Your Composition Teacher / How You Taught Yourself To Compose

I’m doing research on composition pedagogy for my bibliography and research class, and I wanted to get some general anecdotal data about how you were taught composition or how you taught yourself composition.

Answer the following questions. They will be broken up into three parts; first part is general questions about how you started, second part is for those who went one to study composition with a private teacher at a university or with a individual teacher, third part is for those who have never had a teacher.

 

General questions:

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?

2.     When did you start composing and why?

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).

 

Composers who had teachers (i.e. you had a composition professor or a private teacher who taught you composition as oppose to music teachers that allowed you to compose. I have to be very specific):

1.     When did you begin taking composition lessons?

2.     Where you required to present a portfolio or some kind of evidence of your composition prior to beginning your lessons?

3.     Where did you take composition lessons (what university or what region of the world i.e. hometown or country)

4.     What were your composition lessons like (how were they structured, what did you do in them, how long were they)

5.     What was your composition teacher like (did they allow you to write what you want or did they give you assignments like “what in this style” or “write for this ensemble or instrumentation” etc.)

6.     Where your composition lessons a positive or negative experience?

 

Composers who are self-taught (i.e. you had no private or group lessons for specifically composition, aside from a composition based assignment in a music class or ensemble):

1.     Was the decision to go without a composition teacher a conscious decision or a decision out of circumstance? Explain?

2.     What are some of the challenges you have faced being self-taught?

3.     What do you believe some of the strengths are to being self-taught?

4.     What are some of the perceptions you have about taking composition lessons (what do you think it would be to take composition lessons)

5.     Do you think taking composition lessons would be a benefit or a detriment to your composition process? why?

Here are my answers/thoughts.

 

For your general questions:

 

1. I started taking violin lessons when I was eight years old.

 

2. I pretty much dabbled in improvising melodies ever since I started violin lessons.  I found that more interesting than playing through scales and boring etudes.  I would say that I started seriously composing in the 7th grade.  My school had a computer set up with a very basic notation software which I used to write some of my first little pieces (unfortunately almost all of them lost) and I just pursued it as a hobby and later in high school, I took my first music theory class that really set up my lifelong interesting composing music.

 

3. I mostly use notation software.  I do write down bits of music that come to mind when I'm away from the computer (my office desk has a stack of blank music paper) and later transcribe them into Finale if I find they are worth keeping.

 

 

For your second part:

 

I would myself about 50% taught, 50% self-taught.  I studied music theory in college (actually ended up with a B.A. in music as one of my majors).  I could consider my advanced music theory class as the first (and really only formal composition course) I took which was in my second year in college.  My professor for that class was awesome and pushed us to compose music as assignments and I greatly benefited from that formal approach.  The two major  assignments were to write a piece in sonata form and a short vocal work with piano accompaniment.  However, I didn't take further composition classes since there was a heavy bent at my university for ethnomusicology and post-modern music which was not compatible to my musical style which is very conservative and grounded in tonality.  Overall, though, my experience was very positive.  I think having a solid groundwork in theory but being almost completely self-developing in composition allowed me much more freedom in developing my voice.  I would think that one downside to having a formal composition teacher is that it would be easy to end up more as a disciple of that teacher and emulate his/her style without freely developing your own voice.  I think it's more important to have a good group of knowledgeable listeners to critique your work (like on this site) and let you find your own answers in developing your compositional style.

General questions:

1.     Sophomore year of high school.

2.     At the same time. The only reason I started getting into music seriously was because I decided I wanted to be a composer and I immediately started making haphazard attempts at it when I started learning theory.

3.     I write the basic stuff down by hand, and then fine tune it all once I've got a Finale document going.

 

Composers who are self-taught (i.e. you had no private or group lessons for specifically composition, aside from a composition based assignment in a music class or ensemble):

1.     I'd say it's circumstance. The fact is, I've never had a composition class. I learned a lot of what I know while in high school with the help of the band director. I wasn't in band, but he taught me music theory from the ground up since I knew hardly anything to start with. As far as college, I've been in and out of school and have yet to take an actual composition class. 

2.     The hardest part of having to learn everything myself has just been that I have hardly anyone to talk to about what I'm doing or how to get better. This site has been a great source of input and I do know a few people who I can talk to about music face to face, but not having many musical friends anymore really makes it harder.

3.     I wouldn't know how to answer this question accurately, but I like to think it's ultimately led to me being able to make my own decision about what kind of music I'll write and how I'll write it. 

