dialhead777

Hi! I'm a dire traditionalist, and that having been said, I can definitely maintain it takes at least as much talent to squeeze out anything of poetic or emotional value from atonal approaches as it does from tonal. Schoenberg himself said there was still much great music to be written in C - unfortunately, there are many "posers" on both sides of the aisle who want recognition and encouragement without really having the harmonic chops to deserve either. Then there's the two thorny and relevant questions of personhood and talent. Talent is easy - all one has to do is do what others have done your own way (requires listening and study) - those who consider themselves "legends in their own minds" will have issues with this. Sad but true. Personhood is rather difficult, requiring one to observe, empathize, and otherwise CARE about other folks long enough to learn something from them - generally non-musical but poetic circumstances in life which provide impetus and context for all the music we write. Someone lacking in both talent and personhood cannot rightly be called a composer - no matter how many degrees they've "earned."