Article- Truth, or False?

Ok, so I found an article on finding your voice. I agree with this method, but are there other (and better) ways of learning to compose?

How to Find Musical Ideas

The article was short, and not very in-depth -- pretty worthless to me. Besides, the guy is a New Age composer. I'm not trying to be elitist in saying that (well, maybe I am) but all I mean is that his concerns and the concerns of a classical composer are vastly different.

Ah...originality. I could write a ten-page essay on my (mis)adventures with originality. Part of me thinks that as young composers we should forget about originality altogether and just write, because if you're worried whether or not every note is 'new' you'll never get anything down on paper. On the other hand, another part of me thinks that issues of personal style should be on the forefront of a composer's mind. I think this conflict manifests itself quite well in the life work of Stravinsky (whom our dear article writer quotes.)

Stravinsky does not conceive of music as a vehicle for 'self-expression', or anything, for that matter, other than what it is--music, pure abstraction, that means nothing outside itself. Given this philosophy, it would seem that issues of personal style would be low on his list of priorities. But look at his life's output, and you'll see that this just isn't true. Listen to Rite of Spring, then listen to the Pulcinella suite. Then finally go listen to some of his later serial works. That the same composer could write all three of these pieces is staggering to me, and it shows that, indeed, Stravinsky struggled with issues of personal 'style' -- his preferrend harmonic/formal language, etc. -- throughout his whole life.

Someone grab the ball on this one, please. I'm not sure where to keep going from here.

I think that composers necessarily work with acknowledged styles as a definite foundation. Only after they are competent and comfortable with their art then true composers become creators when they start exploring new ideas and giving their music a characteristic signature. It's like growing up. When we are children we need the guidance of others to survive. Eventually survival is not enough and we leave our parents to forge our own lives. So in a sense it's fine to allow ourselves to be influenced but we should not be dependent on our influences for too long or else our music is pointless.