Can I be a great composer?

Question

I want to become a musical composer. I speak some
German, and might study music in Germany when I am a senior in high school. Does anyone have any advice on where I can get the best education? What makes a great composer? Is there any websight that teaches basic composition tools (harmony and counterpoint, etc.) Any advice or comments whatsoever are helpful. There's really no reason to give this question stars, but if you want to I'll be thankful anyway : )

Oh, harsh Pk. The star thing was really just a joke, I could care less about getting meaningless icons on some websight. As for composer vs. songwriter, I couldn't agree with you more Pk. We can't kill modern "song writers" fast enough. They're just people who go and get stoned and then lip sync to a song that somebody else wrote for them. My idea of a real composer is more along the lines of Schubert, Copeland, and Hanz Zimmer (one of the few decent modern composers).
I'm glad that the guy above you "wasted so much breath" because I DO plan to do something about this dream of mine. So far I've tried writing some music without much training, I've tried reading the Harvard Dictionary of Music, and, before I even posted this question, I've been planning to go to Germany in two years. I posted this question to find the most effective way to start. I'm not angry, but please...don't insult me by saying that virtual "stars" matter more than my life's ambition.

First of all...Pk:
Thank you for what advice you did give me. (There was some hidden beneath the anger) I plan to use it as best I can. I know that being a composer isn't all bunnies and flowers. That's why I have previously considered engineering (two below Pk: how did you know that?). I think maybe you're taking your frustration for modern "song writers" out on me. I would delete my pointless request for stars, but I don't know how to edit a question other than just adding more details (like I'm doing now)

Thanks to the other guy for the phenomenal help. It is quite likely at this point that you will be recieving best answer. (in case you care at all)

Quick question:
I have been playing the trumpet and french horn for a few years, but my primary instrument is violin which I have played for over 6 years. I'm not exceptional, but I play it adequately. Do I need to be excellent at any instrument to be a composer, or is it better to have a small background in ALL instruments?

To the guy who asked me all those questions about my adequacy in theme development etc. I have almost no training yet, so I doubt I could do those things at this point, but that's what learning is for. I have already asked my parents to get me about five books on music theory and tools for composition (including at least one from that list on one of the answers before yours). I plan to read them 5 times each.

Pk...
I'm not going to delay action forever, but I needed some advice before I started making serious plans. When you are looking for something, you have to get a map, you can't just start running and expect to end up in the right place. I'm already working on getting into an exchange program, and I'm going to look into the conservatoriums and schools that PianoPianoPiano recommended, and maybe some others as well. When you asked how a non-scientist can get an animal care permit or whatever I didn't say "Stop asking about it and just go GET one". Thank you for your advice though, angry and hateful as it was.

HEY WHO DELETED THOSE ANSWERS! DON'T DO THAT THEY WERE HELPFUL!!

Answer 1

Hello, Iron Clown Fist!

I will have to answer your question with some questions of my own:

--Can you write a good melody which is not 16 measures long?

My composition teacher used the cello theme from Schubert's Unfinished Symphony as an example.

--Can you write a good development section?

Mozart and Beethoven were experts at this. For a bad example, listen to a selection of Rossini overtures. He can write a good exposition and a good recapitulation, but in between the two, he apparently can't write anything but a storm scene.

--Can you develop tiny little motifs?

Can you take one tiny little germ and expand it to an entire composition? I have analyzed the preludes in Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" from stem to stern, and I still can't see how he did it.

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is another example. In place of the two usual lovely flowing melodies, he only allowed himself two very short motifs. And if that wasn't enough, the second one was very much like the first one. That meant that he had to develop not only through the development section, but through the entire first movement.

On the other hand, Telemann wrote the second movement of his viola concerto by first writing a nice long melody. Then he ran through the whole melody in the tonic, the subdominant, the dominant, and the tonic again.

I recently finished writing a baroque concerto, and that is exactly what I did.

