Archived Introductions

I welcome thee!

And no, you're probably not considered a newbie here, just look at me! I started composing five months ago! :)

Ahoy. This be Captain Z., sailing in from the coasts of Michigan. I smuggle beef from Canada to the US. And compose music by recording the waveforms interpolated from the movements of the BSO in it. Life is good :unsure:.

Hey... my real name is Rob and I hail from Utah. I've been composing for just under 2 years and I am an aspiring film composer. I'm going to study my first year of music at SUU in Cedar City Utah, and then transfer to a bigger and better school once I have the money and time. My main influences would be Sergei Prokofiev and John Williams, with a myriad of other composers that help to shape my style. I've played trumpet and guitar for over 6 years and I am just now starting to learn piano. I played in the Wind Symphony, Orchestra, and Jazz Band at my high school, which also happened to receive superior ratings (the top ratings as well) at state festivals three years and running. I also received "best jazz musician '04-'05" for my high school as well... that's me in a nutshell.

Hi, I'm a 15 year old male from Ohio, and my name refers to my fandom of obscene rocker Frank Zappa. I have more of a "rock upbringing" than many of the people I see here (as opposed to a "classical upbringing"). I've been teaching myself keyboards/keyboard instruments since 2001 (accordion/keyboard on and off). I play keyboards in a local band (we border on punk), "Bittersweet Boredom".

Just so you know right up front, musical people of which I am a fan: Frank Zappa, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Scott Joplin, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart (the big 3), other various classical composers, Green Day, Nirvana, Tom Lehrer, Led Zeppelin, and Dread Zeppelin.

I don't think I'm what you would call "your normal member".

Originally posted by Central Scrutinizer@Jul 26 2005, 03:37 PM

Hi, I'm a 15 year old male from Ohio, and my name refers to my fandom of obscene rocker Frank Zappa. I have more of a "rock upbringing" than many of the people I see here (as opposed to a "classical upbringing"). I've been teaching myself keyboards/keyboard instruments since 2001 (accordion/keyboard on and off). I play keyboards in a local band (we border on punk), "Bittersweet Boredom".

Just so you know right up front, musical people of which I am a fan: Frank Zappa, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Scott Joplin, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart (the big 3), other various classical composers, Green Day, Nirvana, Tom Lehrer, Led Zeppelin, and Dread Zeppelin.

I don't think I'm what you would call "your normal member".

Well actually you're just assuming now.

I guess so, but when I first learned of this forum, the name "Young Composers" made me think of, well, amateurs. Basically, people my age and younger with little musical experience, showing off just that. That would be a place where I could fit in. But then I come here and the things you people have composed are just amazing, and are things that I couldn't even begin to learn. Now after hearing this, I'm almost afraid to post what I've composed.

Originally posted by Central Scrutinizer@Jul 26 2005, 05:18 PM

I guess so, but when I first learned of this forum, the name "Young Composers" made me think of, well, amateurs. Basically, people my age and younger with little musical experience, showing off just that. That would be a place where I could fit in. But then I come here and the things you people have composed are just amazing, and are things that I couldn't even begin to learn. Now after hearing this, I'm almost afraid to post what I've composed.

Don't be afraid we all suck. :)

I am not that great of a composer or even come close to being good, but I still post, because it's the only way to learn where you fall short. If people would actually review my work! *cough cough* I might actually start improving! That would be great! =D :D

There is no such thing as a normal member.

I think you'll find that very few of us are the type that studied classical music extensively and started playing an instrument at age 3. Most of us are quite definitely amateurs, and most of us are self-taught.

Just keep working at it, and soon enough you'll probably be writing some pretty impressive stuff.

Of course, not that I encourage it, but you can always...

[mock Russian accent]

Plagiarize!

Let no one else's work evade your eyes!

Remember why the good Lord made your eyes!

So don't shade your eyes,

But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize!

Only be sure to always call it please, "composition." :D

[/mock Russian accent]

Don't be afraid we all suck.

I'm always feeling deathly afraid that I'll accidentally steal something and so I'm literally afraid to examine other music... but everything's already been done so it's impossible.  Ugh...

I used to feel that way. Nowadays I don't care any longer. If I did steal something, at least I've written a decent arrangement.

...but everything's already been done so it's impossible.  Ugh...

Another thing I used to be afraid of. Here's a way of looking at it that I like now (it's also why I don't buy the 'monkeys on the typewriter' theory):

How many numbers are there between one and ten? Infinitely many. Is any of them eleven? No.

