The "Illusion" a real try at something very modern

This is my only serious try at something atonal and real modern. I do this not for fun or because i realy want to, just because i have to do this to get into a composition class. I dont know if this is good or bad, like you know i do baroque music, i have never listend to any atonal music and allmost nothing modern so you will have to judge the "quality" for me.

The title Illusion i what the piece is about. I try to explan a certain thought or feeling with the music.

Hope you like it.

Midi:

[ATTACH]14881[/ATTACH]

Score:

[ATTACH]14882[/ATTACH]

wah ar

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Firstly, it's not atonal.

Secondofly (..AD joke), this is your problem with the piece:

i have never listend to any atonal music and allmost nothing modern

You've got some serious work to do.

Being modern is not just clicking in random notes (which is quite obviously what you did, judging from your crazy accidentals.) Your rhythms stick to 4/4 to an almost disturbing degree. This is because you think music ends with Mozart. However, had you even listened to Mozart properly, you would surely try to break out of the rigid way in which you treat rhythms.

Your harmony is a bit confused too, but you're experimenting, so that's fine.

The ideas in this are not all that bad; you just have to work at it more, and not dismiss it as 'some modern crap for class'. Believe me, this would be seen as incredibly regressive by any school of music. (Stravinsky, 100 years ago, was much more progressive than this, but that's because he'd listened to all the music from the previous century, not just the baroque era.)

haha no, i did not put not randomly, i tryed to make some sort of melody, i used very much chormatic, but nothing there is randomly! thank you for the reply daniel!

Simen, I know 'random note composing' when I see it.

Your opening oboe phrase is this:

D C# D, C# Cx B A#, E#

How about this (since at the start, we're obviously in D minor):

D C# D, C# D B Bb, F

I tend to agree with Daniel on this one. I do think you have some nice ideas, but I think they could do with a bit of development. Why not play with rhythm a bit? As you piece stands, it seems a bit ploddy and square to me. Yes, you have triplets and things, but the rhythm during those sections stays pretty static. You could introduce a great deal of excitement into your piece by messing around with the rhythms a bit more than in a few short sections.

As Daniel mentioned, another very unmodern approach you took was how you approached harmonic rhythm. For instance, in the opening bit, everything short little phrase ends on the downbeat of the next measure. Perhaps play with extending the phrases into the measure after that or to the middle of the measure instead of just the first beat. Play around with making things asymmetrical instead of so square and beaty.

Overall, a very nice first effort, but I would highly recommend that you start listening to modern music and then come back and revise this piece.

Yeah...ummm...this most definitely is not atonal, or really even modern-sounding. I like the basic idea of it, but the harmony is rather confusing, the score is in parts unreadable, and you really need to reexamine your string writing. I also don't really see much of a theme anywhere. In general, it just seems kind of random. I would suggest you actually study real atonal music to get a sense of what it's like.

Some random suggestions:

Stockhausen's Klavierstucken

Berg's Violin Concerto

Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire

Anton Webern's Symphony

There is a HUGE variety of atonal music; these are just a few examples.

Yes. This is definetly not atonal or modern. I suggest you really start listening to more 20th century music.

Thank you for the reply, well its modern! its not baroque, not classical, not romantic, not atonal? so then its modern :) haha lol Daniel, i dont think you saw the point here? there is no key, that is what i tryed to do, the first chord is d minor yes, then i change to e# in oboe, violin 1 and 2 is C# , viola is E, Cello c # , bass bflat. what kind of chord is this ? e# c# E bflat? its not a traditional chord? so this have to be modern?

E# C# Bb is also F Db Bb (Bb minor). Daniel pointed out that your use of accidentals hide the fact that this isn't really a modern piece at all. I really think either the E or the E# is a result of rather confused harmony. I'll look at that part again and edit this post.

Edit: Actually, that chord in general doesn't really make much sense. However, over beat 1 of he next two measures, you have a D minor, then a Bb major chord. Although it is chromatic, most of this piece fits quite nicely in D minor.

(Also, just because something isn't baroque-, classical-, or romantic-sounding, doesn't mean it's modern-sounding. Nevertheless, this piece has some sections that do sound late-romantic.)

I agree with the consensus that this is not modern or atonal. In places it reminds me of "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" by Rimsky-Korsakov.

With a little work it would be a fine neo-classical composition.

Well its not for modern comp, but i cant give them baroque music for the application? they are real modernists (the professors) so i have to give them something more modern then italian baroque, but baroque is what i want to do.

Hi Simen - I think it sounds pretty cool. You could apply some motivic development and end up with a cohesive piece.

I'm a little curious about the class. Is there a brief for the application? And I thought composition classes were one-on-one?

Well its not for modern comp, but i cant give them baroque music for the application? they are real modernists (the professors) so i have to give them something more modern then italian baroque, but baroque is what i want to do.

I understand your point, but there are several problems with this:

- If the professors don't want to take students that compose in a "baroque" fashion, why should they want to teach them once they have been accepted? If you don't have any common ground with the teachers, will you really be able to profit much from studying there?

- If you're not writing what you actually want to write, you're not playing your strengths. Just writing something "because that's what they want to hear" will generally not work out well. Your application should reflect your musical thoughts and focus and not the one you think your professors have. Because frankly, you won't ever exactly meet their personal preferences anyways, and you'll end up with something that is neither truly yours nor theirs, that doesn't show any clear musical stance or ambition, but is something grey and undecided. Keep in mind that in many cases it's not only expected of you to send in your scores, but also to explain your musical stance in words. And I don't think "I don't really want to write like that. I just did it because I thought that's what you wanted to hear" makes a very good impression there...

You are of course right that many music institutions won't be too inclined on accepting a student who isn't interested in contemporary music, but is happy staying firmly in a style that has been more or less out of practice for hundreds of years. A music institution is there to help students on their path to create contemporary music, and thus also expects their students to be interested in contemporary music - whatever this music may sound like.

The question you have to ask yourself is why you want to study composition. If you're happy just composing "baroque" music all your life that's fine, but I doubt studying composition in a contemporary music institute is the best path for that. Study music theory, musicology, a baroque instrument, or whatever instead. But why bother trying to get in the classes of composition professors who expect and teach things you don't actually care about?

If however you really want to become a "contemporary composer" and want to go through an academic path and all, I think you should try to open your musical horizon a bit. And that doesn't mean just writing an "atonal piece because you have to", that means going out and listening to music other people write today, showing some interest, studying music that lies outside of what you already know, trying out stuff, experimenting, and not yet settle down on a style in which you want to compose all your life. That doesn't mean you have to immediately like every contemporary piece you hear, but at least you should listen to it. Because it -is- the contemporary musical world you are living and composing in, and no matter what music you like or dislike, it is the musical world in which you have to position yourself.

And don't take me wrong: Positioning yourself doesn't mean doing what everyone else is doing - it might also be the exact contrary. But you at least need to have a clue about what everyone else is doing, or at least be ready to learn about it with time. If I was a composition professor looking at applications, I'd much rather accept a student who has listened to contemporary music, disliked it and took a contrary stance while still being open to personal change, to a student who strains her- or himself to write a music that she or he belives I will like, without actually being interested in it.

P.S. All that said, your piece is not bad. It's more the attitude with which you presented it, which doesn't do it any good.

Hello. I am peeping to this thread, which has some resemblances with one by me :)

I have a doubt which is making me to think some time ago: Alejandro Sanz, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Cold Play,Winehouse do play contemporary music?

I am not a fan of them neither listen their music, but I wonder if is possible that we