Re: OT: Composing (jara: My girlfriend is a conlanger!)

 --- H. S. Teoh skrzypszy:

> I'm not sure I'm ready to write for orchestra either, but that doesn't
> stop it from being my passion! :-)
I can understand that. Orchestral music used to be my passion too (before I
started writing myself), but after I discovered the joys of chamber and choral
music, that interest faded away somewhat.
BTW, it is not entirely true that I never wrote for orchestra. A few years ago
I wrote a Concertino for Strings, a neo-baroque piece with a lot of
reminiscenses of Bach and Vivaldi, including a few quotations, but also a lot
of 7/8 measures and the like.
Besides, the last (unfinished) piece I have been working on is for choir and
ten instruments (2 oboes, bass clarinet, horn, string quartet, double bass, and
piano). Not exactly an orchestra, but sometimes it feels like that :)

> In my case, I'm more of a neoclassicist than anything else.
Haha, I can hear that!

> As far as stuff for smaller ensembles go... I do have a lot of small piano
> pieces[4], as well as an unfinished set of variations for string quartet.
> (But I hesitate to showcase that one since I had very little idea about
> quartet writing when I wrote it.)
You ask me? Quartet writing is about counterpoint. It is "my second favourite
thing in the [musical] universe", which helps to explain why I wrote two string
quartets myself:
- the first was written in 1996, my first "real" piece. It was inspired by
mediaeval music, especially the French "ars subtilior". My ambition was to
continue were the Ars Subtilior composers had stopped, as if there hadn't been
six centuries of musical history after that. The result was a rather complex
piece in five movements, each representing a Mediaeval form (ballade,
isorhytmic motet, rondeau, separated from each other by two canons). There is
been one horribly bad performance of three movements, and nothing ever since.
- the second was written in 1999. A short piece (4') written as an in memoriam
after someone's death. I still consider it my best piece, although it is darker
than most of my other music. I was performed twice.

> The Serenity piece referenced in [1] is also in this category, I suppose,
> it's for piano and flute---although it's probably better suited for an
> alto flute or clarinet because of its tessitura. Or maybe a recorder. At
> any rate, it's for some kind of pipe. :-)
How about a saxophone? Would that work, too?

> [1] Such as: http://quickfur.yi.org:8080/~hsteoh/mus/aml-serenity.mp3
> This is supposed to depict a village shaman playing the flute at sunset
> while looking out over the plains and the distant mountains beyond, with
> the evening breeze blowing. The cadenza depicts when he gets carried away
> by the magic of his flute, and proceeds to show off his flute technique.
I can't download it :(( . It says: "access forbidden". Please, oh please, fix
that! I am very eager to hear it ;)

> [2] Involving slides and glides by the string section (which plays a
> "melody" where almost every note is a glide) and retorts, guffaws, and
> maniacal chuckles from the brass.
Yay! Go on with it!

> [3] Such as: http://quickfur.yi.org:8080/~hsteoh/mus/Am6_8_2.mp3
> (unfinished). I don't really like the MIDI realization of this; the part
> towards the end sounds overly wind-y. The orchestration also needs heavy
> re-workings; but at least this gives an idea of the motifs and passages
> that I have in mind.
Unfinished? Why? I don't know if you recorded the whole piece, but my
impression is that the piece is quite finished the way it is. If I may give you
one piece of unsollicited advise: forget about the da capo; IMO it is not
necessary, because the piece already has its beginning and end. I remember I
had the same problem in a piece once, and in that case is was mostly due to the
fact that I had some more ideas that I wanted to use. But I got hopelessly
stuck in a da capo. Only after my father convinced me that it was good enough
already, I decided to leave it the way it was, and save the ideas for possible
later compositions.
BTW Did you record it on a Yamaha PSR-SQ? That's what I have been working with
most of the time, and the sound is somewhat similar.
I am curious how you transformed the midi files into .MP3 files.