4.     It sounds both fun and intimidating to have a real teacher. It could be rigorous and help a composer grow faster, but I also worry that I'd get one of those teachers who doesn't want you composing music that isn't fit for the new age of atonality and experimental stuff. I'm sure there are lots of nice encouraging teachers out there too but it's hard for me to dismiss the more negative possibilities.

5.     I'd guess it would depend on when I had taken them. If I'd started taking them earlier on and had them consistently then I guess it would be a tradeoff. Faster growth in exchange for a different course of development. I wasn't really the kind of person who could make strong individualistic choices easily. If someone were there influencing me I'd just end up being a pastiche of them. Recently I've made choices about who I want to be as a composer going forward and they've been in large part based on the fact that I don't have a teacher or training. I'm just going about cherrypicking elements of music as I come across them in life without having any one consistent source of inspiration or learning. It's been slower, harder, and more haphazard but I think it was for the better. Of course now that I've reached this point where I'm getting better at carving out my own character, I think having a teacher would be less likely to leave too heavy an impression on me and I'd welcome some learning (though the 'circumstances' haven't changed so that's unlikely to happen yet) and professional help.

I could be wrong about any or all of this. I don't know, I'm just saying what seems apparent to me.

Edited May 10, 2016 by KJthesleepdeprived
Adjusting spacing issues with new site

I started playing guitar at 9 or 10. My uncle worked for Fender guitars. He knew I was serious because I practiced all the time and never came up from the basement. He bought me my first guitar. At 11 I joined a local band called Chip and the Dips. I was a dip. Later I morphed into a percussionist and I took lessons at The American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. My teacher was James Dutton, who taught all of his students a totally comprehensive, soup to nuts education. We always had percussion ensemble work, and one day he assigned each of us to write an original work or arrangement for the ensemble. He liked what I wrote and actually paid me for it to use with his private band on the road. He was an influential teacher and this was the start of me composing. So I started composing simply because people thought I had talent. I was 18.

 

Then I learned that Roosevelt University had an electronic music studio with a couple of large Moog synthesizers. That's when I enrolled there as a composition major, piano minor. I knew nothing about the style of music or the requirements of the composition staff. I had blinders on for the Moog. My admission consisted only of auditioning for the chair of the piano department, no portfolio of compositions was required. I was 21.

 

I had two composition teachers, one for electronic music and one for "traditional." And by traditional I mean Berg and Webern. I was expected to devise stratagems, tone rows and the like, for my compositions. I didn't know what I was doing. It ran counter to my intuition, and my pop music sensibilities. Besides, I liked Stravinsky. And Stravinsky to a Weberner is trash. He would say to me, "Stravinsky would be nothing without the repeated note." I was allowed to write what I wanted, but at that age one writes to please the professor.

 

Positive or negative? A little of both. Over the years I've had MANY great teachers to whom I owe my gratitude. My EM teacher taught me the value of the musical "gesture," which is part of me now. But the Berg disciple taught me nothing. I only regret that I never received a solid grounding in counterpoint and the classical style. But being academia, somehow that was not as important as being avant garde. My piano teacher, I must say, taught me so much! Ludmilla Lazar, a Bartok wiz! is what a good teacher is supposed to be. When I told her that I wanted to play the Stravinsky Piano Sonata (which was clearly beyond my level) she didn't say no, she just gave me a concerned look, thought about it, and then a small grin. She said, You will have to work very hard to learn this. So I did and she was behind me all the way.

 

I had very little interaction with the orchestra for my compositions, just a few hours when you add it all up. I have always composed at the piano. Only recently, after selling my piano, do I use a DAW in conjunction with a notation program. This has opened up my world like you have no idea! Though I believe in teachers 100%, you probably know that all composers, regardless of structured education, are self taught.

General questions:

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?  Violin at 5, and off and on since.  Voice in high school.  I was lucky enough to get to sing with the adult choir in church starting in high school, because there wasn't a children's choir.  That was a great learning experience.  It was a solid group, so I was exposed to much better choral music than I was getting at public school where the teacher was limited by the sight reading abilities of high schoolers.  Banjo in college.

