Objectivity? and transcriptions from the head..

I've started writing a few silly little things in 3/4 in order to accelerate my improvement. The problem is I begin hating them and feel a strong urge to vomit when I hear them, wishing I was better and cursing the fact that I have so much ground to catch up. I'm curious to find out what relationship you in general cultivate with your own compositions in order to keep going, do you love them like children, as warty as they may get? Do you have no attachment to them whatsoever? Or do you only compose things that you like.

etc.

I guess the issue is about evaluating your own compositions worth. How and when do you do this?

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Another issue I wonder about is if a skill such as transcribing a well known classical piece straight from your head is a standard ability for good composers, or is this skill quite rare?

This came to me last night as I lay drifting off to sleep and imagined I could see notes fall into place on a blank page as they sounded out a Mozart piece. I imagined I had a latent ability to become a resounding genius, until I woke up again and came crashing back to earth.

I hope being able to transcribe straight from my head isn't the standard. If so I'm in trouble. It takes me forever to transcribe.

I don't think being able to transcribe is the norm for composers. Nor do I think it should even be anything more than a point of interest about a composer. Maybe Mahler could memorize and instantly recall music his whole life, maybe Beethoven couldn't. It's all about how you compose and your ability to learn from those great masters, in my opinion.

I sure don't transcribe from head. I hope I don't have to. At least yet.

WOW! That would be like perfect pitch combined with the ability to hear multiple voices at once. Craziness! I would like to have that gift :)

To me, it's impossible to evaluate your own compositions. I mean, there's plenty of examples of musicians that couldn't do it. I don't feel like giving examples, but trust me here.

Another issue I wonder about is if a skill such as transcribing a well known classical piece straight from your head is a standard ability for good composers, or is this skill quite rare?

It's practice and experience. You play, through which you learn how harmony is applied in practice. Sometimes a need arises, like you want to transcribe a song and the only way is to take it down by dictation. You soon learn to write the tune, then the bass - you can hear how it rises and falls and soon gauge by how much - ie the intervals. The middle parts come by trial and error at first but eventually you hear sequences and know what happens.

Taking dictation of a melody was once part of aural tests in the UK GCE music exams and higher...a skill neglected since the subject got devalued.

Because, from then it's just time and practice that you hear something in your head and know how to write it. Doesn't take perfect pitch as long as your relative pitch is ok. So the whole is a tone or semitone out...does it matter? You can transpose it later.

The problem is it takes work. Halve the time you spend on the internet and devote the remainder to developing this skill. Some have it naturally - others shouldn't expect it to happen over night.

For all that, there's nothing wrong with working at a keyboard or computer. Easier up front but larger works and structures are more difficult. The problem comes when your winning idea hits at a moment when you haven't got access to a keyboard/computer.

I was lucky enough to be born with the ability to transcribe from my head. I first noticed this because I could play any melody I think on my French horn in eighth grade... it is a great gift indeed, and I plan to use it well.

As for evaluating my own compositions, I think I know if something I write is basically good or bad, and other people's opinions normally hover around that point so I think I can tell if something I've written is in the general area of okay or poor. And I normally write things that I enjoy, but (for example) I'm doing a video game soundtrack so I'm forced to deal with a couple themes that I wouldn't otherwise play with. I try to make the best of them of course.