See - to get to infinity you don't need every possibility imaginable.

Wow, Marissa--that's a really good way of looking at it! I never thought of it that way--I just didn't try to think about it, 'cause then you might find out that your work DOES sound like someone else's, then you'll want to change it, urgh... I'd much rather write MY music and not be bothered with how it sounds compared to others.

Originally posted by C. Ryan@Jul 24 2005, 03:49 PM

Guys,

I guess I'm considered a newbie so I'll start out with a little introduction.

My name's Chris, and I'm from Long Island, New York.

Ooh! Where on Long Island? I live in Setauket--used to live in Bayport!

Hrm, clearly not enough people here have heard Tom Lehrer.

asl = 15/m/melbourne

um.. hey! im new here! well, I wanted to share my songs i wrote without having to pay $30 so i went to google and typed in "songwriting forum" and this was the first link! So this is how I got here!!

umm..yeh.... it is nice meeting you! ok, bye now

actually, a little bit about my music... hmm... i've composed around 5 songs but I've onli scored one (which is my favourite :D) so far...

I use a demo version of AnvilStudio... It's hard, but it works...

Currently i am doing year seven piano. I started to write songs when my friend played a piece that was his own creation... ANd i thought i could do it too :)

well... I'll post a link soon... hopefully i'll get to know you people better and i hope i'll be here a long time

Thankyou for your time :D

Hrm, clearly not enough people here have heard Tom Lehrer.

It's a pity, isn't it? The joke was not lost on me, Andrew. :D You have good taste in humour.

Among my favourites:

The Masochism Tango

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

The Vatican Rag

The Table of Elements

Hi, I'm Derek. I compose music primarily for the piano, though I have written some death metal for guitar when I was in the band Nightsbane. I am not a music student, I am majoring in Computer Science. I prefer it this way because I will never have to compromise, compete, or compare. My only goal is to enjoy myself.

I rarely write out my compositions, as each of them are spontaneous and very long. I actually find spontaneous, instant composition (or improvisation) more fascinating because as far as I know the only mainstream artist of any fame who does this is Keith Jarrett. It seems to me it is a largely unexplored area.

It could be said that I am in the process of writing a single life-long piano composition which is so malleable that it sounds different every time I play it.

I play entirely for my own enjoyment...my main goal is to achieve the greatest state of pleasure and spiritual ecstasy possible through improvisation. Whether other people hear my music or not does not matter much to me, except that I often find comments and suggestions are very helpful to improving my playing.

Ave Verum Corpus is quite possibly the greatest artistic achievement in terms of generating beauty from simplicity

*sigh* *wistful smile*

Mozart's last motet (June, 1791), and his greatest. It's been said that his Ave Verum Corpus is the most perfect 46 measures of music ever written.

Originally posted by J. Lee Graham@Aug 2 2005, 10:06 PM

Mozart's last motet (June, 1791), and his greatest. It's been said that his Ave Verum Corpus is the most perfect 46 measures of music ever written.

The only comparable piece in my mind is Beethoven's Cavatina from the Bb Quartet. These two pieces are such gems that it hurts to listen to them... I've actually avoided hearing them live for some time because of how beautiful they are... yeah yeah... I know that makes no sense, but this is what this music does to me!!!!

Mozart...... you bloodly bastard! :P

The other night I sat down to study his Clarinet Concerto... 10 measures in, I'm thinking, this is so simple... anyone can write this, including me. 10 minutes later, I'm sitting there dumbfounded trying to emulate it in any way whatsoever!!!!! I'll never understand his genious.

"Death means no Mozart."

- Albert Einstein

I'm Raja, a music copyist (digital engraver) from Chennai, India.

Hi Raja, I'm Jonathan, a self-inducted member of the hall-of-fame for pathological liars living in Godthab. Looking forward to seeing you around the forum!

Hey raja, welcome to the forums! :wub:

(notice that i merged this topic with the introduction topic, i'm asuming you didn't see it! :) )

Sorry this is gonna be a control-copy-paste from the piano forum. It's all the same so just to save time really but one thing I have to say about this forum. I am in love with the colours of the forum, it's really good on the eyes! To whoever did this forum - chopin (I think) - here's my praise and you've done a great job making the site.

Right-ho, here goes, control copy starts now:

A lovely place to be indeed!

