I was in my very late 40's when I stumbled across your launch film for the BBCSO library. I'd played piano by ear a little and the same with guitar when I was a lad. One of my own boys wanted to learn piano so I took a few lessons with him too (which didn't last) but it was your talks about composing that inspired me to write music rather than play it. I'd always thought the barrier was not knowing theory or being proficient with an instrument and, while they can indeed be helpful, they turned out to be far form essential. Learning those has begun to emerge naturally from just embracing the need to create. I was given a pencil and paper as a boy and that led to a career writing and drawing comics because it just allowed me to create and I've learned a huge amount over decades of doing it (almost 40 years as a full time pro) but the music technology we have now is like that pencil and all you've said before helped encourage me to access what was already there. Even if I don't share the music I write, it gives me enormous pleasure to make it and in the end, that's all that matters. So, thanks Christian; the kick up my creative arse has been a joy.
The Best lesson I got in composition was in school when our music teacher picked up a chair and threw it onto the ground in the middle of the classroom with an almighty crash. He said "if you can do that at the same time everytime, that is music."
I'm a classically trained musician/composer/orchestrator, but I've spent decades professionally straddling the classical/jazz/R&B/rock/folk worlds. With the large number of artists I've worked with over the years, it's pretty obvious to me that there are MANY ways to skin a cat, and assimilate a high degree of musical knowledge outside of traditional notation. The one big advantage I see with having a really good knowledge of theory and traditional notation is the ability to get things down, look at them, and quickly figure out what's actually going on so that you can really understand it (which also gives you the ability to document/catalog it, replicate it, or make something in a similar style, or mash one style up with another style). But, there are countless musical traditions in various cultures that organize and master an insane amount of complexity without traditional western musical theory and notation. One genre that consistently blows me away, that does not typically rely on traditional western study of theory and notation is black gospel music. For organists/keyboardists in that genre, it typically relies on one-on-one teaching and demonstration (and in this day and age, it's blossomed into a lot of fascinating UA-cam videos). Without traditional music school theory/notation training, some of these players have an absolutely astounding grasp of melody and harmony. They do things I can analyze and figure out, but I'm convinced it's stored and accessed in their brains a different way than it is in mine (even though I'm a pretty good improviser). Here's one example that I really like, and bookmarked some time ago. LOW production value, and crappy audio, but listen to what Leonard Razor is doing in this video. I'm sure he could teach 90%+ of high-end degreed composers something about melody and harmony that they didn't know. ua-cam.com/video/YwCxn2M89D4/v-deo.htmlsi=5rZPZUe8xTAvWtYX
After many years of playing an instrument, I finally opened my mind (just a little bit) to music theory. This enabled my heart to lead my hands on an incredible journey of discovery. I agree with your ideas about writing and composing music. I'm learning even more through recording my songs. It's not easy, but it is rewarding. I'm glad I found your channel and look forward to your future videos. Good work! Thank you for sharing. God bless.
I totally am with you on this. I used to just play with Garageband many years ago and some time later I decided to try doing Music. Yeah. With no formal education. I did quite a lot of tracks and only after it I decided that I WANT to know about what I'm doing. So I did one course on music theory, musical composition, read a book or two, watched a lot of videos. I know a little more but the more I learn the less I realize I know. And I became scared that I'm an impostor that people that know Music surely can pick it up. But then I decided it doesn't matter - I like it and it's not that I don't want to get better at it. And making more music is best way to make it better while learning some theory along the way. Cheers!
I disagree people are scared to disagree... (excuse the paradox here!). The internet is awash with it. What i find a problem to be, is that people don't thnk it's okay that someone else disagrees with them. (it's okay if you disagree with me here! haha) It is my opinion, that people have forgotten their opinions are not facts. And that opinions ARE open for discussion and disagreement without feeling bad or scared of the outcome. Can't we all just... get along? Nice video! :)
I think the core of Bottie’s comment, while kinda rude, actually raises a valid point. Now that everyone has easy access to recording music, it’s inevitable that much of the ensuing music is going to sound similar, especially when given the same tools to work with. I remember the first time I heard Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, it blew my mind how this particular group of blokes could, with the same basic instruments, produce something so foreign. Original music will always continue to be made from now to the end of time, but as the haystack gets bigger and bigger, the needles will be harder to find. You could give 10,000 people a 303 and a tape recorder and get likely very similar results, but you give one to a 16 year old Richard from Cornwall… there’s your needle.
