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I still think you can teach your audience to an extent. If over the period of you career you acquire 'fans' people will be much more likely to listen to your work and give your stranger harmonies a chance.
Jw goes into some pretty strange harmonic ideas in Minority Report for example. He's got so many fans that people are simply more likely to listen to his work! A relatively unknown composer, producing the same kind of work might not be so readily accepted. Now I just need to find some fans..
I'm not implying that you have to be famous before you unleash your most difficult work, but it would certainly helpif you had some kind of a following. You might have to 'sell out' to some extent to ge this following. (If you see tonal music as selling out that is)
The post also raises another interesting point, has tonality had it's day? I don't think so. At any point in the history of music - after a signifigant musical discovery for example - composers could have assumed that tonality had exhausted itself. I think it's a mistake to believe that it will ever exhaust itself, as long as tonal composers try to push the boundaries. I just had the pleasure of listening to a new symphony through the naxosmusiclibrary network written by Ethan Haimo. It's a new work; its tonal, and yet it sounds modern - a real achievement. Unfortunately I would still argue that a more recognisable theme would give it more grounds to 'succeed' with the public; all the famous symphonies have had some kind of catchy melody or hook.
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