Archived Introductions

What is its gender anyway?

Male. But I can sing in the soprano range with my falsetto (interesting fact). So I guess some people get confuse too. :toothygrin:

Oh yeah I remember. you're the one who said Tchaikovsky was good looking.

...:closedeyes:

*runs away*

Hi! I'm ben... i'm 16. i'm gonna be a senior in hs in september. i'm joining this to get some feedback on my music... this is really cool i'm really happy to have found this!

Hi I'm Jillian, I play the carlinet and I can sort of play the obeo. I really like listening to power metal and the user Mitchell is one of my best friends. I'm 15 year old Newfoundlander :happy:

I can't type.

Hi I'm Jillian

Welcome Jillian!

the user Mitchell is one of my best friends

HAHAHAHAHAH!!

I'm [a] Newfoundlander :)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! ;)

...:happy:

Hello, I'm Carlos from Orlando, Florida. I'm a jazz/latin jazz saxophonist who will be pursuing a degree in jazz studies as well as business. My interest is in the music industry, specifically entertainment law. Composing for me is a side affect of playing music. Though I am a jazzer, and focus heavily on improv, I do not compose jazz. I study it, and bring it to life with my horn, so for now, I don't see the need to put it on paper. Perhaps one day I will set it in writing.

As for composing, I prefer orchestras, a piano, and sometimes amusing instrumentations. I develop ideas that come to me, rather than stubbornly seeking them out. If i get something, I compose, if I'm inspired, I compose, otherwise, I wouldn't feel that I am being completely honest to myself as a composer and musician. My works take time, since something I write and like now, may be something I hate in a mere 2 days. Composition to me should be something that lives through the ages, so if 2 days is it's lifetime to my ears, I'm not satisfied.

Hello, I'm Carlos from Orlando, Florida. I'm a jazz/latin jazz saxophonist ...

Welcome

It's always good to see more jazz represented around here.

Though I am a jazzer, and focus heavily on improv, I do not compose jazz. I study it, and bring it to life with my horn, so for now, I don't see the need to put it on paper. Perhaps one day I will set it in writing.

:P I see...

...

Hi, I'm Anthony from New Jersey. I think I speak for everyone here when I say "I love MUSIC!"

Hi, I'm Anthony from New Jersey. I think I speak for everyone here when I say "I love MUSIC!"

Don't put words into my mouth. :)

...and welcome!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

That was uncalled for.

That was uncalled for.

:thumbsup:

Sorry...

Hello. I've been a violinist since i was in the fourth grade (five years) and I've been really interested in composing since middle school. My ambitions for the future are not only to become an accomplished composer, but I also want to continue studying classical music on my violin as well as jazz, hip-hop, and other more nontraditional fields for violinists. One of my main goals as a musician is to write an award-winning movie score. It's nice to hav finally found a site for people like me! :thumbsup:

HI everyone - I'm Engelhardt. I am origianally from Namibia Africa and will go back there in a few months. I have sang in a youth choir for about 14 years and play a little recorder and piano. So I am more of a choral composer! I am a choir freak but I have writtern for flute and piano before!

Hi all,

My name's Jordan Burrows, and I'm 15. I've played the piano for 10 years, and the clarinet for 5. I currently hold the first clarinet chair in both senior and junior concert bands at our school, and, in addition, I'm in the jazz band.

I love to compose, and have been doing so in small ways since I was 10, mostly rock and pop stuff (it's the easiest kind...) however, of late I've taken to doing larger works, such as orchestral pieces, and fugues. Ironically, I find composing for a single instrument, such as the piano, very difficult, and I would almost always rather to orchestrate than to make something small.

my passions are mainly in jazz, but also, I love good classical works. Mozart was a genius, but I don't think I need to tell anyone here that. I love Benny Goodman, also (probably the most famous jazz clarinetist of all time... named the king of swing, and with good reason. popular circa 1920s-30s. in case you didn't know.)

In my musical career, I hope to compose for maybe film, but I'm actually more a fan of orchestral writing. so... one day, I hope to be the first clarinetist in an orchestra... and write some stuff for us to play... I guess. :thumbsup:

my current musical endeavors:

I have multiple scores up for sale on sibeliusmusic.com. please check out the site if you like, not just for me, but there is a lot of great music up there.

I currently (since school is out and all) am in a jazz duo with a guitarist. I play the clarinet. we have some good stuff out, and this summer, we intend to start playing in small venues, such as coffee shops. sometimes this duo is re-enforced with a bassist, but usually it's just the two of us.

and I'm always composing.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing what this site is all about!

hello

Hey sexy.

You truly do horrify me, Anders.

I wish more people would be more Anders-y. It would be refreshing.

My name is Daniel and I've been into music since I started piano lessons at age six. My love for composition began back in 2002 (I think I was 13 or 14), at which time I began studying with a teacher at Stetson University here in sunny (yeah, right!) Florida. My senior year of HS, he (Dr. Kari Juusela; a name is good I suppose...) moved to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. My first year of college, I studied with Dr. Manuel DeMurga (also of Stetson, though I don't attend there), and am currently in the process of switching teachers...

In college, I am working towards a Bachelor's Degree in Music Compostion, and will then pursue a career in Film Composition (everyone seems to think I'll be the next John Williams...we'll see...).

To that end, I have scored three short films, and am currently in talks to score an L.A.-based web-series.

In the world of composition OUTSIDE of film, I am in the process of completing a ten-minute orchestral piece entitled "Journey's Through A Distant Land". Maybe I'll post it sometime, and see what ya'll think... All the notes are there, it's now just a matter of tweaking and adding the 'pretty stuff'.