2.     When did you start composing and why?  It's always been on my radar, but I've always been around the edges.  I can remember trying to write down tunes starting in middle school or high school but having to hand-write it was tedious and frustrating.  By the time you've accurately written out one measure, you've forgotten what you wanted to do next.  I took an electronic music after school class with my strings teacher where we had the opportunity to play with early composition software, but I was more interested in writing out folk tunes I already knew than writing anything new.  My college a cappella group did all its own arranging and I sang a few pieces in recital for voice lessons written by composition majors in the group and always wanted the courage to try myself, but there were so many more qualified people, I never took on that job.  I occasionally did vocal percussion for the group (we took turns), and we were always left to improvise that on our own, and everyone always really liked what I came up with.  I took group fiddle lessons with a teacher just after college who had everyone write a tune and play it for the group for one lesson.  I did mine and when I finished she said, "Jesus, you wrote a slip jig!"  That was encouraging.  I really started a few years ago.  The church I sing for now had a hymn composition contest to mark a big anniversary year.  I didn't even hear about it until it was over, and we sang the winning composition.  It was pretty un-sing-able, and I thought...  hey!  I could do better than that!  Damn it!  I'm trying this thing!  

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).  Hand written in a pinch, but I still find that tedious and untidy.  Mainly I use notation software.  I tend to write by ear, and then physically write it down, so I spend a lot of time singing into my phone while driving, using the windshield wipers for a metronome.  

 

 

 

Composers who are self-taught (i.e. you had no private or group lessons for specifically composition, aside from a composition based assignment in a music class or ensemble):

1.     Was the decision to go without a composition teacher a conscious decision or a decision out of circumstance? Explain?  Circumstance.  As musical as I was as a kid, I was incredibly shy.  Like flinch when someone moves quickly shy.  So it never would have occurred to anyone to suggest I think seriously about any kind of career in music since performing is always involved.  Now that I'm out of school, my best option would be to find a private teacher, but that's expensive, so I'd like to do as much as I can on my own first.  Maybe someday. 

2.     What are some of the challenges you have faced being self-taught?  There are huge gaps in my musical education, since it's been pieced together here and there.  Some of them I know about, but haven't had anyone push me to fix and haven't had the patience to fix myself without that outside push.  Others, I'm sure, I'm just completely unaware of.  Not knowing what you don't know is rather disheartening.  Whatever you are practicing, you wonder if it's a waste of time, because really, you should be working on ____.  Makes it easy to do nothing at all.  

3.     What do you believe some of the strengths are to being self-taught?  It's never gotten boring.  Being able to move at your own pace means the chance of getting pushed too far and getting frustrated are limited.  There's no chance of burn-out.  

4.     What are some of the perceptions you have about taking composition lessons (what do you think it would be to take composition lessons)  Very helpful, but it all depends on the teacher.  It's such a personal thing, so a good fit between student and teacher is important.  

5.     Do you think taking composition lessons would be a benefit or a detriment to your composition process? why?  A benefit.  I don't know what I don't know, so having a more experienced eye take a look at where I am and deciding on the most critical thing for me to improve upon right now would be helpful.  

General questions:

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?

3rd Grade

 

2.     When did you start composing and why?

3rd Grade. Had these melodies in my head and wanted to get them out

 

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).

Notation, sequencers,  and hand-written

 

Composers who had teachers (i.e. you had a composition professor or a private teacher who taught you composition as oppose to music teachers that allowed you to compose. I have to be very specific):

1.     When did you begin taking composition lessons?

1st semester freshman year college

 

2.     Where you required to present a portfolio or some kind of evidence of your composition prior to beginning your lessons?

YES!!!

 

3.     Where did you take composition lessons (what university or what region of the world i.e. hometown or country)

University of Michigan

Kansas State

Louisiana State University

 

 

4.     What were your composition lessons like (how were they structured, what did you do in them, how long were they)

50 minutes.  Structure varied. Depended on the teacher.  My LAST teacher was all about 20th century so a bunch of scores

 

5.     What was your composition teacher like (did they allow you to write what you want or did they give you assignments like “what in this style” or “write for this ensemble or

instrumentation” etc.)

Until doctorate, what I wanted

 

6.     Where your composition lessons a positive or negative experience?

Mostly positive

General questions:

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?

         I started studying/playing music starting in 5th grade (10 years old). I was in the choir and started studying violin.

2.     When did you start composing and why?

         I started composing the next year in 6th grade. Our school got Finale Notepad in the school computer lab, so me and my friends would just mess around writing little nonsensical  things. Another reason was that I wanted to arrange some of the music we were playing and experiment with a few changes. This led to me writing my own music eventually.

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).

