Does The Sound Of The Instrument You Play (Or Have Played) Hold Any Special Significance For You As A Composer?

If so, how? What is it about the sound of the instrument you play/ed that "resonates" with you? And is there something other than the sound of that particular instrument that might hold a special significance for you? What might it be? Your relationship with the instrument perhaps? Or the way it is played? Its particular repertoire (with which you are more familiar)?

And how does your playing that particular instrument impact your composing for it?

As a composer (if you choose to compose using the same instrument somewhere in whatever you choose to do), it helps you fully understand the technicality when composing with that instrument. It also helps you really fully understand the boundaries and what you can do with it and you can pick up your own little quirks and discover little tricks with your instrument. Fundamentally, your passion for your instrument may motivate you and drive you to compose (in my opinion); I love singing and from that it eventually extended to having a great passion and love for choral music.

Absolutely.

I'm so familiar with the sound of trombones that it can't help but influence the parts I write for it.  In general the music I write has strong tendencies towards dark, mellow sound - especially in a tenor range.

I think it's the joy in the instrument as much as the technical restraints that it imposes.  There is a reason that you chose to play the instrument that you do.  (And if your parents dictated that you take violin starting at age five, there's a reason that you still play, having reached the age of reason and independence).  The instrument speaks a language that speaks particularly strongly to you. 

It's not so much that I know what will or won't work with vocal music, it's that I know what feels really wonderful to sing.  Certain things sound wonderful, but certain things just feel wonderful because of some combination of factors.  There's a pleasure in the execution that would be entirely lost on the audience, except that your enjoyment shows and is carried in the sound.  You can present a wonderfully polished performance of any technically challenging piece with enough dedication to practice, but the really wonderful pieces aren't wonderful because they sound wonderful to hear.  They are wonderful because they feel wonderful when you are right in the middle of them and therefor they are played with relish.  

When we speak, most of the time we don't actually speak fluently.  One of the things that separates native speakers from new language learners is the LACK of fluency of the native speakers.  They start a sentence in one direction, pause to collect their thoughts, and finish it in another direction, and resulting in verb tenses changing mid-way.  But we understand them completely, even better than the new speakers, because we see their thought process playing out in real time.  It's not actually the words that are important.  Its the emotional content that comes along for the ride.  Whatever instrument you play, you understand it's emotional content and how to express yourself clearly using it.  Whether you speak in complete sentences or trail off in...

I don't really play any instrument, so I can't really tell about any particular inclination or influence from my own performing into my music. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, since I believe I would actually want to avoid this kind of instrumental bias (for instance, I was a choir member during my childhood, but despite that I somehow tend to avoid writing vocal works). In fact, I usually think about each instrument in an independent way, especially when writing an orchestral piece (which I most enjoy doing) - but given my lack of actual performing experience, I'm sometimes puzzled by the fact that my orchestration skills are praised at all :dunno: ...

Playing percussion is one of the major factors in why I write music, as there is a very limited repertoire range for it. I could never find any music I wanted to play, so I wrote it myself. The few pieces I could find for marimba were usually modern stuff or transcriptions of Bach. Thus, I started to really appreciate minimalism, as those were the coolest mallet solos.

The other way percussion soloing taught me is in its complexities. Rhythm means everything to a percussionist, but a mallet piece will usually repeat a complex rhythm throughout the work, and the development of a rhythm throughout a piece is an interesting concept not present in many pieces. Percussionists love grooving, and I love to create that sense of fun that we get to create, but with all the other instruments too.

4-mallet technique has severe limitations, requiring notes to be a certain distance apart, a certain flow to the note movement, and a concentration on controlling dynamics. Basically, music for mallets is built as an etude for your mind, more so than an etude for your physical prowess. Learning to write music that messes with the head more than the fingers is the best thing I have been able to take away from my instrument and use in every other composition.

I must say, though, writing percussion parts is still incredibly difficult for me. I know what should be in the piece when I play someone else's, but I just can't see it in my own. I guess it's just a matter of perspective.

I don't really play any instrument, so I can't really tell about any particular inclination or influence from my own performing into my music. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, since I believe I would actually want to avoid this kind of instrumental bias (for instance, I was a choir member during my childhood, but despite that I somehow tend to avoid writing vocal works). In fact, I usually think about each instrument in an independent way, especially when writing an orchestral piece (which I most enjoy doing) - but given my lack of actual performing experience, I'm sometimes puzzled by the fact that my orchestration skills are praised at all :dunno: ...

Actually, I wonder if this is exactly why you are good at orchestration.  You take a balanced, objective stance.  You aren't playing favorites.  Makes you good at works for large forces.  (:

The piano, or should I say, pianos. All with different personalities and temperaments. You can sit down and without having any relation to a wall socket, make music, the whole of it, imagining everything and hearing it at once. It's an indescribable feeling.

*** something other than the sound? ***

Yes! The space! Alone at night in a large hall, reverberating.

