Composition Major

College Majors Music Major
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<p>Just a last comment on “teaching composition”. When we first called a composition teacher, who was an accomplished composer well-known in our city, she responded by saying “I don’t teach composition. You can’t teach composition.”</p>

<p>We persisted in the conversation long enough to understand one another. A family member here was already composing, and had for some time built a portfolio of sorts to bring to a teacher. And the teacher was right in a lot of ways, though she really did not mean that student composers should have no teachers. Of course, even the most famous classical composers had teachers and studied their craft. She meant that, in some essential way, you have to already be a composer to study composition. </p>

<p>Composing is often a drive, rather than a desire. It is something that you kind of can’t stop doing. You don’t have to have done it for years and years, but when you do start, a teacher facilitates your process, but does not really “teach” you to do it. Does that make sense?</p>

<p>If you really want to go to a conservatory for composition, and get into the studio of a good teacher, it seems you might want to take a year off and do more composing. We’ve been kind of skirting around saying this to you, I think. Spend this year, and the next year, writing music and studying with a teacher, as others are saying. It doesn’t have to be weekly: in fact, if you are working on music in the meantime, it can even be every month.</p>

<p>It is possible to benefit from a composition teacher even if you have not written anything in recent years, and even to develop quickly. Sometimes people’s composing really takes off with the stimulation and guidance of a teacher. </p>

<p>However, you do not have a lot of time for that, before December 1, and that is why some of us are suggesting to you that you consider college, where you can study composition but don’t have to have that portfolio, or, if you are really anxious to go to conservatory, take a year off to write music and develop.</p>

<p>I seem to remember that conservatories want compositions from the last 2 or 3 years. To be perfectly honest, you do not have a portfolio of recent works yet that would enable you to apply to conservatory this fall.</p>

<p>If you compare it to art school, art schools only take students who have been working intensely in the arts, and have portfolios. I may want to learn to draw, but I would not apply to art school, I would apply to a college that would allow me to start and develop my drawing. (I cannot draw, by the way!)</p>

<p>So I would suggest applying to a college with a good music program (many music majors don’t include any performance, by the way) or taking a gap year to work on composition for conservatory. I am hoping this saves you some trouble, and that you understand I am being straight with you so that you can use your energies wisely this year, while also remaining excited about music and future composing.</p>

<p>p.s. I would also suggest listening to all kinds of classical and “contemporary classical” composers…a great way to open up your vision and really enjoy some of the exciting things going on in composition these days…</p>

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<p>Might I’d also add ‘good film music’ and ‘interesting popular/non-classical music’ to that list? Maybe I’m becoming more conservative as I get older (though I’ve been told I’m not actually that old yet), but I doubt I would have included film music as recommended listening to aspiring young composers a few years ago. Nonetheless, there’s an element of narrative and pacing that you can pick up from good film music that is sometimes absurdly lacking even in the so called classics of “contemporary classical” music. Though to be fair, most of the time, ‘drama’ in the conventional sense isn’t actually the point. Of course one can and will learn much about harmony and rhythm and timbre from a good jazz or indie rock act…elements that are too often (and shockingly) neglected in contemporary classical music. </p>

<p>Oh. And lots of Stravinsky. Listen to and read lots about Stravinsky.</p>

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<p>Haha… I probably knew this sort of answer was coming. Oh well. I knew I woudln’t have much chance for a conservatory. Anyways, I will keep trying my best to become a composer. I guess studying in a college won’t hurt.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the comments and I will keep trying my best for my dream.</p>

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<p>@phaido: Just to make you feel a bit better, some of the best composers went to university or college rather than conservatory for their undergrad work. Elliott Carter, John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives, Thomas Ades etc. I believe only Bernstein went on to conservatory at Curtis, and that was primarily to study conducting. Heck Schoenberg and Stravinsky and Cage ad Feldman never even studied music at a formal musical institution. Stravinsky was taking private lessons from Rimsky K while studying law. </p>

