Composers Chat

Music Bucket List

2012-02-26T18:10:00.001-08:00

Have you ever thought about making a music bucket list for yourself? I hadn't thought about it until just a few seconds ago...

But it makes sense, right? A music bucket list would simply be a list of pieces that you want to learn or perform before you die. I'm definitely making one.

Currently I'm in a class called "Introduction to Music Literature" at my university and, shamefully, it's opened my eyes to a lot of great, great music that I had never really paid attention to - and we've only studied up through Beethoven so far!

Throughout my high school and college music careers I've already had the opportunity to play some incredibly beautiful music. But the music literature out there is so grandeur! As a violinist I am especially privileged - almost every great composer has written for the violin, both as a solo instrument and as part of a small or large ensemble.

I'll stop prefacing this post and get down to my personal music bucket list. Due to the fact that this idea hadn't come into my brain until about five minutes ago, my list is still in the making.

So here it is, as of February 26th, 2012:

1.) Beethoven's "Archduke" piano trio
2.) Haydn's "Emperor" Quartet (in particular the second movement)
3.) Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony
4.) Charles Ives Violin Sonata No. 4 (I heard Hilary Hahn perform the first movement and now I'm in love with the whole sonata)

Hmm, so that seems to be it for right now. I'm sure I'll come up with a plethora more later.

Feel free to comment and tell me about your music bucket list.

How Do You Compose Music?

2011-03-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

I know there are many ways people first begin to write music. Mozart would hear full symphonies in his head and would then precede to write each individual note down on paper. But if you get a chance to view Beethoven's music journals, you will see various lines of music here and there, nothing quite conjoining, in which he then had to work and mold into something that would later be genius. For me personally, I get these occasional urges to write music. I can't explain what it is but God's power sweeping over me and convicting me (as funny as that sounds). I will be in the middle of doing something completely unmusical with my time, and all of a sudden I will involuntarily get up from whatever I am doing and walk like a zombie with a mission to a piano or violin. I then place my fingers over the notes that I am hearing in my head and slowly pound out the notes until I hear exactly what was going on inside my brain. And it so happens that nine out of ten times the melody inside my head is a half-way decent one, once I work with it for a few minutes.
I would like to state that this is NOT the only way I write music. One of the first things my composition professor said to my class while explaining what it means to compose and be a composer is that inspiration plays a very little part of actually writing great music. Instead, writing good music takes time and energy and knowledge and understanding of notes and lines and phrases and instrumentation. It's a process.
How do you compose? My guess is that there is no necessarily right or wrong way to compose.

A Little Bit About Myself

2011-03-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

I am an eighteen-year-old musician living and studying music in Ohio. My declared college major is actually violin performance, but I am currently taking secondary courses in musical composition. I have been formally composing music for almost four years now and my wish is to continue composing as long as I live. I love knowledge and learning new things. I hope to use this blog as a sort of "conversation" piece about composing in its various forms.

Composers Chat - An Introduction

2011-03-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow friends,

I made this website as an open and a free environment where I can spread my views on composing and composers. Hopefully I will receive feedback and answers from those of you who choose to view or follow this blog. If you are a composer of any genre of music, or have thought about trying to compose, then please join me in my various quisitive contemplations about what composing music is all about.