What do you want to compose, if anything?

[panic]

Say you had just gotten out of a conservatory or college, and had all the compositional skills and techniques you needed. What would you compose?

I'm a big dreamer when it comes to these sorts of things.
-A four-movement symphony themed to the French Alps (this has been planned out really extensively)
-A five-movement symphony about mankind's tendency toward violence and overrunning the environment
-A few three-movement piano concertos (one A minor, one G minor, one D major)
-Some three-movement sonatas (C minor with first movement partially themed to the Three Gorges Dam, D minor)

I know my friend wants to compose a B-flat minor piano sonata with a tumultuous first movement reminiscent of Rach 2, an F minor movement like Schubert's Fantaisie, a Sorabji-esque movement in C minor, and a B-flat finale.

Also, I apologize if this all sounds really haughty or "Look at me!" esque. I just see that a lot of people here are really dedicated and devoted to musical studies and I was curious to see what people had in the back of their minds.

[BoliverAllmon]

symphony

string quartet

PC

VC

two VC

piano sonata

some etudes

that is the start of it.

boliver

[pianistimo]

definately a piano concerto, maybe some piano duets (four hand, eight hand), a little organ music (preludes) with lots of foot action and chords held in the hands so you can concentrate on your feet.

what would really motivate me to start composing is taking a class and getting an assignment to do an opera with the titles taken out of a hat.  i like doing short piece work and then putting it all together.  combining poetry with music always brings out my melodic creativity. 

i think composers are like writers.  we should really pay attention to the 'little voice' whenever it comes - of a melody or rhythm that we like or want to imitate.  keep your restaurant napkins or little diary and start writing.  oddly, my inspiration usually only comes when i am bicycling and i can't write it down unless i stop.  i'll start singing a nonsense song and it just gets more improvised.

[lisztisforkids]

Acually I prefer smaller forms than say a large  1 hour long symphony. So I would probaly like to write say an overture or a symphonic poem... On the scale of something like Mendelsohns 'The Hebrides Overture'(oh god is that piece good).

Same goes for piano, instead of a momentous 30 minuet sonata (Beleive me though, i do enjoy many) I would to concentrate my power on something smaller, like Chopin did.

[ted]

I have built up a large body of compositions over the years but have never been near a conservatory or academic musical education of any sort. Indeed, I do not know any theory at all aside from my own. I had a couple of years private lessons in my teens with a most extraordinary musician, but wheels were set in motion long before I met him. These days improvisation has largely supplanted composition because I get so many ideas I cannot possibly write them out. Even if I could they would be very approximate versions of what I hear and play.

If you extend the definition of composition to include recorded improvisations, of which I make hundreds, then the answer is just that I create because I have to. It is an imperative I have felt since I was very young. Training and skills really haven't had a lot to do with this biological instruction. What the final products are doesn't matter; they seem to come out as they must, independently of me.

[phil13]

I agree with the little voice in the head thing. Compositions often lend their own form to you as you write them.

I'm perfectly happy writing what I am writing now: a big four-movement sonata for cello and piano in B minor. (Keys: B-, Ab, B-, B-)

Oh, and BTW:

 

Acually I prefer smaller forms than say a large 1 hour long symphony. So I would probaly like to write say an overture or a symphonic poem... On the scale of something like Mendelsohns 'The Hebrides Overture'(oh god is that piece good).

Same goes for piano, instead of a momentous 30 minuet sonata (Beleive me though, i do enjoy many) I would to concentrate my power on something smaller, like Chopin did.

I prefer to write the little pieces while I'm working on a big piece. I've written a few piano solo preludes and a three-minute dance for string quartet out of a few themes that didn't work themselves into the monumental cello sonata.

Also BTW: SAVE EVERYTHING! This has nothing to do with the topic, but you find a wealth of ideas in the stuff you thought was garbage years ago. Just had to say that.

Phil