Since I use computers, synths and samplers.  I have learned to write for the patches I use.. 4 Years ago I bought a Yamaha 'arranger' kbd Tyros 3 and then a Tyros 4. Ninety-five percent of their patches are extremely accurate sampled real instruments (of course nothing approaching a real player and instrument).  They do have articulation switches and certainly a lot of Native Instrument's Kontakt software has all kinds of articulations.. 

Thru the years I have studied and read the 'stats' of each instrument in the orchestra, what it can and cannot do. I first started by emulating riffs and phrases that a real instrument could play, and incorporated that into my playing.

I was always into pop music from the age of six.. Orchestral music didn't excite me; I liked electric bass, guitars,and drums.. Then having played in rock bands for about 20 years, I was always in a situation of 4 - 6 guys.  We had a sax player, but I didn't come to appreciate orchestra instruments till I started working as a recording engineer.  I leaned how to mike each instrument, learning what it could and  couldn't do.. Above the recording studio, was a management company and they did a lot jingles.. So on occasion various member of the Boston Pops, would come into record.  For years I put in 18 hour days or more there.  I lived, breathed, music.  When I wasn't working on someone elses, I was working on my, trying to incorporate what I picked up from sitting three feet aware and watch how each musician worked.. How to mike instruments for various effects. 

I fell in love with flutes, and acoustic bass.  I love creating bass parts,  I will often play a few takes, then edit them, and alter notes for more interest.  It is such a rewarding feeling.. It is often my favorite part of the process.  I love when I create a part, then a 2nd, and it starts me on a tangent.. I'll often rewrite things to make the new part more 'complete'.  When I was younger I had a good mentor.. I was told to write a song, listen 1 - 2 days later,  toss out 90%. Keeping only the best 10%.  Then doing that twice more..  I don't always do that.. but quite often I'll set aside a piece, listen to various other music by different musicians, and then rewriting the song again.  I often end up with several variations and some quite different.. Letting several days or weeks,  or months, really gives you a different perspective

I think George Martin had a tremendous impact with the ensemble and orchestral parts he put on Beatles records.  The Beatles were forever doing the same technique, different instruments, different key/tempo, different time signature. etc.. Some songs on the last Beatle album side 2; the medley were about 15 years ago. written by Paul  and John before they were the Beatles. 

The Beatle's production and arrangements  was what really drove me, to be able to write a pop song, and put some orchestral parts onto it.. It made it so much more 'authentic'. Since then it's become a free for all musically, which is great in a way.  

I started working in recording studios in the late 60's.  I was one of six guys in Boston who had an ARP 2600 synthesizer.. I got tons of work, as a performer and often as a programmer for the 'legit' composer who wanted to add a bit of 'current color' to his work. In the studio down time, I could make as much use of the studio as I had stamina (coffee and things stronger).  This was going on around the world.  A select few who had the opportunity available to them to use a much wider sound palette..

I would trade synth playing and programming time to entice orchestral musicians to come and contribute a part to my song efforts.  A fair amount of them did it just for the fun of being in the recording studio. So this situation continued but the ante continually climbed until the late 70's with the 'real legit' studios have three 24 track machines locked together.. Then came the home 4 track (Teac, Fostex), then 16 track home machines, then ADAT machines.. This gave a lot more musicians or (wannabe musicians) the ability to rise up. 

Music is many things to many people.. One person can drill holes in a tube and play music.  One can pick up a guitar or KBD for cheap..  And various people will go the whole gamut of participation and knowledge.. 

Now being 65. I have a significant amount of time to work on music.. And I am so excited to be expanding my musical horizons.. I love the  feeling of when you've started a musical project and you experiment with different instruments, flavors, chord structures, modalities.  I sometimes wish someone  forced me to go to music collage  when I got out of high school. But the only opportunity for me in Boston was Berklee,which was only teaching jazz guitar at the time, or study orchestral orchestration, which I just didn't want to do at that point.. But I'm here now, better late than ever.. 

For the vast majority of my life I supported myself playing music, engineering, mixing, orchestrating and producing rock bands. Along the way there were a number of projects, which I didn't really like the music, but I needed to pay the bills.  At least working in the music field while I was writing was good.. About 14 years ago I closed my home studio, which had very decent equipment, to outside projects.  I got a part time job, and now I write for myself, and various people I have met that have similar artistic leanings. 

The hustling of gigs, was the hard part for me.  At first it was very easy, but as instruments got cheaper, and everyone built their own studios, the climate changed.  I have a cello player friend who plays in two orchestras, and several trios.  He is running all the time to keep up with the bills, and getting older. I appreciate his stamina, but he has no time for anything else.. (He can also do an incredibly accurate imitation of Billy Holliday).  Still he LOVES what he is doing his days of running all over the place for gigs is taking it's toll on him. He needs to find a steady gig which will pay enough to support him (hard in NYC)

Yes, I can NEVER find a good enough trombone virtual instrument! Never enough emotion and never mix well enough... always just straight, plain, boring.