       Mostly notation software (Finale)

 

Composers who are self-taught (i.e. you had no private or group lessons for specifically composition, aside from a composition based assignment in a music class or ensemble):

1.     Was the decision to go without a composition teacher a conscious decision or a decision out of circumstance? Explain?

      Hmm, I would say a bit of both. I didn't take composition seriously until late high school/early college so I didn't really think about it that much. Plus, I was already swamped by school work and other extracurricular activities that I wouldn't have had any time. In college, I thought about taking private lessons, but the composition program at my university was virtually non-existent, but I did show my works to some of the music profs for advice and critiques. 

2.     What are some of the challenges you have faced being self-taught?

      I didn't take any theory classes in high school or college, so learning all that by myself was obviously a challenge. But this is where all my orchestral experience helped me grasp most theory concepts pretty quickly. I also did take music history classes and an orchestration course so that helped too. Another challenge was that you miss out on networking opportunities with other composers. 

3.     What do you believe some of the strengths are to being self-taught?

      In my case, being self-taught gave me the advantage of experimenting with different styles, instead of being pigeonholed to one. Also I don't have deadlines and can compose at my own pace (though that may be a negative at times...)

4.     What are some of the perceptions you have about taking composition lessons (what do you think it would be to take composition lessons)

   I've heard horror stories, and good stories....so kind of a "mixed bag" perception. If I were to take composition lessons, I would take them with someone who I'm really comfortable with and be very frank with (and vice versa). 

 

5.     Do you think taking composition lessons would be a benefit or a detriment to your composition process? why?

   Definitely NOT a detriment. I think taking lessons would probably be beneficial in refining what I already know and improve on. 

Edited April 9, 2016 by danishali903

General questions:

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?

I recall messing with a keyboard as young as a 4-year-old. By then I could not only play the melody from The Blue Danube by heart in my own toy keyboard - but in any keyboard whatsoever, and even transpose it to another key. I went as far as to "write" my own version of it - my first "original composition". I also took guitar lessons for a few months at age 8-9, and sang in a child choir about the same time. But I didn't start thinking seriously about composition until age 12-13, after being introduced to "classical music" via Beethoven/Tchaikovsky/Mendelssohn.

 

2.     When did you start composing and why?

As stated above, as sudden as I was able to play a coherent musical line, I started thinking about making up my own pieces. But "real" composition didn't begin for me until my early teens, after being introduced to the "classical" realm. Beethoven's creative power and Tchaikovsky's flair and orchestration were both hits for me, and I started wondering if I would be able to do that myself. I also felt a need to express myself in a way that would remain somewhat enigmatic, not to openly embarrass myself (I was rather shy by then, and that still haunts me now). And to get a few things out of my head, too - after all, I had several silly melodies which had been haunting me since childhood, so why not turn them into complete works? So I wrote a set of piano short pieces...

 

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).

Early on I had no choice but to write everything by hand. I had no access to notation software, barely knowing it to exist at all. So all what survives of my earliest pieces are sketches done in paper and pencil, mostly fragments of piano works - although I managed to write about 4 or 5 full orchestral scores (including my first 2 symphonies). Nevertheless, I was able to get Finale in 2003, and I'm now using Finale 2011, with which I've created most of my newer works (from Op. 27 onwards) as well as re-scored many older works. Unfortunately I did never learn to take any advantage from DAW and samplers - kind of an "old-fashioned composer" even in this.

 

Composers who are self-taught (i.e. you had no private or group lessons for specifically composition, aside from a composition based assignment in a music class or ensemble):

1.     Was the decision to go without a composition teacher a conscious decision or a decision out of circumstance? Explain

A mix of both, I'd say - but perhaps if I had not made some sort of a decision to go all-out by myself, I guess I could have pushed harder for lessons. Nevertheless, my upbringing played a role in my choices - down here there aren't many professional paths for composers, as we're a really small country with an overcrowded musical scene, and most newcomers are locked out. I had also some reasons to fear I wouldn't be allowed creative freedom, but rather have a certain style shoved down my throat. So I felt compelled to turn away and move into a more "lucrative" career (which I regret to say hasn't been that "lucrative" at all).

 

2.     What are some of the challenges you have faced being self-taught?

Being self-taught is a challenge in itself. I had to learn almost from zero, and I had nothing but three books (on notation, on orchestration and on forms, styles and musical appreciation), but no theory or harmony treatises. I listened to lots of music, and had to find out even the orchestral order of instruments for a score by myself - all of that before the Internet boom!

