Quote:
Originally Posted by Abracadabra
I think it's almost impossible to write music anymore that doesn't sound vaguely familiar to something else. Especially if the piece is fairly simple.
This is a big thing that bothers me. Trying to come up with stuff that truly sounds original and still sounds good is a humongous task. I've always felt it to be a bit ironic that people always say, "Listen to lots of music!". Well duh? The more music you listen to the more likely you are to write something similar to what you've heard. Especially if you're doing it subconsciously.
This is a huge problem with songwriting I think. I try to write all my songs just off the top of my head, yet almost every song I write someone suggests that it sounds like some other song. It's truly difficult to come up with something that doesn't already sound like something else at least in some vague way.
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I should add that it's especially difficult to do if you want it to sounds GOOD.
It's easy to write garbage that doesn't sound like anything else. That's probably because even if it had been written before no one wants to hear it. (ha ha)
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So are you saying that it's fine to write music that sounds like someone else's work just because there's lots of music that has been composed before you?
I don't think that it's impossible to write music that is original. Being influenced by a composer and having echoes of somebody else's style is one thing, taking chunks of someone else's work is another. Now I'm not accusing SimenN of that (again, I’m not sure if he has copied anyone) but you're making some moot points here.
Whether a piece is simple or contains loads of complex orchestral layers has nothing to do with how easy it is to plagiarise. You can copy a passage from a symphony and you can copy a melody from a simple piano piece with similar ease. It's copying, what can be easier than that?
What is 'good'? Entirely subjective is what it is. 'Good' doesn't have to be diatonic scales with a perfect cadence at the end. We follow a system which has 12 notes and our ears have been trained to appreciate that. Those that have been trained to listen to other systems will find most Western music to be alien. What I'm basically saying is that 'good' music changes and perhaps you should try and free yourself from what you currently believe is 'good' music and try to find other forms of music which is pleasing.
Can't compose without using somebody else's tune? Try harder! You said it yourself, it's not easy! Do you think that innovation in music is dead? Did Bach know that at the end of the Classical era some dude called Beethoven was going to help transform music and help create the Romantic era? Did the people of previous eras sleep a little easier because they knew that there was still room for innovation in music? Forever people have and will think that they have reached a plateau but only because they aren't the ones who are going to take things into a new direction. There's a reason why those who do transform music (or anything in life) are called radicals and are slapped with the term 'genius'. It's because nobody else thought of what they thought before. Assuming that it's impossible to be original anymore is silly. Whether it's through evolution or a revolution, change will happen but of course we don't know how it's going to happen or what will happen (unless of course, you are one of the radicals but even then only retrospect can tell you this).
Oh, and listening to lot’s of different types of music? The idea is that you will be influenced by many styles and mix it all together to form your own style. If you only ever listened to Rachmaninoff then your music will sound like Rachmaninoff. If you listen to a dozen composers then hopefully you’ll sound like all 12 of them mixed together and that’s going to be more original, right?
Yep, it certainly is easy to write garbage. But, my friend, difficult is worth doing.
Jul 16 2008, 1:52 PM
, well i work as a piano part time piano teacher 
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