty crazy - basset horns, oboe d'amore, bass sax, if it's rare he'll use it it seems. ;) So, simple question - what Strauss works do you think would be the best ones to get started on?

Well if you were crap at conducting, that's probably the case. But then, surely your interpretation is the most important one - but maybe one another conductor might not agree with. That said, a fresh interpretation would probably be helpful as well. Interesting thought. I suppose constant exposure to other orchestral scores can only be good for your own work.

Igor Stravinsky I think he's at least the best composer in the last century. His scope of musical styles is amazing. He's more than capable of laying on that scrumptious Romantic jam (viz. Firebird), but with The Rite of Spring etc he also proved (to me anyway) that dissonace can sound nice! Just looking at my score for the Rite mates me go weak at the knees :angry:

I'm taking a conducting course in uni at the moment - and very interesting it is too. So I was just interested what your opinions are on the matter; what importance do you think conducting has to a career in composition nowadays if any? Do you think it helps to be able to conduct your own stuff?

I am interested in getting into midi sequencing, but I have never done it before, and know very little about the differences between sequencers. So my question is, does anyone have any recommendations of sequencers suitable for a midi-noob? (I've heard of one - FreeStyle, but don't know what to compare it with) Also, I do plan to take this further than just a hobby - would this affect my choice?

Woohoo! An answer! =P That's an interesting perspective your teacher had. It makes sense in a way, although for me, I find a competition deadline is something that helps in motivating me to finish!

I agree! Joe Hisaishi is just as good as his Hollywood counterparts, if not better than many. Princess Mononoke just kicks donkey!

Ok, let me describe my situation: I have started writing a piece to enter in the local orchestra's competition. For a while now I have wanted to set Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Masque of the Red Death to music, so I thought this would be a good oppertunity to do it. I planned to make a type of suite out of it, with the music following the narrative. I've made a good start and have got several ideas which I really like. Unfortunately, the rules are that the composition can be no more than five minutes long. This is where I am running into trouble, as I am already 1:30 into it, I need to get on with the story, but I'm still establishing my ideas for the introduction. You could probably suggest "just trim the fat off", but I feel I'm still building the bones of this thing, let alone the fat. :glare: I don't want to establish my ideas and then move away as quickly as I introduced them, but neither do I want to condense the story down to such a level that I can't do it justice. Another obvious answer would be to write something else, but I think that would be a shame as I'm on a roll with this. So has anyone else ever been oppressed by their time limits? How would you go about dealing with a situation like this? Comments are much appreciated! PS, If you are interested in knowing the story of the Red Death, you can read it here: THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH by E. A. Poe (1842)

At the moment I'm writing a piece for a competition put on by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. I'm not expecting to win anything but hey, it's a good excuse to compose something orchestral. It's going to be a suite based on Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death. Methinks it'd make a great ballet too - We'll see...

Never heard of that one, but it sounds good! (I play trumpet)^^

This is interesting. I've never thought of different keys having different characteristics. I havn't noticed any of them before, I'll try it out.

La Marseillaise kicks! (aristocratic derrieres) ;)

Tough question. I'm a total sucker for big Romantic sound, So my favourites right now would probably be Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and also Stravinsky (what's not to like about him?) ;)

Sounds facinating, and the story is definately operatic (viz. depressing :D). Just a word of advice for you (or rather, your librettist); when doing any creative writing, it's best to write about what you know. Do your research on the period and get your facts straight, then the story will be more realistic. For instance, which war is it? I don't want to be discouraging - just make sure it's accurate. On that note, is the language of the opera going to be Italian? Unless you or your librettist is a fluent speaker I'd strongly advise against it. But hey, for all I know you are Italian. :D With that said; good luck! Opera rules! :shifty:

Hey Beefybeef Yeah, that certainly does help. I think it probably will be worth it to get some kind of midi sequencer too, since I'm quite interested in getting into electronic music (also means I get performed more :shifty:). I'll definately look into some of the ones that you mentioned - especially the free one! Thanks a lot!