Vrixton

I don't hate her as much as I used to. Used to I absolutely despised her without having heard a note, simply because she's so popular and her songs are all about partying, sex, bad relationships, etc. etc. Then the Bad Romance music video came out. I was like "wow, this is badass!" and then they turned the volume up and I could actually hear the lyrics. Didn't like it anymore. I like the music, but I hate the lyrics. And I'm not too keen on her, especially not now that she has an agenda of her own. Celebrities with agendas make me want to gag. I just hate how people who supposedly look down on the state of society actually enforce how awful it is.

Not going to lie, I have no idea who this Horner guy is. I'm an enormous fan of Glass, though. The reason why is because of how he controls density and texture in his music. Also, at first hearing, it sounds so repetitive, but when you've been listening for a while, you start to notice the subtle changes. In fact, with his piano pieces and some orchestral pieces, I can identify what piece it is after listening to maybe 30 seconds to a minute. His pieces are not all identical, and he's anything but lazy; he's just precise. Einstein on the Beach is actually one of my favorite operas. I've been in love with it for nearly 8 years now. Akhnaten, surprisingly, took me longer to love. In fact, at first I hated it. It was the first thing I'd ever heard by him, and I thought it was horrendously boring after the funeral scene. Later, however, I came to love the rest of it as well. Especially after I started noticing the small aural changes that are, in his music, so big. I really do believe he's an acquired taste.

It'll take a lot of work, but I'll take you guys' advice :D I downloaded a few books on orchestration [berlioz's and I'm still looking for Rimsky-Korsakov's] so hopefully after I finish practicing that, my harmony, and some counterpoint I'll be good to do :) Then I'll perfect it when I get back to college.

Nixon in China is, in my opinion, his best work. That and 'Short Ride on a Fast Machine' Lately, though, he's been churning out stuff I loathe. 'American Berserk' for Solo Piano, which I have, is rather... dissonant for my taste. And when I very excitedly got tickets for Doctor Atomic at the Atlanta Symphony, I was more than disappointed. One chorus in the whole opera was bearable and interesting [the Bhaghavad Gita chorus] and the libretto was absolutely unbearable. I was surprised it was even by the same person, because Nixon in China was so gloriously wonderful [i'm particularly fond of 'I am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung' and 'Cheers'] yet Doctor Atomic was so ghastly and inhumanly awful. As much as I love Baudelaire, I don't see his relevance to a conversation between Oppenheimer and his wife. I understand Oppenheimer liked Baudelaire, but it's place in the opera was both disconcerting and annoying. I humorously noticed that half the auditorium was empty after the intermission. Also, Mrs. Oppenheimer was a wonderful singer, I'm sure, but there's only so much you can do with a part that is absolutely mind-numbingly awful. [/lambasting] Other than that, I really do <3 Adams.

Nixon in China is, in my opinion, his best work. That and 'Short Ride on a Fast Machine' Lately, though, he's been churning out stuff I loathe. 'American Berserk' for Solo Piano, which I have, is rather... dissonant for my taste. And when I very excitedly got tickets for Doctor Atomic at the Atlanta Symphony, I was more than disappointed. One chorus in the whole opera was bearable and interesting [the Bhaghavad Gita chorus] and the libretto was absolutely unbearable. I was surprised it was even by the same person, because Nixon in China was so gloriously wonderful [i'm particularly fond of 'I am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung' and 'Cheers'] yet Doctor Atomic was so ghastly and inhumanly awful. As much as I love Baudelaire, I don't see his relevance to a conversation between Oppenheimer and his wife. I understand Oppenheimer liked Baudelaire, but it's place in the opera was both disconcerting and annoying. I humorously noticed that half the auditorium was empty after the intermission. Also, Mrs. Oppenheimer was a wonderful singer, I'm sure, but there's only so much you can do with a part that is absolutely mind-numbingly awful. [/lambasting] Other than that, I really do <3 Adams.

Nixon in China is, in my opinion, his best work. That and 'Short Ride on a Fast Machine' Lately, though, he's been churning out stuff I loathe. 'American Berserk' for Solo Piano, which I have, is rather... dissonant for my taste. And when I very excitedly got tickets for Doctor Atomic at the Atlanta Symphony, I was more than disappointed. One chorus in the whole opera was bearable and interesting [the Bhaghavad Gita chorus] and the libretto was absolutely unbearable. I was surprised it was even by the same person, because Nixon in China was so gloriously wonderful [i'm particularly fond of 'I am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung' and 'Cheers'] yet Doctor Atomic was so ghastly and inhumanly awful. As much as I love Baudelaire, I don't see his relevance to a conversation between Oppenheimer and his wife. I understand Oppenheimer liked Baudelaire, but it's place in the opera was both disconcerting and annoying. I humorously noticed that half the auditorium was empty after the intermission. Also, Mrs. Oppenheimer was a wonderful singer, I'm sure, but there's only so much you can do with a part that is absolutely mind-numbingly awful. [/lambasting] Other than that, I really do <3 Adams.

This is probably the daftest question ever asked, but seeing all these perfectly orchestrated scores getting posted, I just have to ask: How do you start writing your scores? Do you write for orchestra initially or do you write it for piano and soloists and then orchestrate it later? I was just wondering because I usually start at the piano, but I've never orchestrated anything and I want to write a major work. I also want to include some complex things which... I don't think I'd be able to hear on a piano. So that's why I ask. To see if you major-work composers start at the piano or not.

I really appreciate it :) Unfortunately, Statesboro is really far away from where I live >.< Ah well, know any good books/treatises that talk about composition?

How lax of me. As soon as I posted this, I remembered the GMTA [Georgia Music Teacher's Association] and looked one up. Annnnd.... there aren't any composition OR theory teachers in my area :(

I live in the US, so you'd think we'd have an institute or some such thing, but alas, I live in Georgia. We're a bit short on the niceties in life lol. The reason I'm more interested in composition is because I've already studied theory quite a bit for the past few years. I don't even know if there -is- a music council in the Metro-Atlanta area : / it's a bit of a mess.

I'm not asking for an online hook-up, though any help I could possibly get here would be more than nice, I'm just wondering how I would go about finding a composition/theory [in that order] teacher that I could see to get hands-on training. I really work better hearing and seeing what I'm supposed to do, rather than just reading it. I mean, I -can- read something out of a book, but things go far quicker for me when I have someone to ask questions about it. So basically, is there some sort of music-teacher yellow pages that I could check for taking composition classes from someone in my area? Any help is much obliged :)