 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-12-23 01:37
As you can all see, I have no life, which is why this is about my 3rd or 4th post in the space of a week.
Now, to get to the point:
Composers: How did you learn to compose? I learnt by listening to music, and by actually composing. The basic theory that you need (instrument ranges and all that stuff) I just picked up along the way.
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Author: Joel Clifton
Date: 2003-12-23 02:29
That's how I learned.I never had formal training. I just read books, listen to LOTS of 19th-century music, and learn by composing. In another year I'll actually take composing classes.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-12-23 07:56
Joel- why do you limit your listening to music from the 19th century?
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Author: Joel Clifton
Date: 2003-12-24 04:24
Romantic period music is, IMHO, the peak of the evolution of music, and it's the style I write. I also listen to lots of classical period music and a little baroque, and some 20th century, though not much. I'm not that into atonal music, though I really like The Rite of Spring, and I played Husa's Music for Prague with the Miami Wind Ensemble, which I thought was totally amazing music.
I never purposely listen to modern music (I.E. rock, rap, etc).
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-12-24 06:13
Three, four posts in a week... and you're interested (among other things) in composing, do some on your own initiative and you're interested in how other folks do it. I imagine you play the clarinet pretty well too. This post indicates you'd like some dialog about your interests which perhaps you don't get at home? I find nothing unusual about that.
From here it sure looks to me like you have a life.
Now, talk about someone not having a life... I was a music major in high school -- hahahahahahaha! Furthermore, I'll bet a Rico Royal reed that your compositions outshine mine by a country mile.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-12-24 10:56
BobD
Ok, so I have a very rich and full inner life. And no outer life.
I don't really get much dialogue about music at home, I am the only musician in my family, and the only one who likes classical music. (Not to mention being more intelligent and better educated than the rest of my family.)
That is one of the reasons I go here, to find people who share my interest in music and who won't give me a blank stare every time I mention something like "sonata form". I can't wait until I go back to university next year so I can talk to all my friends who are actually interested in classical music.
I am reasonably good at the clarinet.
How do you know my compositions are better than yours? You've never heard them.
About the bet- I'll go one better and bet an old Grand Concert reed that has lost all its power through the clarion and altissimo registers.
I just read your post again..."do SOME on my iniative". Not some. Lots. Constantly. At the moment I'm working on my 3rd symphony and am considering killing 30 bars of it that I don't think are good enough. (When I was working on my most recent (3rd) clarinet concerto, I'd be getting rid of 60-70 bars at a time. It works, though, no matter how annoying it is at the time- I really like the piece now.)
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-12-24 19:00
Naw, that's okay; I wouldn't want to deprive you of your Grand Concert keepsake. It might become a collectors item someday.
Besides, I've been around the block enough times to know your compositions outshine mine. Not that I view music composition as a competitive endeavor, but because you're more dedicated to the craft than I. I don't mean to say there's not some material of mine worth filing for later reference - there is, and I do. But, I don't work at it at even a small percentage of what you do, Rachel. Just by sheer volume the possibility of your turning out something 'better' from the start, even if just by chance, is far greater. I dabble with it, do it as a hobby/pastime - I'm a dabbler while you're a serious artist.
My family, by the way, has just about zero interest in music composition. They have other things on their minds. Consequently, our dialog revolves primarily around their interests. I learn something from them every day, if only how different and unique we are, and appreciate them all the more for it.
- ron b -
[whose 'intuition' tells him he's 'BobD' today]
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-12-24 19:12
how did I learn? Dunno ... just happens, can't stop it.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-12-26 00:41
Ok, Ron B, you can have your real name back. I wrote that post late at night when I was about to go to bed, so I wasn't thinking straight.
It never really occurred to me to start off by arranging stuff. I did a fair bit of arranging in my early years of high school, after I'd already been composing for a few years.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-12-26 01:54
Thanks, Rachel, I'll rest a lot easier tonight. Actually it's rather flattering to be in your thoughts along with that fine fellow, Bob
[...wish I had a nickle for every time I wasn't thinking straight. We could both retire and compose to our hearts content.]
Hoping your Christmas time is wonderful and the New Year brings you your fondest wishes come true.
- ron b -
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Author: Markus Wenninger
Date: 2003-12-26 14:36
I wanted to put those sounds rummaging in head down on paper so that it´d be playable, that´s why. This reflective process helps enormously to clear and structurize what I imagine, just to see it before me. The technical tools for composing - I´d stick to "picking them up along", works best, since You know what You want, not in this hapless student´s position who has to survive a curriculum (which is only about this dreadful 19th century, if not the actual music then its theorectical implications), so You can work from a pragmtic, down-to-the-actual-problem - realness, You decide when You need a particular adive, an information, whatever.
A happy new year,
Markus
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Author: allencole
Date: 2003-12-26 21:58
Composing and arranging do not have to be rocket science, and can be learned in stages.
My first suggested stage: Play the horn by ear, and then write down (at least in terms of pitch) what you have played. Play songs you know, then make up other things of your own. Play them & write down the pitches. Then hum them and figure out the rhythms.
Second suggested stage: Someone mentioned arranging. Terrific idea! This can be done with a minimum of knowledge. I have had several students learn to write simple arrangements after learning nothing more than two-part harmony, 3-chord harmonic structure, and the circle of 4ths/5ths/keys.
Their technique: Write down a melody and harmonize. Then add a countermelody to fill things in and keep rhythm moving. Or--write a melody by itself and then provide a harmonized countermelody. Voila! Your little duet is now a trio...
This works very well. Modern computer programs will play your composition back to you, so you need only enter what you hear in your head. Playback will test it for you, and then you can keep or modify it.
An awareness of instrumental roll-playing is also helpful to people who write arrangements with a minimum of education--as in Alpine folk music for small groups. Try these roles for a quartet:
Part 1 - melody
Part 2 - harmony
Part 3 - countermelody, apreggios or harmonic rhythm figures
Part 4 - bass
Start off writing in that framework, and then make your work more sophisticated by switching the basic parts between the instruments in the group. As you become more comfortable with these 4 basic roles, you can also tweak them to taste. Few rules are needed and computer notation programs allow you to simply write what's in your head and put it to the test without rehearsal. Very efficient, very fund, and very educational.
Good luck in your exploration. In these, the true glory days of self-publishing, I wish that more people would try to enter this territory.
Allen Cole
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