If you could compose

[TheGSMoeller]

The two or three people here who have musical ideas come to them in their heads, but lack the knowledge to write them down, can hum them or sing them into a recorder, then use note recognition software available free online to write the music. There are millions of professional musicians worldwide who cannot compose because ideas do not come to them. Those who have ideas coming to them in their heads are a rare breed and should follow it up. A better way would be to learn piano, elec. keyboard,  or guitar, which are orchestral type instruments and can play melodies in chords as well as single notes. Within a year or two you could learn enough to play and write down your ideas. Do not waste your rare talent. Having these ideas come to you is not only a sign of rare compositional talent, but also an indication that you would learn to play relatively quickly. Are you too old? You are never too old. You live only once. Take full advantage of what nature has given you.

Words of encouragement, Chaszz.

I studied music years ago, and have always regretted stopping. I recently found some old compositions and started on new ones. I don't claim them to be masterpieces, and not even sure if I'm even satisfied with them, but I find it very enjoyable and even therapeutic to compose.
In fact, I just purchased an A-style mandolin, and wanted to compose something for it...but I should probably learn to play it properly first. 

Anyway, this is a fun thread.

[mszczuj]

Exercises - little chamber opera for mezzosoprano and violin (invisible). The only person is violinist's wife.

[Lisztianwagner]

I think I would write a lot of music for piano - piano concertos, piano sonatas, etudes, nocturnes - trying to make the most of the possibilities of the instrument and using thematic tranformation, in Romantic style; I would compose massive symphonies, orchestral suites and tone poems as well.
Also both a Violin and a Cello Concerto, and maybe a ballet taking inspiration from the Norse Mythology.

Ilaria

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I would probably compose alternate scene 3 for act 1 of Götterdämmerung, where instead of Waltraute it is Wotan who would come talk to Brünnhilde for one last time. I was always little disappointed because Wotan never showed up in Götterdämmerung. Although you could argue another scene with Brünnhilde and Wotan would make the farewell scene from die Walküre lose some of it's dramatic status.

Also I think I could try composing a violin concerto, whole new opera, and maybe a string quartet.

[bwv 1080]

something with  bagpipes, tubas and the banjo, with political slogans, advertising jingles and cowboy lyrics that sounds like orchestral rock-band church-music punctuated with high pitched sounds and abrupt changes in pace and mood

like this

http://www.youtube.com/v/9fCtDO7OcRM

[jowcol]

The two or three people here who have musical ideas come to them in their heads, but lack the knowledge to write them down, can hum them or sing them into a recorder, then use note recognition software available free online to write the music. There are millions of professional musicians worldwide who cannot compose because ideas do not come to them. Those who have ideas coming to them in their heads are a rare breed and should follow it up. A better way would be to learn piano, elec. keyboard,  or guitar, which are orchestral type instruments and can play melodies in chords as well as single notes. Within a year or two you could learn enough to play and write down your ideas. Do not waste your rare talent. Having these ideas come to you is not only a sign of rare compositional talent, but also an indication that you would learn to play relatively quickly. Are you too old? You are never too old. You live only once. Take full advantage of what nature has given you.

Interesting and insightful.  For me, I slid more towards improvisation-- it worked with a lot of ldeas I had  and non-classical sources I have (Hindustani  classical, modal jazz, etc.) It also fit into my hectic schedule.  Better to do something rather than nothing-- and find an approach that fits.

[Josquin des Prez]

I have ideas all the time. Sometimes i'm able to write entire movements into my head. I just can't hold them into my memory. I had this problem even before my mental illness, but now it is of course so bad that i forget a melody or a piece of music the moment i conjure it up. I think most of the great composers probably had pretty good musical memories. If i had been trained in composition i'd probably have to carry a notebook every where i go.

[springrite]

I would compose a chamber work for Guqin, flute, doublebass, voice and string quartet. The Guqin part being pre-recorded and the voice part ad lib.

[Popov]

A massive Symphony, conveying a sense of impending catastrophe, mournful despair, hauting dread - ultimately resolving itself into a sense of grimly hopeless defiance. 

No wonder you like Popov's 1st 

If I was a composer I'd definitely graduate with a symphony. I think it would be a light-hearted work.

[jowcol]

Interesting and insightful.  For me, I slid more towards improvisation-- it worked with a lot of ldeas I had  and non-classical sources I have (Hindustani  classical, modal jazz, etc.) It also fit into my hectic schedule.  Better to do something rather than nothing-- and find an approach that fits.

