October 18, 200817 yr So, I've been having an abnormal amount of problems with confidence and an inability to write something decent, so my composition instructor said I should try writing a theme and variations using Paganini's 24th Caprice. Is this bad? Does this mean that I'm no good, or is it just an exercise; are Theme and Variation works generally listened to for pleasure?
October 18, 200817 yr Hasn't the theme in Paganini's 24th caprice been reused enough? :P What your instructor is telling you to do is most likely just for an exercise, and it certainly is a good exercise to take another's work and create variations for it if you can't think of your own themes. There are plenty of well known and enjoyable pieces that are in theme and variation form, so no, it's not just a format to use for exercise.
October 19, 200817 yr Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly do they help with? Variation is a very important part of musical composition. When you have mastered it, you can take a simple 20 second theme and turn it into a full length composition. There are numerous ways to add variation to a theme so it is best that you practice them thoroughly.
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