--Can write interesting harmonies?

I bought a recording and score for Schubert's Ninth Symphony. I wanted to see how he expanded the sonata and scherzo forms into a composition almost an hour long without boring the listener. I found that his trick was to expand each of the themes with interesting modulations.

See if you can save the tonic chord in root position until the very end of a theme. Until then, you have dissonances, inversion chords, and modulations to work with. If you can succeed in this task, you will probably succeed in holding the listener's attention until then. This is one of the factors which sets Mozart and Beethoven apart from mediocre composers like me.

--Can you support the melody with an interesting setting?

Resist the temptation to write rink-chink-chink's. The public has already heard "La Traviata."

--Can you write a good composition without any of the standard blueprints?

I wish I knew how in the heck Janacek composed his "Sinfonietta" with no help from the sonata, ABA, or rondo forms.

--Can you write something original?

What is the most natural way to express fear? Write minor chords for the strings and mark them tremolo, right? That is exactly what Puccini DOESN'T do in the execution scene in "Tosca."

What is the most natural way to bridge the development with the recapitulation? Bang a few chords and make sure the last chord is in the dominant, right? That is exactly what Mendelssohn DOESN'T do in his celebrated violin concerto.

--Can you write something different every time?

In "What to Listen for in Music," Aaron Copland admits that Ravel takes his listeners to a lovely ethereal forest, but it's the same forest every time. Beethoven, on the other hand, expresses a different message in each of his compositions.

I agree. What do the Moonlight Sonata, the Pathetique Sonata, and the Waldstein Sonata have in common? Very little, except that they are all marvelous compositions.

Answer 2

It is riskless to count on that best composers of any style in song are best composers . We additionally ought to differentiate the sort of song we're alluding too. Classical. Jazz Pop etc however we will be able to use those three as a extensive standard most important patterns as each and every one is separate. . In Classical I will comprise all of the years from 1650 to 1920 . This used to be a time lengthy earlier than recorded song and the best composers flourished most commonly in Europe and sure such a lot have been very precocious at younger a while . All best composers have been expert at no less than a million tool and such a lot composers in the course of this interval have been additionally virtuosos , Not all best instrumentalists have been best composers however all have been musically knowledgeable and knew tips on how to learn and write song that's one hundred% . These best composers wrote the whole thing down as they have been composing more often than not alterations have been made however the written observe used to be the whole thing , Some composers weren't so neat and wrote speedily so copyists have been born . Music used to be written to be released and to be had for others to play and gain knowledge of. If those composers didn't write it down . Gershwin regarded to be a million of Americas finest composers used to be no longer a real conventional composer. He used to be in semiclassical Jazz and dad . His Rhapsody in Blue used to be written in orchestral rating via Ferdie Grofe as Gershwin might no longer

Answer 3

If you really want to get a good music education try studying in Vienna Austria (home to Mozart was once considered the center for top musicians in the late 1700s.) But in my opinion if you go to school here in southern california. California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. They have a good music program there too. But it is a little bit expensive.

Everyone has the ability to become a great composer. You have to use your emotion and put it into the form of musical instruments. I was fortunate enough to study music reading, composition and singing since I was seven years old. You usually need to start off at an early age to be really good. But I could be wrong.

Answer 4

Yes. You can study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston MA for a fine Classical Music Education.

Answer 5

well, suggest that you WILL need to work very hard. try to get into a conservatory like the San Franisco Conservatory of music. and major in composing. take classes on theory and about anything on music i guess. i don't know much about the composing area in music but i just suggest find a great school and learn as much as u can about music.

Answer 6

Just major in music in college, or find a music conservatory. Theory and knowing all the scales is pretty easy but invest your time for that in school. HOWEVER, practice!practice! practice! which is what it all boils down to.

Answer 7

I checked my crystal ball and it said that you will be sidetracked into engineering which is a great deal more financially stable

Answer 8

practice

Answer 9

yes you can