College Audition Writing Style

I have a few orchestral pieces that I'm planning to use for college auditions; I'd be transferring in as a junior. What I'm worried about is that I composed them without any thought to chords, harmony, or anything more theoretical than 'OK, I think I'm in e minor'. They're pretty much all done by ear in Logic, and I'm very happy with them, but am I going to lose points for not displaying knowledge of the 'rules' in my submissions? ...Or should I just say that it's modern music? :D

If it sounds good, you're fine. In fact, it's probably better that you don't follow strict traditional rules (unless you're trying to sound as if you are...). Still, it helps if you know what you're doing...if you have a good enough ear, it will certainly sound as if you know the rules, but maybe the works won't be as refined...

As long as you show potential, however, I think you'll be fine. I reason that that's what was seen in my own works (sophomore composition major at Carnegie Mellon now), seeing as I had little technical knowledge and mainly composed by ear. Out of curiosity, is your music generally traditional sounding? Like, traditional harmonies, some common form of structure or whatever? These days I'd say it's definitely better to be modern, but it's not really necessary, for most schools...or at least some :ermm:. Maybe I'm woefully wrong, though, but a little optimism never hurt! Or did it :blink:?

Well, at least here in Germany you wouldn't have much of a chance going in like that. You need usually chamber pieces and some grip on modern music, even if what you're writing isn't technically "modern" it can't be style copies either. Moreover, you have to know your pieces fairly well and why/how you wrote them.

So, dunno, maybe it's fine where you want to get in but I think you have a reason to be worried if you don't even known your own compositions...

I have a few orchestral pieces that I'm planning to use for college auditions; I'd be transferring in as a junior.

Contact the composition chair at some schools and see what they have to say. It can very immensely from school to school.

The point to highlight is you need to know your own music well. If you "think you are in e minor," that is quite...uh...not a good thing to admit. If you know that you are playing around in the key of e minor but it isn't really e minor by theoretical definition--and you know this--that is a better approach to use to explain what you are doing.

What generally matters a lot more than "adhering to rules" to the people who decide whether you'll be admitted are things like "originality", a display of great care for what you write to the detail and an apparent artistic "aim", i.e. to see that you have a certain musical idea which you try to let come to bear consciously. You don't need to follow any rules or systems, but, as SSC said, you should know what you want and how you want to put it into effect. Even without basing your compositions on traditional music theory, 12-tone technique or anything like that, composing can still be a reflexive process that is more than just "writing down stuff without thinking".

If you don't want to think about what you're writing, that's fine and all, but in that case a college won't be much help to you anyways, since everything you learn there has to do with a conscious approach to composing. That's why they might not accept you, if you don't show any intent of composing diligently and considerately.

My first advice would therefore be: Whatever way you write, do it carefully. Don't write a 20 minute piece in two days, but think about what notes to write down. Don't write any harmony/rhythm/formal structure just because "it seems the normal thing to do", but because you feel it's musically needed. If you do that, you will then also be able to explain why you wrote a certain thing and not another.

Always keep in mind: As a composer, you carry the responsibility for everything you write down. No theory, system, computer program or magic intuition fairy can cover that for you. Nor just saying "it's modern!".

P.S. To clarify: I do know composition students who never write anything systematically and just write "what sounds best" to them, totally intuitively. But they put great care in getting everything to be exactly right to their ear, they play the chords on the piano over and over again to see whether they sound right or whether replacing one tone by another would improve it, etc. Others again compose more systematically. So it doesn't depend so much on how exactly you do it, but about the care for the music you write. (I'm of course not saying you aren't doing this; I don't really know you or your compositions.)

Since you don't know what techniques and harmonies (etc etc) you were using, when you submit your work be sure to make up for it by telling what you DO know. I have run into this problem before, kind of just composing what I heard in my head, but I would later go back and analyze my own work as far as creating better harmonies and such. You obviously have some kinds of forms in your music, talk about that. Or what you had in mind while writing. Just be sure to mention that you weren't a computer writing music, make sure you do say what you do know in your own work.

Since you don't know what techniques and harmonies (etc etc) you were using, when you submit your work be sure to make up for it by telling what you DO know. I have run into this problem before, kind of just composing what I heard in my head, but I would later go back and analyze my own work as far as creating better harmonies and such. You obviously have some kinds of forms in your music, talk about that. Or what you had in mind while writing. Just be sure to mention that you weren't a computer writing music, make sure you do say what you do know in your own work.

Good plan.

Thanks everyone, really good advice!