<p>Again, there’s not single path in life–the one primary advantage that you do get at being in a conservatory is simply access to a large number of extraordinarily talented musical colleagues. But you can find that at some universities/colleges as well.</p>

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<p>Wind Cloud Ultra is himself a composer who went to college and then conservatory :)</p>

<p>Please understand that those comments were not meant to discourage, not at all. In fact, many composition applicants to conservatories and colleges get heavy pressure from all directions NOT to go to conservatory, since often the best composition work happens later (for Elliot Carter, much later: he is now 100!).</p>

<p>I think it is so wonderful that you want to compose, and that you have gotten a great start already. It is just a practical matter of the portfolio needed. If you are up for the stress of senior year, instrumental practice, and writing/recording a portfolio of pieces, you could definitely still apply to conservatory.</p>

<p>But you can achieve your dream, as the composers Wind Cloud Ultra lists did, by going to college, and majoring in music, or, for that matter, something else that interests you. You can study composition in the music department and/or privately, just as many other student composers do. Many college music departments have musicians in residence, or hire musicians to play compositions, or fellow students play.</p>

<p>p.s. There is a lot of cross-pollination going on between genres these days, so Wind Cloud Ultra’s suggestion of music to listen to is spot-on!</p>

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<p>No need to worry. I’m still going at it. I guess the reason I wanted to get into conservatory so desparately was because I wanted to show my mom that I can become a musician. Being an Asian mom, she wants me to follow her footsteps in becoming a doctor. I do think doctor is a really great job; it’s just that I’m not meant to be a doctor. I thought if I could get into a conservatory, I could prove it to her that I do not only like music but I can make music at a professional level. </p>

<p>One of the reasons I kept my grades up was probably to show her that I can do good in school while still pursuing music. I wanted to be proud and say I could have been a premed but I chose to do music. I wanted to show her how committed to music I was.</p>

<p>Well, I’m still going to show her. Probably not this year, but maybe in the future she’ll understand why I’m choosing to become a composer. </p>

<p>Thanks again for all the comments. I’m taking the advice of listening to lots of other classical artists that I didn’t really like.</p>

<p>Personal question to Wind Cloud Ultra, do you compose your music in your head? Or do you mess with the piano or keep improvising until you find something that sticks? Do you write the melody first? Or do you come up with bass line or chord progression first? I just want to know how others go at composing.</p>

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<p>Phaido, you’ve a whole year until you’re in college studying music seriously. Don’t put off getting a composition teacher until then. Bass line, chord progression, even melody - those are terms used in popular music -rarely classical. You’ll want to study music theory, harmony, counterpoint, history in college - but you can start now. With a teacher. And by reading books on music. And yes, listening. And going to every live performance you can. Keep your ears wide open and pay attention to everything.</p>

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<p>@phaido: the short answer is I’m pretty reliant on the piano and do mess around/improvising quite a bit. I also use sequencer programs like Logic to try out ideas. Most of the stuff I write involves rather dense chords–sometimes 7 to 8 notes at once, so I really have no idea how things are going to sound [esp when taking into consideration issues such as spacing and instrumentation] and having something test ideas on is vital. With simpler, tonal/triadic progressions–say most standard pop songs, and even some more chromatic jazz-inflected showtunes/R&B stuff–I can pretty much hear in my head…but that’s just because I’ve heard those same progressions so many times it’s sort of ingrained in my memory. </p>

<p>In any case, feel free to send me a PM if you have any other questions about composition/college/conservatory etc. I’ll be glad to help. </p>

<p>@SpiritManager! Hope all’s well with you and the fam! Your point about “Bass line, chord progression, even melody” being more in the purview of popular music than classical music is probably not entirely untrue, esp if we’re talking about contemporary classical. Still, wasn’t it John Adams who mentioned somewhere a while back that even with his most chromatic compositions, he starts with a series of chords? Classical musicians might want to call that ‘harmony’–but it’s basically a chord progressions. Ditto for composers writing chaconnes like Magnus Lindberg. Again, he might object to ‘chord progression’ but his discrete harmonic areas are again, basically a series of chords. </p>