For me a true composer is someone that takes the time to write music that is unique (Like you said) without all the automatic software wizards (Including AI) that would create the music for you. Writing music takes time and requires effort. You need to understand what to avoid to write if you think it exists. A real composer is a person that is continuously learning something new, like a new instrument, music theory, learning new software, consistently listening and learning from others with research. This is a never ending process. I go to school for music to keep me up to date as a composer. But again, like you said "We are all composers". I feel we are all composers as long as we continue to be passionate with the love of continuously learning and writing music as much as possible.
Damn it CH. I’m going to have to watch this again. The background is too interesting that I got lost in what you were talking about 😂 It was like listening to Stephen Fry philosophise about Ancient Greece whilst sitting next to a lingerie clad Scarlett Johansson.
Someone who creates music in a tangible form is a composer. But I would argue that if it isn't in some sort of common written music notation there is a problem. I got the impression that you were saying that a point of composing is to share it with others in order to affect emotions. It so, then how does one share it and allow others to perform it if it isn't written down? Or do modern composers (film/tv/games) only want people to listen to it and not perform it? Being able to listen to music and re-perform it is not something everyone can learn to do. I can document many people I know who cannot, including myself, and I really want to and have tried hard to do so. Certainly someone who is deaf cannot. Based on my own experience teaching people to play the piano I have to say that anyone can learn to read music if they really want to. I'm sure some people have had bad teachers or were too easily distracted, or have some other excuse that allows them to convince themselves they just can't get it, but I don't buy it. Unless they have some sort of unique medical condition I would argue everyone can learn to read music. Even blind people can learn to read music. So the only practical way to share music so others can perform it is through music notation. It's not snobbery, its reality, if sharing our music with the widest audience is desired. I'm sure someone will find outlier exceptions to what I've said, but I will argue till I die that composers should write their music down in notation form. Recording formats change very frequently but (western) music notation has been very consistent for centuries. That being said, as long as one gets someone to transcribe a recording to notation, then more power to those who won't learn music notation but still compose. As to all TV/Film music sounding the same, I think the longer you are alive and a musician, the more things do start to sound the same. After about 55 years of being a musician, I find myself listening to and playing things that are night and day different, but I hear and see so much similarity in the underlying theory and compositional methods that it does start to sound the same to me. I'm even starting to recognize the underlying sample libraries that are being used. Plus too many composers try to copy the sound of other (more successful?) composers.
The orchestral sounds "we" crafted recently found their way into our latest documentary. With just a few keystrokes and the help of a rather versatile and innovative VST from a Hollywood Hill climbing company owner, we brought to life a composition that might never have existed otherwise. So that makes us a composer. It even sounds good. Call it unconventional, but we prefer to leave music theory and complex programming and recording to those who rely on it and make a living out of it. Moving airwaves doesn’t always require the complexity of traditional notation, education and the rest. Happy to see you made it back to the valley. We are all climbers, we are all composers. Let us know when you are in Washington DC. We have some hills to climb there as well. There is more to music making than Hollywood.
Excellent rant Christian! I have written and performed songs but don't consider myself a "real" singer songwriter. I have composed music and soundscapes but don't consider myself a "real" musician, composer, or sound designer. I create videos but wouldn't claim to be a film-maker. I write poetry but don't consider myself a "real" poet. If i was asked to describe my occupation it would be none of the above because i dont rely on these for my livelihood. By contrast i find people from other countries do not describe themselves by their paid occupation as we Brits do. Instead a plumber will insist he is a poet; a shop keeper may claim she is a writer, or a bank clerk may assert they are a painter or a musician. They see those aspects of themselves as more "real" than what they do to pay the rent. So maybe the question of when i will finally be able to regard myself as a "real" composer is based on cultural background as much as anything else?
Your concept that 'computer instruments' are like stationery to sketch with is brilliant. Great concept. My only question is why is that not in your marketing material? (Forgive me if it is and I just missed it!😊) You could have a tag line like 'just do it!' - maybe, 'just sketch it'!?😎👍🏻
Christian , I was hoping to walk on Arthur's Seat with you before I left Europe, and now I see you’re walking in the Hollywood Hills not far from where I live. Oh well, the weather’s much more friendly for an LA walk than an Edinburgh walk right now. Perhaps our paths will cross again on another trip. As for being a composer, I agree that we’re all born creators. It’s not like composers have to be board certified. Sure, it helps to develop certain skills; but they are used in service of the creative nature we have rather than to create creativity.