> [4] The one of which I'm most proud being the Sonatina in E-flat major:
> http://quickfur.yi.org:8080/~hsteoh/mus/Eb4_4.3.mp3
A very nice piece. It reminds me a bit of Rossini on one of his better moments.
It made me wake up in a very good mood this morning, which for me is already
enough to prove its value. My Musicmatch MP3 player has been playing both
pieces in a loop for quite some time, and still I don't find them boring.
Marina says that both pieces are very well-structured. She has been (ab)using
your music for a dance with the baby ;)

> For example, Beethoven didn't actually know polyphony (at least in the
> Bach sense) until he was an established composer.
Hehe. Sometimes I wonder it he actually knew about polyphony even after he
became an established composer :) .

> And Sir William(?) Walton didn't even know what a fugue was until he
> decided he needed one in one of his symphonies!
LOL.

> Most certainly. And I do have a beef against the way music is commonly
> taught nowadays... but I'll save that rant for another time. :-)
I fullheartedly agree! There has been a period during which I wanted to study
composition, but then I heard a concert with music of this professor's
students. My God! I can't remember which piece was the ugliest, but I remember
that everything on the program was equally pompous, disgusting, ugly, and
would-be avantgardistic.
The same professor told me, that my music was "not contemporary enough" in his
opinion. He even accused me of "rhythmic tonality"!
The whole problem is that these professors, who were raised in the fifties and
sixties, expect their students to be innovative and to start an entire
revolution with every piece they write. Apart from the fact that it is
extremely difficult to be innovative these days (since everything that is even
remotely thinkable has already been done... call it musical anadewism), many of
the most talented composers started their carreer by writing in the style of
their teachers.
I have great respect for true avantgarde composers, who can nevertheless manage
to touch you. Last week I heard a piece by Scelsi in the Concertgebouw, and I
was thrilled from the first till the last note. Same thing with Xenakis. But
when less talented people start to write like that, the result is usually pure
horror.
So I went my own way, at last...

Hm. Looks like I stole your rant...

> > But the conservatory is not the place where you learn things; it is also
> > the place where your career begins, where you meet those people who will
> > "launch" you later for the first time. Without those people, often a
> > tight knit in a closed circuit, it is very hard to achieve anything.
>
> Too true. I had the option of minoring in music when I was still in my
> undergraduate years; however, I was not ready (musically) at the time. Now
> it's really very difficult for me to get "into the loop".
Exactly the same thing here! I have been considering several options to become
a professional musician at a late stage: going to a conservatory and study
composition or singing (which are about the only things that you can still
learn when you start at the age of 18), taking private lessons in
composition... I never did these things, but I have been writing, writing,
writing instead. Now I don't have any diploma, but at least I have something to
show.

> Besides, I do have other priorities that require time as well; I can't
> have *everything* I want, after all. With my current commitments, I'm
> afraid the most I'll end up writing in my lifetime would be about 4-5
> short pieces (as far as orchestral writing is concerned, that is) that
> I've time to work on.
Yeah, that's the problem when you grow up :(( . If I start composing again
(which I sincerily hope), that will mean that I can forget about my conlanging.
I hate it to be forced to this kind of choice, but little can be done.

> All the lay people tell me my music is good, and all the professionals
> smile and nod and walk away. So I'm kinda stuck in limbo at the moment.
Don't let that discourage you! Which one is more important: the opinion of the
audience or the opinion of other composers? Unfortunately, the latter are often
motivated by the ideology they adhere to. And one of the most common ideas
among contemporary composers, the performers of their music, and the critics
who hallow them, is like: if too many people like it, that means that it is
commercial, and therefore bad. Unfortunately, I heard these opinions expressed
also by composers whom I used to respect deeply for their music.
That does not mean that their opinion is worthless, but better listen to people
who are at least open-minded: composers, performers, ánd audience...

What does "stuck in limbo" mean, BTW?

> Which *could* explain the otherworldliness of Ebisedian... (Mind you, I
> said *could*. ;-)) The fact that I'm an amateur pianist---amateur in the
> sense of able to impress the crowd but having horrible technique and bad
> habits accrued over the years due to lack of formal training---probably
> doesn't help very much either.
True. It surely helps a composer when he is a performer too, not only because
he can perform his own music, but also because he more likely to know the right
people, and also because he is already sort of known for his playing.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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