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So all non-modern composers weren't all completely individual and unique in sound? What a load of bollocks.

Greetings fellow composers! I would like to find out from you all if anyone here composes by hand. I have always written my compositions by hand and I think it is a far better way of composing for the following reasons: 1. Developing your inner ear and being able to hear the composition in your head 2. Far more freedom in what you can do e.g. Graphic notation, complex polyrhythms 3. It's cheaper 4.I find it quicker. None of the 120 something compositions I have written (I have been composing for almost four years now) were written entirely on Sibelius or Finale or whatever. This post i'm writing isn't saying that notation software is bad, cos I think that they can be great for making parts and scores, but I think that everyone would benefit from using the good old fashioned quill and parchment (or pencil and paper) from time to time.

Labels are imprecise generalizations used to organize music. They've been that way for a loooong time. What was Beethoven? A Classicist? A Romantic? Well, that would depend on what period of his life you were speaking of. Same with Adams: Most of his earlier stuff was minimalist, but who knows what it is today! I have no problem with labeling composers and I get annoyed when some PC guy thinks all of them should be done away with because one or two examples don't fix the boxes that have been around for over a century.