 

I have also found an almost bigger challenge in validation and confidence. As I was learning, I had absolutely no feedback about what I was doing, other than showing a score here and there to a musically versed teacher or acquaintance. I was stuck in an endless loop of second-guessing and questioning my own works' quality. I only got a real boost in 1997, when my Second Symphony (in a handwritten score!) made it all the way into the final round of an international composition contest. That success briefly brought me into some contact with the musical "establishment" in my country, and allowed me to have another orchestral work read and performed. But the doors quickly closed, without me knowing for sure if I was doing well in any sense. I think this reflects in my music, as my works might show some technical or theoretical weaknesses - although it doesn't affect my personal choice to write in a Romantically-infused style that some might find outdated.

 

Another nagging issue is the missed chance to network with both performers and composers. Granted, my networking skills are disastrous by themselves, but I could have used a few musically conscious friends down the road. I would list also the fact that I don't play any instrument myself, so that might have been different too if I had taken lessons, despite my decision to focus on creation rather than performance.

 

3.     What do you believe some of the strengths are to being self-taught?

The single major benefit I could point out is that it gave me the chance to learn without being bullied into any style. I feel free to write the kind of music that I would enjoy listening, instead of what I should be writing according to the Powers that Be. I consider myself a quick learner, and I was bold enough to jump at any chance into orchestral writing, whereas I could have been slowed down or confined into odd chamber ensembles. As it gets, my best bets when composing are piano works or orchestral pieces rather than chamber music, and classical forms rather than experimental ones.

 

4.     What are some of the perceptions you have about taking composition lessons (what do you think it would be to take composition lessons)

As I previously said, there was this fear that I would be forced into a writing style. Where I live, it was pretty hard to distinguish one composer's work from another's, as everyone seemed to be attempting to translate folkloric music into classical forms and distort it into atonality - or to overuse percussion in orchestral pieces at the expense of everything else (this hasn't changed too much since I was a teenager). Even now, if I had to take lessons (which I doubt on account of my age), I would rather have them from someone who will give me the tools to do my thing the right way, but also keep the spark alive and help me find new roads without turning composition into a burden rather than a pleasure.

 

5.     Do you think taking composition lessons would be a benefit or a detriment to your composition process? why?

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be detrimental at all. By now I have grasped a lot of concepts, but there's always room for improvement, and knowledge sharing always enriches. I have also somewhat expanded my stylistic boundaries, so perhaps these lessons might help me to do so with less hesitations, while offering validation, feedback, and even networking chances.

General questions:
 

1.     When did you start studying or playing music?

 

Offically, Grade 7 (in Canada, about 12 years old). Started then with recorder for a few months and then on to band instruments. Trombone for me from the get-go.

Previously, had some choir and violin lessons, but little (if anything) stuck.

 

2.     When did you start composing and why?

 

 

Maybe a tiny bit in high school ... but nothing remotely serious. Started for real in college essentially as required.

 

3.     How do you write your music (do you use notation software, hand written scores, or in sequencers such as DAW and samplers).

 

90% is hand written at a piano. I'll use a notation program exclusively for notation.

 

 

Composers who had teachers (i.e. you had a composition professor or a private teacher who taught you composition as oppose to music teachers that allowed you to compose. I have to be very specific):

 

1.     When did you begin taking composition lessons?

 

University...probably not even until 2nd or 3rd year undergrad.

 

2.     Where you required to present a portfolio or some kind of evidence of your composition prior to beginning your lessons?

 

No, was a jazz performance program requirement.

 

3.     Where did you take composition lessons (what university or what region of the world i.e. hometown or country)

 

St. Francis Xavier University (Nova Scotia, Canada) and University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

 

4.     What were your composition lessons like (how were they structured, what did you do in them, how long were they)

45mins - 1 hour long. 

Undergrad - weekly assignments (arrange Melody X for 5 horn jazz octet, write a "Messengers-style" 3 horn chart, reharmonize a standard, analysis of repertoire and traditions)

Master's - Long term exploration of single things. (Multiple sessions working on an extended or multiple pieces )

 

5.     What was your composition teacher like (did they allow you to write what you want or did they give you assignments like “what in this style” or “write for this ensemble or instrumentation” etc.)

 

Ensemble / instrumentation / style was generally somewhat dictated (got looser as you go - higher education got more freedom. Undergrad was a lot more structured.
 

6.     Where your composition lessons a positive or negative experience?

 

Positive, expecially as a means of exploring and understanding styles you wouldn't normally gravitate towards. 

