Who would you pick as your guru?

What about such a question. If you were only beginning to compose music, who would u wish to be your professor and mentor? Would that be some classical period composer or maybe a more 'contemporary' one?

Well, I love Bach, trully, but who would You choose, and why?

Please, share. So curious to find out!)

Who? Myself. Why? Because I value individual self-development and would like to minimize external influences.

Beethoven. I like his usage of form and melodies/motifs, Bach is too intricate for me. I think he would make for a good fundamental basis in harmony/melody, and pianoplaying as well. And I think I would like him as a person, considered I would have been an adult student (I don't think he would be that good with instructing children)

Who needs a guru when you can have friends?

Plus, not because you like someone's music does it necessarily mean they would be useful to you as a composer personally. Maybe they're assholes, who knows?

If you mean "Oh you're so cool I wanna be like you" then you don't need a guru, you need some creativity.

I would have to say myself. Just having a professor/teacher/mentor/or hero doesn't help you learn from your own mistakes - one of the key things in life that moves you forward. Yes, a teacher/mentor/hero/professor will give you insight into how they corrected and moved forward themselves - but you may find a different way to do it that is unique to you. And in this field, that's far more important than anything else.

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John Zorn for composition, Trevor Dunn for performance.

Brahms just to get a better handle on form and chromatic harmony.

Jesus.

Miamoto Musashi... and no, he wasn't a composer, he was a samurai :)

My imaginary friend A Alwin Alowisius P Deadfrock II, famed virtuoso poet, composer and lego builder from Galaxy E456U

I would have to say myself. Just having a professor/teacher/mentor/or hero doesn't help you learn from your own mistakes - one of the key things in life that moves you forward. Yes, a teacher/mentor/hero/professor will give you insight into how they corrected and moved forward themselves - but you may find a different way to do it that is unique to you. And in this field, that's far more important than anything else.

At times it's not that easy to spot your own mistakes - sometimes you just need someone to help you pointing them out. An independent view gets useful..

Speaking of mistakes implies right and wrong. According to you, what is right and what is wrong in art, in music?

At times it's not that easy to spot your own mistakes - sometimes you just need someone to help you pointing them out. An independent view gets useful..

Very, very true. And that is where teachers come in BUT you also have to realize as well, that teachers will work to help you identify your mistakes. They won't just give you the answers - and you shouldn't expect them to! Therefore, it is important that you become adept and seeing or hearing the mistakes in your work.

Now, if you want to know my 'influences' sure, I can give tons of those: Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Schubert, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Xenakis, Shostakovitch, the list will go on.

Who would I pick?

or

...mostly just to hang around.

John Zorn for composition, Trevor Dunn for performance.

I like way you think

John Corigliano.

Who? Myself. Why? Because I value individual self-development and would like to minimize external influences.

Oh, please. Having somebody as your mentor doesn't mean they're brain-washing you. They're not going to tell you what to write, they'll facilitate the creative process. There are so many incredibly important things you learn form a teacher besides just, say, theory or orchestration.

Oh, please. Having somebody as your mentor doesn't mean they're brain-washing you. They're not going to tell you what to write, they'll facilitate the creative process. There are so many incredibly important things you learn form a teacher besides just, say, theory or orchestration.

Well, that really depends on the mentor themselves. And many teachers that I've met in my life to this point HAVE told me what to write: write in this style, use this device, do this, do that... etc. Your last sentence, I think, is a tad wrong. A professor of orchestration, unless you befriend them, 9 times out of 10 will only teach you about orchestration - ditto with a theory professor. That is there job, that's what they get paid to do. You want extra information from them, then you ask and befriend them - that's when them as a professor or teacher turns into them mentoring you, etc.

Sergei Taneyev. He wasn't much of a composer (great pianist), but apparently he gave good, solid musical advice. Tchaikovsky, if you read on wiki, was one of the very few people he took criticism from very dearly. I think he was great at facilitating musical ideas with fellow composers. Some of his pupils are quite well known too.... Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Nikolai Medtner.

Sergei Taneyev

Speaking of mistakes implies right and wrong. According to you, what is right and what is wrong in art, in music?

i see where u heading. i know it's almost impossible to define the right and the wrong in any kind of art. however, any composition is built according to some 'common rules' - u cant just slam the keyboard randomly, right? so thats what i basically mean by 'mistakes'. on the other hand, a mistake here is a failure to reach the result u had been aspiring to attain.

Michael Daughtry, Frank Ticheli, John Tesh (don't judge), Bach (JS or CPE!), Whitacre, or Florent Schmitt.

:)

John Zorn. His my musical idol.

The music gurus of today are few and far between for me. If I was a beginner, I'd have to say just about any of the big ten film composers would do just fine for me (in no particular order): John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Max Steiner, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, Henry Mancini, Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption, anyone?), or Carl Stalling (if you grew up with Looney Toons, you know something by this guy).

So, yeah, any of these folks would be totally fine with me.

Probably Karl King. I think he was a better march composer than Sousa, and, since he played Euphonium, he'd kind of know where I'm coming from as far as musical background goes.