If you could compose

[Chaszz]

what would your next work be?

[Todd]

A symphony so large in scale as to make Havergal Brian look like a miniaturist.

[Lethevich]

A symphony so large in scale as to make Havergal Brian look like a miniaturist.

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.

[Todd]

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

I was referring specifically to The Gothic, of course.

[DavidW]

I would write a string quartet in the style of the neotonalists!

[Brian]

Here are some things I've composed in my head which I would gladly set to paper given the technical skills to do so:

Solo piano
- Two waltzes (in the J. Strauss rather than Chopin mode)
- Seven etudes, "The Deadly Sins," each evoking a separate sin (range of styles: e.g. envy as a minimalist study in tiny intervals, gluttony as the sort of thing Marc-Andre Hamelin plays after too much coffee)

Chamber
- String Quartet No 1. Three movements, outer movements brashly dissonant but jazzy (a la Schulhoff?), central movement a series of variations on Schubert's 'Ave Maria' in the tempo of tango
- String Quartet No 2. Four movements, based on organic development of abstract themes (a la Janacek?)
- String Quartet No 3. One movement rhapsodic work. Attempt to unite jazz and string quartet, the particular challenge set for myself being retaining rhythmic strength without recourse to any percussive effects or cello pizzicato/plucking. In other words, attempting to create free-floating/interlocking melodic lines for each instrument which through their interaction create a sense of rhythm.

Orchestral
- 'Dreamtime', fantastical evolutions on a simple descending thematic cell appearing in numerous guises, moods, and emotional terrains. Named for Australian Aboriginal mythological space. Full orchestra, ~45 minutes.

Arrangements
- Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No 2, for full orchestra (no current orchestration satisfies)
- Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No 6, for string orchestra

That's what I have at present. A lot of past stuff is being abandoned, discarded, or forgotten - such is the nature of not being able to write down the music you imagine. I should note that this isn't just single whims*: each of the works here has been mentally run-through at least three separate times and the themes/contours are known. I got a violin concerto to where the full work was more or less memorized and repeatable, but now I don't like it anymore.

*example of a whim: while I was hiking in Spain, a local village had its annual saint's day fiesta/celebration. But the village was incredibly tiny so the fiesta was adorably small. This inspired the idea for a lively Spanish jota in the grand Falla tradition, but played at around mezzopiano and very lightly scored, maybe even muted strings and trumpet, as if you were hearing it from the next room.

[DavidW]

It sounds like someone wishes they were a composer!

[marvinbrown]

  If I could compose I'd like to further expand on Wagner's ring cycle.  Honestly, the leitmotifs have already been determined for each of the characters and ideas and themes. I'd like to expand Das Reingold from the moment Alberich steals the Rheingold until we find ourselves in The sky with the gods. This covers the actions of Wotan as he forsakes an eye, cuts a branch from the world ash tree, fashions his spear, commissions the Giants to build his palace etc.  The music will marry with Wagner's orchestral music that opens the scene at Valhalla as the Giants have just finished building Wotan palace. The action will flow seamlessly in line with Wagner's artwork!

  Between Die Walkure I'd interject a 5th music drama to cover the following events: Mime finds Sieglinde in the east forest, helps her give birth to Siegfried, raises the boy and prepares him for the battle with Fafner that is to come.  I will have to investigate how Mime gets to the east forest, is there any action with Alberich? Maybe a monologue a la Wotan style to cover Mime conniving to win back the ring through Siegfried.........I need ideas here.......... What should I call this piece....Mime und Siegfried? No too obvious, how about A New Birth...no that does not sound right...hmmm...   Oh wait I just remembered I have no musical talent whatsoever.......I can't
compose so what is the use.......


  marvin

[Brian]

It sounds like someone wishes they were a composer!

Not far wrong!

[TheGSMoeller]

My mother, a few months ago, came across a piece I wrote back in high school for a brass quintet and mailed me the score, I'm not sure what to think of it 

Playing brass in the past and my brother being a professional trombonist I've always had a thing for brass parts, so even though I am big on string quartets, Haydn & Schubert I've always wanted write for brass.

