One Year of Composition

G'morning all!!

Tomorrow will officially mark the end of my first year of composition! A special event, or at least so to me. So as I prepare to see this year through with well, a composition, this is my story:

It all began on a sunny May afternoon after school. I switched on the PC, browsed the internet while playing on Battle for Wesnoth. I browsed the forums like I always did. But then, as I scrolled over the Music and Sound Development section, I saw a topic that would impact my future for good. "Making music for free samples" ...I blinked, and looked again in astonishment. Free samples... it had always been a secret dream that one day, I would have one of my compositions submitted into mainline, for if your composition passes the rigorous standards enforced by the Music Lords, it has to be near professional quality, so only the best are accepted.

The free samples were linked, and made this:

- a marvellous feat of composition IMO. In some ways, it beats the music from Morrowind, Oblivion, WOW, Halo, Dragon Age, the lot.

And so I started. It seemed like beginning a epic quest, a feat that required dedication and perseverance. However, it was to be far harder than I expected. The samples weren't particularly great. At first, I worked with notation, and so, produced my first trio of compositions. The third one is to be found here: Before the Battle Not great, in fact, it's pretty bad.

I could have quite possibly continued notating with MuseScore, had someone not introduced me to THE free DAW for windows - LMMS. It's almost professional quality, and good in almost all departments. This led to experimenting, and so, after 3 months, here was the result: We Shall go on

It was at this point when my enthusiasm plummeted. It seemed like that this was the height of my abilities - OK, but nowhere near skilled amateur. My computer had a pathetic 256MB of RAM (5 years out of date), and I admit, I turned away from composition to go back to the park, Wesnoth, TV, and so on and so forth. In fact, I doubt that I would have continued pursuing my dream before. The 3 months were frittered away. However, once again, something inspired me.

Young Composers. I had first been in contact with this wonderful site when looking at its wiki, which resulted in me joining. I expected a ragtag bundle of composers, on a forum that was rarely frequented. After a period of 'lurking', I realised that the activeness here was beyond my wildest expectations. It's a vibrant community, with both skilled and amateured alike, which lessened the intimidation of being a newb to the profession. So I took up my pen (or mouse) and started composing once again. I also thank Tuskle for helping me out with several different things. For example, the teaching with the snare drum and achieving realism has been invaluable.

A hurried month passed, as I laboured on a piece to release on Christmas Day. Appropriately, I named it Christmas 2009. I believe that this was the huge turning point in my fledgeling career. This was the first piece which I was truly happy, and I felt was of a 'decent' quality. But the full impact was felt a day later, when I started off with a new piece. It felt as though Mozart himself possessed my mind in a heady day of composition, and it was then when I found how much I had learnt. Broken Truth was a landmark achievement in my eyes.

I've never dropped the pen since, and since then, I have recieved a new computer with 4GB RAM that allows me to compose longer and more complex sequences like Drums of War, The Strange Quartet and others. Achieving passable results with freebies is demanding at the best of times, but nothing feels more reqarding when you complete a piece. More recently, I've started composing for games, which has resulted in pieces like Cocopops. Others are incoming, so don't wry, CheeseLord is still around!! :)

One thing I've picked up in this journey will stay with my for years to come. It doesn't matter who you are, or the budget you have. All you need is determination and the joy needed to continue with the task you've tasked yourself, and armed with those assets, anyone can go a long way

Congrats mate! Seems like you are progressing quite well. Thanks for the heads up on LMMS, will take a ganders at it.

As a fellow newbie, I totally understand your pain and pleasure in composing. It's quite addicting, isn't it? Here's to hearing many more of your compositions :D

Nice work, Cheeselord!

I'll say more later!

-John