Serious Composition Major!

Hey i'm a serious 16 years old composer(or at least wannabe :]) trying to go into good music colleges as a classical(not jazz or computer) composition major.

I joined this site because I wanted to meet some people who have the same interests as me.

I also want to know who I'm competing "up against." If you are reading this and you are a serious high school or first year college composer dreaming to go into places like Juilliard, please post some musics of your own on this thread for me.

Any other comments are cool too

I'm really excited to join this site :)

Hi, you see the 8 forums in the upload your compositions section? That's where you'll find a load of compositions, a lot of them composed by people in the same position as you.

I'm a serious composer..but i'm not going to school for music..going to school to get a bachelors in realtime interactive simulation, and computer science (computer programming and advanced physics)

but I have been composing for 7 years, i taught myself how to compose, i compose both on plain paper when i'm at school as well as in finale, i won't say i'm amazing, but the last piece I recorded, i don't really like (an artist is never satisfied with their work) but everyone at my school at least loved it, and thought it was amazing, and i'm like...no..i can do better..that is nothing compared to what I can do...

You should post some of your work, so I can see how someone my age (well i'm 17 but whatever) compares.

Example of my work (well just piano composition, i mostly do full orchestra)

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/piano-solo-7217.html

recorded for my school's Literary Magazine.

I'm pretty sure there's some discussion about this in previous threads that you can refer to, along with whatever gets said in this one.

I believe there was a consensus that Juilliard's pretty much only good for pre-college and post-graduate work. It tends to focus on those groups, and leave undergrads out in the cold. I'd look for a place where undergraduates recieve emphasis, or a place where there is no graduate program. Such places include Oberlin Conservatory, and University of Michigan's School of Music.

Hm hey gameexpertmaster, i'm just curious, did you ever have music theory training or composition lessons or anything like that? (Getting to know you:])

I'm more of a classical composer :)

Christopher, can you explain what you mean by leaving undergrads out in the cold in detail?

GameExpert, how did you make that recording?

I think what he means is that there isn't as much opportunity for undergrads at Juilliard, but I believe when you in an environment like NY that the only person preventing you from these opportunities is yourself. Plus, the purpose for an undergraduate in composition is to really learn the basics and where making connections is still important(which you can definitely do in NY) the focus is more on developing your weak and strong points before you really get out in the world.

Now, for experimentation and connections a Masters at Juilliard would be almost, or literally perfect... ideal for the person who goes out in society to make it happen. Things normally don't fall in peoples laps like they did for Philip Glass ?=P

Opportunities? as in performance opportunities? They're pretty good with giving students chance to perform I think.

I'm 14, been into composition for about 6 months. I hope to go to one of the conservatoires in london, my first choice being Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I don't have anything uploaded at present but I should soon as I'm working on some music for a short film which is progressing quite nicely.

Some schools are different, schools like Eastman and Peabody are more courteous to the performance majors and encourage new works to be performed . While, this is only a rumor and not a "known fact" but Juilliard really trains the crap out of their performance majors, this could be good and this could be bad... but when so much importance is placed on (what one could consider)"the basics" like Mozart, Beehtoven, Chopin(for piano performance majors), Pagannani(for tuba performance majors) and etc. it really leaves Jon Doe out to dry... but I can't be confident on this, mainly because these are rumors from other people who are just jealous... yep....

Well they're all good I think.

Well, I'm 13 and have been into compostion for a couple years now. I only began because a good friend needed a score for a musical. He asked me if I had had any training in composition. I said no, but set to work anyway. After a couple weeks, I had some very disjointed sketches for the overture, and parts of certain scenes. The project was put on hold for a while, but I continued composition. I haven't had much formal training, other than bits and peices of advice from a couple piano teachers and the other YCers. Anyways... here's a little diddy a threw together a while back. Not very good...

Clarinet concerto first half.MUS

Clarinet concerto second part.MUS

Hey Kevin, do you have any compositions so far? I would love to listen to them. :)

Btw, welcome to YC, nice meeting you