General Questions:

1. When I was really little, I remember playing Mary had a little lamb on a toy electric keyboard. I played around on a friends piano when I was about 6, and I started playing a keyboard regularly when I was about 7. I haven't stopped since.
2. When I was about 12 I started making short films that required music. I composed and recorded some very simple (read: bad) musical score on my keyboard, but I was more interested in making films than composing music.
3. Record with MIDI keyboard straight into a DAW. If I have no access to my keyboard, I will notate ideas on my laptop using MuseScore (an awesome, free music notation program).

 

Composers who are self-taught:

1. I never really had a music teacher because A) There wasn't much about music that I couldn't learn for free without a teacher or school, and B) The hardest part of composing is the creative process, and that's something that I don't think can be taught.
2. Hard to say, cause I don't know what it's like to not be self-taught.
3. Flexibility. You can spend more time on areas you think are more important.
4. I actually don't know. I've often wondered what you learn in a composition class, cause how can you teach someone to create something? You might be able to learn the technical aspects of the craft, but not the most important part, which is the ability to generate musical ideas.
5. I think if anything, it would be a benefit. It couldn't hurt, anyway.

It's my turn:

1. I began to sing in the children's choir at the age of two. I properly began my music education when I was nine. Funny, I was never interested in playing an instrument. I wanted to sing and learn notes.

2. My first piano pieces were created as a response to Clementi and Beethoven Sonatinas and they are in similar 18th century style. I was 13 at the time. However I consider my real beginning as a composer five years later when I really began to compose and I immediately turned my attention to orchestral music. This compositions, however, suck. But I still have my opus 1, Sonatina in C major for piano, it is not so bad. :)

3. I work with Sibelius since 2006. But I have also notated early works in different programmes, except my first piano pieces which are hand-written.

 

1. My Conservatoire teachers were not really interested in teaching composition so my opus till autumn 1996 is a work but 100% self-taught composer.

2. At the entrance exams each candidate must bring at least three compositions of any style and cast so the jury examines them to see if you have any skill or talent

3. I studied at the Academy of music in Slovenia, my home country. But I have visited several workshops during summer to learn something more

4. In Slovenia, each composition student is scheduled to have 90 minutes with professor individually. Fortunately, my professor was happy to help me any time he was available. The lessons were at the academy or sometimes at professor's homeplace.

5. My professor was a persona of two faces: he was an advocate of "listener-friendly" music but he often encouraged the students to compose in more avantgarde style and enter several composition competitions in Austria and Germany where traces of past avantgarde still exist. And some of the students were actually quite successful at these competitions. Not me though, with one exception - I won first prize at the Studio for percussion RTV Slovenia composition competition in 1999. Ever since the professor left me to compose how I wished because I have proved myself. :)

6. Positive experience: I have developed skills in form handling and working with a motif. Negative experience: My professor disliked many composers whose music I wanted to study - for example: he hated Schönberg passionately and even Transfigured Night was a terrible composition to him. I love this music though!

 

 

 

1.  I started playing guitar around age ten, and shortly thereafter my grandmother gave me a few very basic piano lessons, and I taught myself from that point on. I really regret not getting a teacher at some point. I didn't get any classical training on an instrument until I joined band in the 8th grade and began playing the horn. 
2. Because I had no proper training, I mostly learned piano by playing out melodies I knew by ear, and after that I spent most of my time trying to make up my own melodies. I continued doing this and eventually j was able to accomplish my melodies and make them more complex, especially as I learned some theory. But I never set about methodically composing a piece of music until November 2014. 
3. I use musescore, as I don't feel I can really justify spending money on notation software yet. I compose both on paper and in the software, but almost everything I write begins as a pencil and paper sketch. 

Self taught:

1. I have no teacher completely out of circumstance. I have no teacher simply because I don't live in an area where there is any teacher available to me. 
2. Probably the biggest challenge is that it is very difficult to get direct advice and critique from a more knowledgeable composer. 
3. Since I have no assignments to do other than the ones I give myself, I am free to pursue the ideas that come to me. And I think that being self-taught has led me to be a better "problem-solver" musically. When I am faced with a challenge in a piece I'm working on, I have to find a way out of it with only my own knowledge of music to guide me, which I think can lead to serious growth. 
4. I have been given the impression that composition classes are mostly about learning techniques that you can use in your own music, and having your own work reviewed by a professional. 
5. I think having lessons would be a huge help to my process, because having someone to advise you and give you an outsider's perspective seems like an incredible opportunity.