[techniquest]

I'd write a concerto for bells and orchestra - not just tubular bells, but big cathedral bells, glockenspiels, hand bells, cow bells, bell plates...all sorts. Then I'd write a concerto for tam-tams, gongs and orchestra with a similar eclectic array. 

[Todd]

cow bells

[vandermolen]

A massive Symphony, conveying a sense of impending catastrophe, mournful despair, hauting dread - ultimately resolving itself into a sense of grimly hopeless defiance.  Occasionally I wake up with themes from this work in my head - but as I'm not musical I can't write them down and I then forget them.

[jowcol]

A massive Symphony, conveying a sense of impending catastrophe, mournful despair, hauting dread - ultimately resolving itself into a sense of grimly hopeless defiance.  Occasionally I wake up with themes from this work in my head - but as I'm not musical I can't write them down and I then forget them.

Okay, but your second Symphony needs to end with the long march towards sunrise.

Once, back in my youth, I was just starting to drive without a chaperone, and was coming back from a party after working late at night.  I must confess I was rather inebriated (Okay-- it was the 70s. In retrospect, I should have called for a ride, and would give my kids a hard time about making the same mistake.) Anyway, thanks my "buzz", THE SYMPHONY appeared in my mind-- much along the lines of Vandermolen's. It also had one of those great pensive slow movements out of Miaskovsky.  Anyway, just as I was composing the final crashing chords of the last movement, I suddenly was aware that, even though I've never driven more than 5 miles before, I was already 40 miles from home on the interstate system, with no idea how to get back.

The experience would have been worth it if I could have captured it.

Also, I adore Stravinsky's Les Noces and also now play the hammered dulcimer (the smaller cousin of the cimbalom), and a lot of the composing I've dabbled in has been for an augmented percussion ensemble with polymeter.   

[vandermolen]

Okay, but your second Symphony needs to end with the long march towards sunrise.

Once, back in my youth, I was just starting to drive without a chaperone, and was coming back from a party after working late at night.  I must confess I was rather inebriated (Okay-- it was the 70s. In retrospect, I should have called for a ride, and would give my kids a hard time about making the same mistake.) Anyway, thanks my "buzz", THE SYMPHONY appeared in my mind-- much along the lines of Vandermolen's. It also had one of those great pensive slow movements out of Miaskovsky.  Anyway, just as I was composing the final crashing chords of the last movement, I suddenly was aware that, even though I've never driven more than 5 miles before, I was already 40 miles from home on the interstate system, with no idea how to get back.

The experience would have been worth it if I could have captured it.

Also, I adore Stravinsky's Les Noces and also now play the hammered dulcimer (the smaller cousin of the cimbalom), and a lot of the composing I've dabbled in has been for an augmented percussion ensemble with polymeter.

Nice post and, oh yes, my Second Symphony will definitely end with a long trudging march - towards the sunrise.  My daughter and her generation are much more sensible about never drinking when they drive that I was at her age (actually at her age I couldn'd drive - I only learnt to drive at aged 28).  I should like to have heard your Symphony. 

[Mirror Image]

If I could compose...

Hmmm....this is actually a dream of mine that I hope to one day make a reality.

One of the first works I would compose is Quintet for Oboe, Viola, Horn, Vibraphone, and Cymbal. The cymbal part, which will be played on a ride cymbal, will revolve around a percussionist using a brush to play quasi-jazz rhythms. The oboe will state the melodies, the viola and horn are going to play bass notes and work in conjunction with the percussionist's rhythms from the cymbal, and the vibraphone is going to guide the whole group with a chord progression. The vibraphonist will use their sustain pedals every now and again to hold certain chord voicings out. The work will be haunting in texture as all my pieces will be. A lot of my music will evoke Expressionism with harmonic leanings to Debussy, Ravel, and Koechlin.

[mahler10th]

Here is my latest composition, even though I can't compose.  I composed it next year.  It goes like this...





It lasts less than a second, and is a minimalist version of John Cages 4.33".  It is a bloody masterpiece.  Even Mozart would have to bow to me after this.  I hope Karl will premiere it in a Boston Church some time soon.
If I COULD compose, I would be more interested in resurrecting the styles of Atterberg, Rangstrom and the like...

[Grazioso]

http://www.youtube.com/v/8sLNOhA7C2Q

[Mirror Image]

[Chaszz]

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.