Upon further reflection, most of what I've been creating has been really driven by the instrument I play.  (The Hammered Dulcimer-- sort of like an Autoharp you play with mallets.)   It makes some things very easy, and other things very hard.  It's tuned using circle of fifths, so some scales are much easier to play than others.  Although it's chromatic for a three octave range , the distance between two notes a semitone apart may either be .75 of an inch or 2.5 feet, depending on which two you are talking about.  If you are trying to play something different with each hand, some of these reaches are tough, to say the least.   Also, the Dulcimer, unlike it's big brother the Cimbalom, doesn't have any damping, which means the sustain is always on unless you manually damp the strings.  (Sort of like George Winston on the piano).  Really heavily chromatic runs sound muddy real fast.  ALso, you are basically limited to two notes sounding at a time-- although arpeggios and glissandos can hint at more.   Finally, unlike a harp or keyboard, the bass needs to be played with the right hand, and the treble the left. 

There are some advantages to the instrument-- one of the biggest is rhythmic control, since it's a lot easier to spin out some more complicated patterns with a wrist than a finger as on a keyboard.  This is probably the reason why I go for a lot of polyrythmic modal stuff-- it plays to the instrument's strengths.  ALso, you do have a degree of control  how a hammer strikes the strings that a piano does not offer, for rolls, bounces, and also playing with the degree to which felt is involved in the strike.

It may be a chicken or egg question about whether my taking up the dulcimer was because I had a fondness for modal music, or the  other way around. (Although my tastes in listening are a lot broader-- I hope-- a lot of the music I love is more sophisticated harmonically.) I've tried some composition using fairly cheap software where I had the liberty to play around more harmonically, to mixed results, some I like, and some that just sounds forced.  Since I'm  juggling the kids and job, my time is limited, so I find myself falling back to what I think will offer the best results for the time I have.

When my kids asked me to teach them the Dulcimer, I said no.  They're both getting classical instruction (Cello and Viola), but I'm throwing a lot of non-classical stuff at them as well.  I hope they get the bug to compose, and if they are still interested in learning the Dulcimer in a few years, I'd be glad to teach them what I know-- but I'd want them to start from a better foundation than what I have.

[Guido]

He kind of was (average symphony duration about 25 mins, excluding the first four, under 20)

I would write a swaggeringly Romantic concerto for oboe and cello, because none yet exists.

You sir, are in luck. There is an absolutely gorgeous, yearningly romantic piece by Leighton for cello, oboe and strings. It's youthful and dedicated to Finzi who is a clear influence. Can't recommend it enough!

[snyprrr]

Die Vergewaltigung von Schwanen

Radio Play & Ballet for flute, 2 harps, and string quartet



The Title is 'The Rape of Swans', and is semi-programmatic. The two harps obviously symbolize the two wings of the swan(s), the flute (is probably the narrator?), and the string quartet would, alternatively, represent a group of ruffians, and something 'good' that I don't have yet.

The 'plot' should be clear to anyone who is familiar with esoteric knowledge. Technically, the piece should be scientifically perfect, and aurally fantastic, by turns rapturous in a Szymanowski-meets-Stockhausen/Messiaen, and violent and grotesque, and beautiful in a non-Western tonal way (though I'm sure there would be simple triads at points (but not really in a PostModern way)).

[snyprrr]

Tekh

Competition for virtuoso guitarist



This is my magnum opus for guitar, so difficult as to make it available only to a few. All sounds of the instrument will be explored, but I have chosen not to include the performer in the sounds. This piece would basically sound like the perfect Xenakis guitar piece, so unbelievably good as to make you sit in awe.

[snyprrr]

Kraken

fur grosses orchester



Just my attempt to do the perfect Xenakis piece. Kitchen sink, no doubt!

[snyprrr]

Suess

for string quartet



My attempt to do an original sounding SQ. Begins with a 'bouncey' theme... boing boing!! This is NOT 'Seuss', as in Dr. Seuss, but 'Suess', my own original word.

[snyprrr]

Nadir
Ganymede

for solo soprano



My attempt to blow your mind with the human voice. I picture the typical Avant stuff, with lightning jump cuts, like a TV remote.

[snyprrr]

Live Sex Show

for theater troupe

[snyprrr]

Music for Implantable Microchip

for subject

[snyprrr]

Does This Look Infected?

for comedian

[val]

Chaszz
what would your next work be?

A choral work, for mixed choir. Perhaps based on the De Profundis. The style? Between Webern's Second Cantata and Ligeti "O Lux Aeterna" I suppose.