<p>Granted, many more experimental composers–e.g. those tending towards noise and extended instrumental techniques might eschew harmony and pitch completely–but these days, I tend to find the most interesting part of a composer’s identity is the harmonic world…and composers who ignore it do so and their own peril.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t say that “bass line” and “melody” are rarely used in classical music. I work with professional classical musicians who use those terms quite frequently. Indeed, it would be hard to conduct a rehearsal without using them. (“Horns, make sure to bring out the melody from measure 47 through 53.” or “Cellos. I want more separation between those repeated notes in the bass line.”) </p>

<p>“Chord progression” is heard a bit less frequently, but it is still used.</p>

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<p>Of course all music, classical and otherwise (except, as WindCloudUltra mentions, the most experimental) at some level, even if very obscure, is referencing chords, melody and the full spectrum of sounds (note that I did say rarely used - not never) - it’s just that my supposition is that Phaido by employing those words is more familiar with pop music & jazz where those terms are the ones of choice. Just like any other subject worthy of study - and this is a college major forum - there is a common language to be learned and that would not be the language generally used in Music Theory I or Composition I on a classical music track.</p>

<p>And @WindCloudUltra - family is doing great, thanks! How about you? Finish your masters or another year in England?</p>

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<p>I think that Spirit Manager is trying to clarify an issue that came up before in this thread, which is whether Phaido, and others who want to become “composers,” actually would fit better in a classical program or a songwriting or contemporary music kind of program. (Of course, a lot of these genres are blurring these days, and wonderfully so.) The distinction can help guide school choices, and also helps us realize we may not be on the same page in terms of language. </p>

<p>What is a “composer”? Phaido, what exactly are you thinking of when you use that word? I have a friend who thinks “composers” write music for Broadway, only. I believe she knows that, say, Beethoven and Mozart were composers, but has no notion whatsoever that anyone has written anything in the last 100 years.</p>

<p>How about John Lennon and Paul McCartney? Were/are they “composers”? They didn’t go to conservatory and study harmony and counterpoint, but the term is used for them too. Some brilliant writing is going on in rock, post-rock and popular music these days, and some of this music is truly “composed,” some is collaborative and/or improvised. If a group is playing and improvising together, is that “composing”? What makes it so? Writing it down, and having a score to follow?</p>

<p>On the flip side, when someone uses a computer to generate music, is he or she composing? What if there is no human agency at all, just the technology? And some people hearing more atonal “new music” may hesitate to associate the creator with the term “composer.” Witness older, habitual attendees at a music festival, walking out with grumpy faces, even before intermission.</p>

<p>Anyway…Phaido, you will find that composers all have different processes. I went to a fascinating concert at a conservatory where the compositions of young people were played, and then there was a panel in which they each talked about his or her process. Each person composed in an entirely different and unique way. It was quite amazing.</p>

<p>A person in my family hears music and has to write it down, which could happen fairly quickly, sort of like Rowling and her writing on napkins in a restaurant, but then has to craft and rework for a long time. The problem is getting it down eventually in a form that even approaches what was imagined- and accepting that it will never get there in a perfect sense. This person might wish to NOT compose, but has little choice.</p>

<p>Every person’s process is different, and the important thing is to come up with your own, in a way that works for you. Working with a teacher, as Spirit Manager says, may be the best way to get started on this. If it is not easy to afford, know that you can meet with a teacher once a month and work on your own in between. Be patient with yourself!</p>

<p>Also, it would seem that there are many choices in life besides medicine and music. Phaido, if you do end up going to college, keep an open mind to all the rich things you will run into. This is a time of life when things can change, in wonderful ways. When you get older, that isn’t as easy anymore, so enjoy it!</p>

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<p>Another possibility is to enter as a Music Major, and then try to transfer into the Music Comp program. My son did this - took a lot of work his freshman year, but it was well worth it.</p>