Addicted to Composing

Hey all,

I know its most likely because I have exams at the moment and I am finding any excuse to bludge and avoid doing any work, but nevertheless this is a genuine fear of mine. I think I might be addicted to composing...and the only reason I think thats might be a bad thing is because I can't seem to concetrate on anything except when I'm either playing, listening to, or making music. Its at the point where all I seem to dwell on is how much more there is to learn and how much further behind than everyone else I am....speaking in historically relative terms...and I can't seem to focus on anything! Has anyone been in this rut before? Is there a way out of it? I have deleted all my compositions on my computer, zipped them and sent them to a friend so I can't have access to them...but still the urge keeps my mind perpetually distracted! Can someone please advise me on how to be more focused and/or think more productively and/or more practically about music without feeling overwhelmed? And more importantly, how to put it to one side and focus on something besides it? Thanks.

Pravin

Yeah , there is a way out, productive as well as instructive : LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC, and continue to listen until you are able to hum those music.

"Must listen" list : Beethoven: Symphonies, esp. 3, 5, 6,7 and 9, Triple Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 4 and 5, Violin Conc., Sonata Pathetique, Apassionata, Moonlight, The Overtures, Archduke Trio., Missa Solemnis

Mozart : Sym. 35-41, Violin Conc. 4,5, Piano Conc No. 22,23

Bach : Brandenburg Concertos 1-6

Schubert : Everything, including the songs,

Mendelssohn : Symphonies, Violin Conc.

Schumann : Symph 3, Piano Works

Berlioz : Sym. Fantastique

Haydn : Symph. 100-104

Brahms : Piano Pieces (Waltzes), Hungarian Dances, Piano Conc. No.2, The four symphonies, Violin Conc.

Chopin and Litsz : Piano Sonatas and Hungarian Rhapsodies.

Wagner overtures and opera music,

Tchaikovsky : Everything including those ballets,

Rachmaninoff : Piano related pieces,

Grieg : Piano Concerto, Goldberg suite

Handel : Messiah, Watermusic etc,

Symphonies of Mahler, Sibelius, Bruckner

Debussy : La Mer, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun etc. (Sounds so different, yet great)

Carmina Burana (Carl Orf) Planets(Gustav Holst), Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", Smetana's "The Maldau".....

this will do for now.

Addicted to composing? That just means you're an artist in the making!! You have things to express. Attend to the admin of life (obviously!!) but go ahead and pour it out.

:)

Hey guys,

Lol thanks montpellier. Perhaps you are right - perhaps I am exaggerating things. Either way - its increasingly important to me, so that can't be a bad thing! In terms of 'attending to the admin of life' - lol, if I only knew how to do that effectively and efficiently things would be a whole lot different. I think I lack a fair degree of common sense in that regard....

And Shekhar, my point was that I find myself listening to classical music too often. Lol, I don't think listening to your brief but carefully compiled list is going to do anything but make my situation here worse! Thanks for responding nonetheless. All the best,

Regards

Pravin

Remember : "Talent can do, But genius must!"

Hey,

Lol i try not to live by such adages. But thanks for your concern....

Pravin

I wouldn't really worry about it. I guess I too would consider myself to be "addicted" to composing. I sorta neglect my actuall homework for composing. If I get on the computer, I cant help but open up Finale. (its open right now, even though I havent been composing for a few hours. lol) So yeah, It will pass eventually. Oh, and a thing that helps for me to get composing out of my head is to go and listen to a piece that I absolutely HATE and force myself to listen to it. Since I compose kinda in the classical style, I would go and listen to something bad by Mahler or something really dissonnant. That should distract you from what you are composing for a while. Anyway, I'm not sure if this helped any, but I hope it did. :)

-William