Learnt the piano when I was around 4 and stopped at Grade 2 around age 8 since then on I hardly touched the piano but I moved to Cambridge (UK) at 16 and was lucky enough to live in a house with 2 amazing pianists then I start to play again because I badly wanted to play Chopin's minute waltz despite my awfully low level. After a whole year of twinkling my fingers on the piano I manage to play it. Been playing more regularly but not so religiously since I move to London. I have been teaching myself since then.

Currently learning Rachmaninov's Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor. Am halfway! Many a beautiful years later, she'll be able to play it perfectly. Perhaps...

But lovely to be here!

Bucketful of faerywings xx

PS: I'm a girl

Well, I,m Brett, and I'm from Georgia. I play the Alto Sax, and the piano. Not too good at the piano, but I'm good with the sax. I'm in the school's Concert and Jazz bands. Lead Alto in the Jazz band, and I'm not sure what I'll be in the concert band just yet.

Hi, I am 13 years old and I am from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I composed for more than 9 months; to be more exact, I started composing just before the last Christmas. I play the piano, alto saxophone, oboe and the rather obsolette Chinese zither (or to be better described, it's the koto's ancestor and it looks exactly like the same as a koto except more strings). I started piano when I was 9 years old, but the reason I started piano back then was because all of (or at least most of) my friends play it. Then I started to get bored with piano and stuff, and started to slack off greatly... But after a few years, when I was grade 6 (which was two years ago) I started alto saxophone, because it's part of the curriculum of my school. I took up the Chinese zither just not too long ago, it was only like last fall/autumn, around September/October 2004... So yes, I do not have too much experience with that instrument. As for the oboe, I started just for 2 weeks :) ... The reason that I started oboe is because I was bored during the summer holidays here in Canada and my parents asked me what I wanted to learn and I told them I want to learn my 4th instrument, and voila, oboe lessons started.

Many of my friends in school doesn't really appreciate classical music, because they think it's boring, but oppositely, I thought that classical music was great and the music that my friends listen to are boring and violent. Therefore I started listening to different classical stuff, but what started me off was Pachelbel's Canon in D Major. I liked that tune so much I downloaded more than 50 versions of it all around the web. But I felt just one song wasn't enough, then I started to lurk around in sheet music websites and discovered many other songs I like (Liszt's Liebestraume 3, Bach's Air on G string, and Chopin's Nocturnes...). Then not too much later, I began to start playing random notes on my piano to see if I can create a lovely tune like all the composers I listen to, and suddenly, weird tunes started to come into my head and I tried to play it on the piano and voila, I am composing... But I wasn't quite serious about my composing back then, so I didn't write those old stuff down until I discovered the program Finale Notepad and started writing random notes and stuff... Finally, one day, I was determined to write some of my music down, but I found that Finale Notepad wasn't enough, so I begged my parents to buy my a notation program for my Christmas present, and that's how I started composing...

So finally.... um... hi and nice forum by the way! :)

Heya. ^_^

I discovered this place by seeing a link of it in the signature of someone on another composition site I regularly post in (forums.ichigos.com). I was amazed. This place seems awesome. So, I'm looking forward to having a great time here, learning and teaching, listening and being listened to. =D

As for me, I'm 17. I technically started composing almost a whole year ago, but, before that, I've been loving music all my life. It wasn't until Music class in the beginning of my Junior year that I was shown a whole new world of it, which made me develop a love great enough to actually inspire me to recreate it. So, almost a year later, here I am. ^_^

Most of my experience with music has come from playing RPGs (role-playing games), such as Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Symphonia, etc. Playing so many of them for so many years made me fall in love with the music in them. Literally: contained in these games are some of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard in my life so far.

My favorite video game composer (and probably my favorite composer in general) is Motoi Sakuraba. He's a genius. Then follows Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Chross, Xenogears), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Koji Kondo (Mario!) and others.

As for classical music, my favorite is Chopin. So beautiful. *_*

Also, I've been playing the piano for almost two years, now. Trying to learn the guitar, and I want to take up the ocarina, too.

Favorite instrument: 1. Oboe, 2. Harp, 3. Piano

Okay. I've said too much. That's all. ^_^;;

Originally posted by Apollo XI@Aug 9 2005, 09:41 PM

Also, I've been playing the piano for almost two years, now. Trying to learn the guitar, and I want to take up the ocarina, too.

Just out of curiosity, which do you find harder to learn? I once had a debate concerning the violin vs the guitar with my friend (which is harder to learn), so I'm curious as to people's thoughts on piano vs guitar. Oh, and welcome! :lol: