If you could compose

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I am a writer, but music permeates everything I write, and not only in the obvious sense of having a style that is meant to be heard, but also structurally (I sometimes think that my narrative structures owe more to Beethovenian sonata form combined with Wagner than to any admired novelist!)


If I could compose, my music would be mainly symphonic and operatic. It would be rich, kaleidoscopic, very colourful, full of ideas, many things going on at the same time. I think I'd be a freer Simpson and a more linear Brian. You may add a Delian warmth.


I don't think the world is poorer without my music, though. It would be thoroughly anachronistic. It's a good thing I'm a writer!

[Luke]

I am a writer, but music permeates everything I write, and not only in the obvious sense of having a style that is meant to be heard, but also structurally (I sometimes think that my narrative structures owe more to Beethovenian sonata form combined with Wagner than to any admired novelist!)


If I could compose, my music would be mainly symphonic and operatic. It would be rich, kaleidoscopic, very colourful, full of ideas, many things going on at the same time. I think I'd be a freer Simpson and a more linear Brian. You may add a Delian warmth.

I don't think the world is poorer without my music, though. It would be thoroughly anachronistic. It's a good thing I'm a writer!

A more linear Brian!?    

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

'Linear' in the narrative sense. Brian gets from A to D, jumps to B, then inspects K... The logic of progression in my music would be more Wagnerian ('art of transition').

[Luke]

I understand - I thought you meant in the contrapuntal sense...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I understand - I thought you meant in the contrapuntal sense...

Then that aghast smiley would have been absolutely correct!

[kyjo]

I doubt I could ever get my thoughts down on paper (computer, rather ), but if I could compose, the first work I would write would be an epic, large-scale symphony with a layout like this:

1st movement: Dark and troubled, menacing, march-like (a la Mahler 6)
2nd movement: A neo-Brucknerian scherzo with a nostalgic waltz-like trio
3rd movement: An elegy centered on the strings, rising up to a passionate climax and then dying away into nothingness (a la Shosty 5)
4th movement: A very gradual crescendo extending for about five minutes and breaking into a majestic brass chorale (a la Braga Santos 4), followed by a slow, reflective section which leads into a massive fugue which increases in intensity until the "triumph over the odds" conclusion is reached, which is a reprise of the previous brass chorale

Something like that

Oh, and I'd like to throw a timpani solo in there somewhere (possibly in the 4th movement fugue?) and a cello solo (in the 3rd).

[Mirror Image]

Very cool, Kyle. I'd like to hear that symphony.

I suppose one of first works would be for a chamber ensemble, as would be most of my compositions, here's an example of a work I would compose:

Sextet for violin, double bass, cor anglais, electric guitar, vibraphone, and snare drum

[kyjo]

Very cool, Kyle. I'd like to hear that symphony.

I suppose one of first works would be for a chamber ensemble, as would be most of my compositions, here's an example of a work I would compose:

Sextet for violin, double bass, cor anglais, electric guitar, vibraphone, and snare drum

You're more practical than I am, John! I'd like to compose a septet for viola, cello, double bass, vibraphone, piano, bass clarinet, and timpani.

[Mirror Image]

You're more practical than I am, John! I'd like to compose a septet for viola, cello, double bass, vibraphone, piano, bass clarinet, and timpani.

Well, I would compose a few orchestral works (hopefully on commissions), but a bulk of my oeuvre would be chamber music. It's much easier getting together musicians for a chamber ensemble than an entire orchestra.

In terms of solo instrumental music, I would write several Sonatas for guitar, violin, cello, cor anglais, oboe, trumpet, and horn. I wouldn't write much vocal music, but perhaps a few works like an idea I have had for wordless vocals soaring over the top of a chamber ensemble of mostly strings and piano. The name of the work would be titled Chanson de l'ombre.

[cjvinthechair]

I doubt I could ever get my thoughts down on paper (computer, rather ), but if I could compose, the first work I would write would be an epic, large-scale symphony with a layout like this:

1st movement: Dark and troubled, menacing, march-like (a la Mahler 6)
2nd movement: A neo-Brucknerian scherzo with a nostalgic waltz-like trio
3rd movement: An elegy centered on the strings, rising up to a passionate climax and then dying away into nothingness (a la Shosty 5)
4th movement: A very gradual crescendo extending for about five minutes and breaking into a majestic brass chorale (a la Braga Santos 4), followed by a slow, reflective section which leads into a massive fugue which increases in intensity until the "triumph over the odds" conclusion is reached, which is a reprise of the previous brass chorale

Something like that

Oh, and I'd like to throw a timpani solo in there somewhere (possibly in the 4th movement fugue?) and a cello solo (in the 3rd).

You write it - I'll buy it !

[kyjo]

You write it - I'll buy it !

Don't get your hopes up, Clive!

[amw]

To be honest I don't see what stops people from composing if they can come up with ideas. Usually the ideas (and the work ethic >.>) are the hard part, not the technical knowledge.