Outside of composition, I love to work in the theatre world! I have played for quite a few regional productions (including shows like FOOTLOOSE!, DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, etc.) and recently finished musical direction of ROGER AND HAMMERSTEIN'S A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING. Call it a back up plan if composition doesn't pan out...:D

Anyway, that's me. Hope to have some fun discussions and well as getting and sharing opinions.

Much joy,

Daniel

Welcome!!! Maybe you can help us beginners. :D

Thanks, violinfiddler! I'll do whatever I can...:D

BTW, I love your bible verses...:)

Thanks, violinfiddler! I'll do whatever I can...:)

BTW, I love your bible verses...:)

Does that mean.....hmmm Another Christian? Anyways, so if people compare you to John Williams, when are you going to post some of your stuff?:D

Yep, another Christian...and not afraid to say it!

And as to the posting...never fear, once I get this site's quirks mastered, my music shall appear!

However, in the mean time (shameless-self-plug approaching)...you are more than welcome to visit my MySpace music page...it has two solo piano pieces, as well as two cues from short films I've scored...

Much joy,

filmcomposer86

Hi everyone,

My name’s James. I’m not exactly ‘young’ as I’ve been journeying around Sol for over half a century. Eight additional treks around the sphere of gas to be exact.

I’ve only recently become interested in composing music. About two years ago I became interested in learning to play some musical instruments. So I began to self-learn piano, violin, and classical guitar. More recently I’ve added a flute and clarinet to my instrument pool. I’m hoping to also include a trumpet and cello by fall. Then I think I’ll draw the line. Although, a bass clarinet wouldn’t actually be a ‘new’ instrument would it?

In any case, I don’t consider myself to be a ‘musician’, and I don’t claim to be able to ‘play’ any of the above instruments. I simply ‘play around’ with them as a hobby. I think I do pretty well considering that I’m self-learned and haven’t been playing any of them for very long. However, my ability (or inability) to play any given instrument is unimportant to the purpose of this forum. My interest now is in writing duets for various instruments (specifically for instruments that I am learning to play). So I’m interested in learning how to write SIMPLE duets (or small ensembles of chamber music). I capitalized the word simple on purpose obviously. This is because I’m interested in writing beginner pieces. Pieces that could be played easily, yet still have good counterpoint qualities.

I used the word ‘counterpoint’ like as if I know what it means, and I do on a very rudimentary level. My problem is that don’t know how to write good counterpoint melodies that sound interestingly compatible yet not so imitative that they are boring.

Where I’m At:

I’ve been trying to write my own duets (and ensembles) without any knowledge of music theory. I’ve found that this is like trying to jog through a forest in the dark with my hands tied behind my back. So I’ve finally resigned myself to learning something about music theory.

Recently I have taken a video course by The Teaching Company on the fundamentals of music theory taught by Robert Greenberg. To augment that course I have also been going through the free music theory course offered by a website called 8notes. I’ve found both of these courses to be complementary and by going back and forth between them I am beginning to glean some rudimentary ideas about western music theory.

However, I was still hoping for more specific information on ‘how to compose’. Or at least some procedural suggestions on how to methodically approach the art for a raw beginner. My search for this utopia has brought me to this forum site.

I’ve been here for a few days reading some of the threads. I’m particularly interested in the “Advice & Techniques” forum, as well as the “Lessons” forum. I’ve already gleaned some helpful information from some of the threads posted by Qccowboy. In particularly, I found his suggestion to begin with a harmony and build a melody from that to be helpful as I have thus far been attempting to do just the opposite.

With this in mind, I have begun to focus on learning how to build chord progressions. I found the 8notes web site music theory course to be especially helpful in this endeavor. However, I am still unsure of how to know which key to choose for a particular piece. I’ve also found that I have a tendency to modulate between keys naturally (without even realizing that I was doing it). Originally, I was confusing myself with my own modulating, but Greenberg’s Music Theory course includes a small section on modulation at the end of the course, and his explanation of modulation has helped to enlighten me a bit on how to soar through spatial harmony.

In any case, figuring out where I’m at in harmony space, and how to get back home, is probably the least of my problems. I think that figuring out what meter I should write in is my biggest problem. I tend to be a real klutz when it comes to dance, and finding the beat of music. Yet at the same time, when I go to write music I seem to always want to write in compound meter. In fact, I think I naturally learn toward odd meter. I say this because my music writing software (an old version of Finale Notepad Plus 2005a) only seems to offer even meters. Like, 2, 3, or 4/4ths and 3, 6, 9, or 12/8ths, but nothing with a 5 or 11 atop.

I’m not sure if having 5 or 11 available would help me, but I seem to always have problems with phrases I write ending in weird places rather than at the end of a measure, and then I either need to put in an unwanted rest, or begin the new phrase somewhere within a measure when the original phrase actually started at the beginning of a measure. I think my sense of beat (or lack of a sense of beat) will be my nemesis as a music writer. I don’t understand metronomes and can’t seem to play with one. They are notorious for distracting a person from keeping a good beat.

And finally, assuming I ever find where I’m at in harmony space, and imagining that I might someday actually be able to stay in step with the notorious metronome, may last problem (and certainly not my least), is a need to learn how to write good counterpoint between to melodies.

So there you have it. I’m a totally inept non-musician who would like to learn how to write music.

My weak points are; Harmony, meter, and counterpoint.

My strong point is that I’m seriously willing to try to learn something.

Any teachers out there brave enough to take on the impossible challenge?

Thanks for reading my post,

James