Do you love your teacher?

[littletune]

No, he doesn't and inded has not done so for quite some time - but not because he was discouraged from doing so by anything at all other than his overarching lack of enjoyment of the sounds that he once used to produce when trying to do so! That said, my love of the instrument has continued to deepen ever since. Piano playing is for pianists! I don;t even use the instrument when I compose - not even when I'm composing for it. I do, however, wish that I could do someting useful at the piano but I may as well recognise and accept my own limitations in that respect and try to work around them as I have indeed endeavoured to do.

Best,

Alistair

Oh... sounds kinda sad anyway  maybe you should try playing piano again do you play any other instruments?

[go12_3]

It's never too late to learn  or relearn to play piano or any other instrument....

[ahinton]

Oh... sounds kinda sad anyway  maybe you should try playing piano again do you play any other instruments?

No, I don't actually - but please, don't worry about it, really; in a way, composing for the piano is - and, indeed, should ideally be - very closely linked to playing it, as all the best piano composers knew and know well. I have from time to time received some very nice compliments about my string writing, even from string players, despite my never having played a stringed instrument - but then I have observed string players practising and performing at close quarters with much more than mere passing interest for quite a long time now and this has, I hope, helped me as much as (albeit in somewhat diffferent ways from) my erstwhile rather obsessive sight-reading activities at the piano helpd me to get to grips with thinking about and writing for that instrument.

Best,

Alistair

[littletune]

No, I don't actually - but please, don't worry about it, really; in a way, composing for the piano is - and, indeed, should ideally be - very closely linked to playing it, as all the best piano composers knew and know well. I have from time to time received some very nice compliments about my string writing, even from string players, despite my never having played a stringed instrument - but then I have observed string players practising and performing at close quarters with much more than mere passing interest for quite a long time now and this has, I hope, helped me as much as (albeit in somewhat diffferent ways from) my erstwhile rather obsessive sight-reading activities at the piano helpd me to get to grips with thinking about and writing for that instrument.

Best,

Alistair

Oh so then you just hear all the music in your head when you're composing? 

[ahinton]

Oh so then you just hear all the music in your head when you're composing? 

Yes - not as a finished article at one go, of course, as it takes time - sometimes a lot of time, for the details to fall into place - but yes, it all materialises in the head, although, to me, it counts for very little until it gets out of the head onto paper and then into the hands of performers.

Best,

Alistair

[littletune]

Yes - not as a finished article at one go, of course, as it takes time - sometimes a lot of time, for the details to fall into place - but yes, it all materialises in the head, although, to me, it counts for very little until it gets out of the head onto paper and then into the hands of performers.

Best,

Alistair

Oh ok cool  Thank you for explaining! 
You play a lot of different instruments in your head then   

[thalbergmad]

This is all rather lovely.

Thal

[littletune]

This is all rather lovely.

Thal

What is lovely Thal?  

[thalbergmad]

The discussion between you and Alistair just makes me smile

[ahinton]

The discussion between you and Alistair just makes me smile

I don't understand - and I'm not even certain that there is anything taking place here that one could necessarily perceive as having the potential to elevate itself to a level at which it might seem appropriate to describe it as a "discussion" per se; as best I understand it, there are just a few basic questions and answers about certain individual approaches to compositional methodology being tossed about here. I just do what I do in the best ways that I can find - and then hope for the best with the results in each case. What else could I do? As the old cliché has it, "it ain't rocket science". Writing away from the piano is neither to be recommended or to be discouraged in principle; each composer has to find his or her own best way to go about it and, having hopefully found it, go on to try to achieve the best results.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I don't understand

This might well be Littletune's next post

[birba]

I don't understand - and I'm not even certain that there is anything taking place here that one could necessarily perceive as having the potential to elevate itself to a level at which it might seem appropriate to describe it as a "discussion" per se; as best I understand it, there are just a few basic questions and answers about certain individual approaches to compositional methodology being tossed about here. I just do what I do in the best ways that I can find - and then hope for the best with the results in each case. What else could I do? As the old cliché has it, "it ain't rocket science". Writing away from the piano is neither to be recommended or to be discouraged in principle; each composer has to find his or her own best way to go about it and, having hopefully found it, go on to try to achieve the best results.

Best,

Alistair

  You really don't "get it" do you?  Or are you just pretending you don't understand what Thal meant?

[ahinton]

 You really don't "get it" do you?  Or are you just pretending you don't understand what Thal meant?

What Thal may have meant - and his reasons for meaning it - are up to him. What I might "get" is up to me. The reason for drawing attention to the response that I gave is up to you, since you are the one drawing said attention. In any case, that response simply accounts for the fact that happen to choose not to use the piano when composing. Some composers do use it; others don't. It is, as i observed, a simple matter of personal choice. Ravel is credited with having said as much to Stravinsky, along the lines of "some composers write at the piano - others work away from the piano - as for you, you will always write at the piano" (I don't recall his words exactly, but this is the gist of it). For what it's worth, my principal reason for steering clear of the piano when writing is that I find it more of a distraction than an aid. Somehow, I find myself wondering if you may be seeking to attach rather more importance to this incidental piece of information than it deserves or is indeed necessary in the overall scheme of things.

Ah, well...

Best,

Alistair

[birba]

But it wasn't ABOUT what you were talking!  It was about the interplay between a very curious little girl who was hearing truths about music and composing for the first time in her life, and an actual living composer who was imparting really interesting "stuff".
You really didn't get it! 

[thalbergmad]

You could write a play on this.

Brilliant.

Thal

[ahinton]

But it wasn't ABOUT what you were talking!  It was about the interplay between a very curious little girl who was hearing truths about music and composing for the first time in her life, and an actual living composer who was imparting really interesting "stuff".
You really didn't get it! 

On what grounds do you arrive at this assumption?! In other words, how do you know whether or not I "got it" or what I did or did not get?!

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

You could write a play on this.

Brilliant.

Who do you have in mind when referring to "you"? Birba? I certainly couldn't do it!

Best,

Alistair

[birba]

You're right, Thal.  This IS all so comical.    Much ado about nothing, perhaps?

[ahinton]

You're right, Thal.  This IS all so comical.    Much ado about nothing, perhaps?

Comical or otherwise, it's much ado about nothing all right! Still, if indeed "the play's the thing" (as the old cliché has it) even in the present context, then perhaps better that one than A Long Day's Journey into Night, methinks...

Best,

Alistair

[littletune]

Hmmm...    ...well it was really cool talking to Alistair!  or whaterver he calls that  cool questions and answers  and I even understood all his answers!      Until  Thal said it was lovely! Then it got a lot more complicated again! 
Maybe I could write a play   or a movie well two days ago I had a dream that was just like a movie (maybe I should write it down so I don't forget it  ), it was about a monster who wasn't really a monster (i found out that later). But I don't think all this has anything to do with "do you love your teacher" question  oh well except if you think your teacher is a monster 

[pianoplayjl]

There's no reason to hate my teacher because he teaches me everything if I want him to, no matter the difficulty.