If you can read music, you can write music; there's free software out there (MuseScore, Finale Notepad, Lilypond—which is text-based but you can also install a GUI like Frescobaldi to go with it) that will let you put notes down and hear them played back on rudimentary midi sounds. Finale or Sibelius is worth having if you're planning to compose a lot, but since the main advantages are professional looking scores and better sound quality (and not much else) think hard before you set yourself back 40-50 CDs . If you can't read music, you can try to learn >.>, or you can record yourself playing the ideas on your instrument and transcribe them into a DAW like Cubase/Logic/Pro Tools as many film composers do these days (although those will also take a few dozen CDs out of your budget). You can also use DAWs and sequencers even if you can't either read music or play an instrument; the interface is usually more piano-roll style for computer-generated sounds, and waveform style for samples. If you have lots of time, money and hard disk space on your hands you can shell out for a professional sample library like VSL and make lesser composers burn in envy.

Of course, if the main problem is that you're simply too busy with work/school/golf to compose there's less advice I can offer. You'll probably have to weigh leisure activities (including listening to music) against your desire to write. (Well, more accurately, you probably have already done so and gone with leisure.) I don't think anyone should plead lack of musical talent as an issue though—unless you've actually composed enough music to know that you have no talent, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

[TheGSMoeller]

Of course, if the main problem is that you're simply too busy with work/school/golf/children to compose there's less advice I can offer.

I included my reason, I have to wait until he's at school or asleep, which for the latter I'm normally having to drink something strong to keep myself awake to write anything.

[Karl Henning]

And then you're in a space where it's probably the caffeine writing . . . .

[Karl Henning]

To be honest I don't see what stops people from composing if they can come up with ideas. Usually the ideas (and the work ethic >.>) are the hard part, not the technical knowledge.

If you can read music, you can write music.

And if you can read, you can write. Get to it, Shakespeare! 

[xochitl]

if i ever decide to actually write anything new and take it seriously [it's been like 4 years since the last one]:

psalm settings for trebles and bells/percussion
sonata for electric guitar and piano
the well-tempered bagatelles for piano
an album-length electronic suite in just intonation using only sine waves
settings of garcia lorca's later poems for tenor, choir and chamber orchestra
an album of guitar/piano/voice pop-style love songs for a certain someone

[relm1]

To be honest I don't see what stops people from composing if they can come up with ideas. Usually the ideas (and the work ethic >.>) are the hard part, not the technical knowledge.

If you can read music, you can write music;

I think ideas are the easy part.  Knowing what to do with it is much more difficult and takes much training and failure.

[jochanaan]

I think ideas are the easy part.  Knowing what to do with it is much more difficult and takes much training and failure.

That last is very true.  But coming up with a good original idea is dauntingly difficult!

I've done some composing.  It's not easy!  But if I were an established composer, I would like to write a symphonic suite for rock band and chamber orchestra.  (The orchestra would probably have to be amplified, of course. )

[EigenUser]

To be honest I don't see what stops people from composing if they can come up with ideas. Usually the ideas (and the work ethic >.>) are the hard part, not the technical knowledge.

If you can read music, you can write music; there's free software out there (MuseScore, Finale Notepad, Lilypond—which is text-based but you can also install a GUI like Frescobaldi to go with it) that will let you put notes down and hear them played back on rudimentary midi sounds. Finale or Sibelius is worth having if you're planning to compose a lot, but since the main advantages are professional looking scores and better sound quality (and not much else) think hard before you set yourself back 40-50 CDs . If you can't read music, you can try to learn >.>, or you can record yourself playing the ideas on your instrument and transcribe them into a DAW like Cubase/Logic/Pro Tools as many film composers do these days (although those will also take a few dozen CDs out of your budget). You can also use DAWs and sequencers even if you can't either read music or play an instrument; the interface is usually more piano-roll style for computer-generated sounds, and waveform style for samples. If you have lots of time, money and hard disk space on your hands you can shell out for a professional sample library like VSL and make lesser composers burn in envy.

Of course, if the main problem is that you're simply too busy with work/school/golf to compose there's less advice I can offer. You'll probably have to weigh leisure activities (including listening to music) against your desire to write. (Well, more accurately, you probably have already done so and gone with leisure.) I don't think anyone should plead lack of musical talent as an issue though—unless you've actually composed enough music to know that you have no talent, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Very interesting post. About ideas versus technical knowledge, I find myself in the opposite position. I have many great ideas, yet I lack an ability to get them down on paper.

I think it is very similar to the machine design engineering classes I took in college. It was always easy to come up with ideas that solved given problems, but when trying to realize them you are confronted to work out all of the fine details -- the "nuts and bolts", so to speak. In doing so, many practical problems arise and it is often the case that ideas be re-thought in the process of realization. This is the part that requires skill obtained through practice and study.

I totally agree about reading music, though. So many people say that they want to learn piano/compose/etc, but they complain that they can't read music. Learn! It isn't hard, really! Anyone can do it, especially if I can. Once you can read music, a door to a new, seemingly infinite world is opened to you.

[Karl Henning]

To be honest I don't see what stops people from composing if they can come up with ideas.

Take this idea, and apply it to another artistic discipline:  Do you see what stops people from painting, if they can come up with ideas?