practice

I can never write down compositions neatly in the car

Altho it was on a v bumpy road last time i tried :)

It varies. Probably anywhere from 1-3 hours daily. Piano and composing.

Of course, yesterday it was like 5 hours cause I needed to finish an orchestra score

for a composition contest.

I have read that for a couple of univeristies/ colleges in Canada it's expected that if one is in the music program they will be practicing 6 hours a day, but shouldn't you just have to practice or compose or what ever it is you do until you get done what you've set out to do.

any thoughts? thanks as always

B.

Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado expects the following out of its somposition students...

enough finished work every year to total ten minutes. You may laugh, it is not alot for those who compose several pieces. It is not difficult even if you do 3 pieces chances are that is enough...are practice habits in composition enforced? no. are other colleges more strict? probably. I will be the first major in our newly budded composition degree (YAY)

so I am thinking about my future...CU Boulder, CSU or Univeristy of Michigan for my masters in composing....

so i looked at the websites and they expect all composers to be quite proficient on piano, so now I practice 30 minutes first thing in the morning and do all my composing (1-2hrs on a good day) at the piano. I also try to learn pieces that challenge me etc...

Now I get paid to play guitar for one of my churches, so I practice about 2hrs a week total to maintain my fingers, buit more in the summer or break times...

The monster...Trombone very much...This semester will be 2-3 hours every day...gotta get those blasted 3 minor scales down in all twelve keys...arg, it should be easiuer, because the trombone section is becoming the most competitive in the school due to personel changes...mwa ha ha GROWTH time...I love new beginnings...

I'm at conservatory for composition - where oftentimes I have to force myself to write. Any career composer will tell you that there are times when ideas just aren't flowing, and so you have to force one out and still make it sound good.

I practice singing/piano not at all, at least not formally. I do sing a lot, and I play the piano quite a bit too, but not practicing, just doodling or composing.

I compose oftentimes upwards of 5 or 6 hours a day. I do take rest breaks, at maximum 2 days of non composing. My slowest times are weeklong segments of composing of between half an hour to 2 hours a day. I do some of my best composing on trips - especially plane trips. There's something about the atmosphere (no pun intended) that makes it extraordinarily conducive to composing. I've finished short pieces on 4 hour plane trips.

I think the key to good composition, at least for me, is to recognize any time when I'm feeling a particularly strong emotion or having a particularly strong reaction. For instance, the first snow at Oberlin saw me dancing around in it like a maniac, laughing my donkey off. When I started to get cold, I went inside, sat down, and drew up a sketch for a piece, which I then fleshed out over the course of the next few days.

This method allows me to synthesize composition. I simply replace emotion or reaction for an idea or thought, and simply stay focused on that thought with great intensity. It's tiring, and slower than inspired composition, but just as effective.

Forcing composition should be practiced, I feel, as it makes inspiration flow all the easier.

i write music that satisfices me, at least every two months... i write film music projects or I practice scoring things, like sometimes I would download a clip of a cartoon or things like that, and I sinchronize the music, so I practice that like every 4 months or something similar... I write for when people (directors) ask me to, and that´s whenever they call me for a project...

I practice my instrument (guitar) every day... i improvise over jazz tunes every day and i also write counterpoint exercises like 30 min a day... i practice harmony and resolutions and theory every day also.. i do that without my guitar though