A self-thought composer?

[ana86]

Hello,

I have a somewhat silly question, regarding the trends and methods in composing, and can one be a "composer" without typical music education, i.e. being self thought. It is a bit complex, so apologies for the length.

My grandfather "thought" me how to play guitar when I was 7. He himself was self-thought, so my "playing" was not technically correct by any means but I soon noticed I could play literally anything I hear on TV, radio etc, yet with absolutely no technical skills.

At the age of 12 I started piano lessons in school, meaning I had no instrument of my own, but had 1 lesson a week, and the teacher let me practice for an hour or so most days after school. Within a month I started composing my first piece - it wasn't a voluntary decision, it just came on its own. I realised I enjoyed creating music even more than playing it. After 4 months it was done, a 4 page classical piece for piano (I wouldn't even know how to classify it as I am not musically educated in the conventional sense). At that point, creating music was all I ever wanted to do.

My teacher was extremely excited and encouraged me to send this piece to a young composers competition, so I did. The organisers were first amazed by it, but then shocked to learn that I've only had 4 months of basic piano lessons, and not even with a "famous" teacher, so they disqualified me as they thought "it was impossible" I wrote it. Around the same time I graduated from elementary school, and therefore had no access to a piano any more. Needless to say I was heartbroken. This was 17 years ago.

In the meantime, I became a scientist. Yet, all this time, I kept "hearing" music in my head. Some of it I wrote down, but it is hard to have anything more than unconnected fragments if you don't have an instrument to synthesise all that and bring it to another level, if that makes any sense  .

A few months ago I bought a digital piano  ! I am teaching myself, as I can't afford the time and cost for the teacher. I mostly wanted to enjoy learning and playing, yet again, within a week of having the piano I spontaneously started composing. So far one and a half new pieces done  .

The problem is how to evaluate the quality of what I am creating. So I started exploring what's currently "popular" in the music composition world, and how do composers of my age sound like. I was quite surprised. I found these new works (such as this extreme example

) sounded more like reproducing the sounds of nature with an instrument, rather than melodies, if that makes any sense. And while I appreciate that can be extraordinary, I don't enjoy that type of music, and the music I am making is not like that at all, it is more "classical" and melodic in every sense. Which makes me think it might be boring - I read on some composer blog something along the lines of: it is hard to be a composer nowadays, especially for piano solo, as there is so much music already created in that area, that whatever melody you create will not be "novel enough".

But I am wondering, does one really have to go so far to an extreme, and abandon melody and harmony for the sake of "novel"? I always perceived the composing process as two phases: 1. you feel, 2. you think. So for me it is something initially spontaneous, that you don't think about at all, the music just comes to you, and then you spend weeks "polishing" it, but the melody and soul of the piece came without too much thinking. These contemporary pieces make me feel like the opposite order of events happened... I am sure there is more to explore, so any suggestions of contemporary composers and pieces are welcome.
 
Also, I am not fooling myself that I am even anywhere close to a professional composer, but if I ever dare to show my music to anyone else, what would be the way to "publish" it, i.e. make it public and be recognised as the author of it?

Many thanks!
Ana

[iansinclair]

Not a silly question at all.

You do not have to have a normal musical education to be a composer.  You don't even have to have much in the way of conventional music courses, although you may find that you want to take some at some point to develop some particular skills, especially to find out if what you are asking others to do with their instrument is even possible!

I could point to many many examples; self-taught folks are easier to find in popular music than in "classical", though, and it would probably be correct to say that the majority of singer-songwriter people are self-taught (and some -- Joni Mitchell comes to mind! -- have instrumental techniques which are somewhere between weird and really off the wall, and work marvelously well).

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I would suggest that you compose in the style in which you feel comfortable expressing yourself: trying to write in deliberately novel manner might ulimately yield results in an attention-seeking wilful controversy sense, but you won't be being true to yourself in the process.

As a self-taught composer myself (I've had piano lessons but no composition lessons) I would suggest:

a. acquire or develop a good working knowledge of music theory. This will facilitate developing an understanding of why composers do certain things.

b. immerse yourself in as many (suitable) influences as possible. If you have done a. above then you will be better placed to do c. below.

c. try to approach other people's music not just emotionally but also analytically. Ask yourself questions, like "why has the composer done this?" "what is the purpose of this harmonic change?" "what is the structure of the piece?" The better your understanding of theory, the easier this will be to do - ultimately many of these questions will answer themselves almost subconsciously.

d. don't rush to arrive at a fixed sense of your own aesthetic values: these should be in a constant sense of ongoing development. By that I don't mean they should change every day, but they should be capable of subtle updating and change over time as you mature, absorb more influences, have different life experiences affect your musical persona, etc.