mahler2009

I’m a 16-year-old trying to become a composer, and I’m pretty much new to this forum! I really want to express myself in more modernist idioms, but I’m still developing my technique. Right now I’m working on a traditional harmony course, and I’m at the point of cadences and simple modulations. I’ve composed several tonal pieces, including a mazurka, a sonata movement, and a late-romantic waltz. I guess my question is whether I should compose many more “traditionally tonal” pieces before moving to the idioms that excite me more? If so, when is the point when I can move to non-functional harmony? Or can I just study traditional harmony on the side, but try to compose more modern-sounding music? I have already been doing this to a certain extent (my late-romantic waltz). Thanks for any suggestions! —Matthew

Woah that's pretty insane 😦

Such a masterpiece, Henry! I definitely savored the beautiful harmonies in the chant section, and the fugato passages, as I'm a bit of a counterpoint buff. At first I was worried about the coherence of the movement as a whole, but I can tell that you put in a lot of hard work in to develop existing material in a convincing way. I also like the accumulation of historical techniques from organum to fugue to more dissonant (quartal?) harmony, spanning and summing up many centuries of music history. All my compliments, and know that I sincerely admire your work!