You can be on the sidelines complaining, in which case, you're part of the problem. Or you can be on the road traveling, in which case, you're part of the solution.
I began my musical journey at the age of five when I was introduced to the piano, though I initially resisted this path. Eventually, I played a grand upright piano from 1898, notable for its heavy mahogany backboard. My approach to music has primarily been through ear training, as I have dabbled with the piano over the years. Additionally, I was involved in choral singing from the age of three until the twelfth grade, where I developed the ability to sight-read for vocals. However, I struggle with reading music for piano or other instruments. While I can play the trumpet, I face challenges due to a physical reaction that affects my appearance while playing. My journey continued without digital audio workstations until 2010, as I learned to record synthesizers using a cassette stereo and later a four-track recorder, all without effects. My experience with synthesizers began with Radio Shack keyboards and progressed to professional models. I played in a band for eight years and pursued my own recordings, reaching out to various labels before the advent of the internet. I have utilized multiple email services, including AOL, MSN, Gmail, and Yahoo, but I do not conform to musical trends.
interesting you should mention the ballet notation - my late grandparents were great friends of ann & ivor guest who i believe were somewhat instrumental (!) in furthering the notation form that is used quite widely today. it's so bizarre to look at.
I think all composers have to go through a journey, and at the end of that journey, the best composers will absolutely know how each instrument they write for behaves, how to notate great sheet music, how to play many instruments, and a lot about music theory. As you move up the ladder, collaboration and performance by others is a reality, and you NEED to know that stuff to communicate with people at that level. You don't need to know it right away, and you don't have to be classically trained, but you can't avoid the elephant in the room forever and reach your full potential. Anyone can throw their hat into the composition arena, but you've got to learn what you're doing eventually.
Hi Christian, I bought the Strings Bundle a few days ago and found that I cannot activate the Murmurations and Small Gestures using the serial keys provided in my account, I made a request in your support centre but haven't got any reply yet. Another problem is that I tried to use the Glass Strings in one of my project, although enjoying the sound through the working process, I found when I used key-switch to change the articulations, i.e. tremolo after a sustain note, it doesn't work sometimes when I playback the track, and the other case would be playback the track successfully, hearing the articulation change, but when I bounce the track to wav, the articulation didn't change correctly. At last I have to use multiple tracks, each track using one articulation, to solve this. Hope you can fix this in update versions.
over the last couple of years iv learnt how to build my own DIY synths and effect pedals ,most of what i make is probably just noise to most people,but for some reason i enjoy making and creating music with my broken electronics a lot more than using my sample libraries,i think a lot of people wouldn't consider it composing,but i feel its enough to make me feel like i am
J. Lennon of course was absolutely right being the visionary he was. The latest new instrument I gave a go is called a DAW every time I look at the screen it starts filling up with sounds and automation and before long I am listening to something new, being able to place all my ideas quickly and easily in one place changed everything for me. But to make it real I guess I would have to make money at it, when you get down to it that's the real sticking point for most composers. Writing music took years for me to realize since I come from an un-musical family the odds against me were always higher it took modern technology to give me a last chance and it worked. Oddly enough most of the stuff I write sounds like it is made for a movie or show and that would make sense since all the tunes have a story, maybe I need to start writing storyboards
I think this response to botty was right on point ..a great analysis of the mechanics of becoming or being some “thing “ and specifically in this case a composer. Also exposing the universal mechanics of that malignant creation ..invalidation. 👍
Can you do a video addressing the extreme lack of PRO royalties from TV/film streamers like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Paramount, etc? Because once terrestrial broadcast television is completely dead in the next 10ish years, I think the entire music library/sync industry will completely collapse. I rarely hear anyone ever talk about this, let alone discuss solutions.
Mike Oldfield showed us anyone can be a composer. You play piano pretty well as far as I'm concerned and you're a damned good composer too. I'm a composer and I have to learn how to play the piano.
I'm not an _anything,_ I just like making music of all types for myself. I like to improve what I do, and get better at the overall process. Does that count?
I don't want to put too many parameters on the term "composer" (although simply buying VSTs when you know precisely nothing about the idioms of orchestral instruments certainly doesn't make you one), but I do think the term gets interchanged with "producer" a bit too often. I would think that whatever one "composes" one should understand. If you want to write for violin, you should have a basic understanding of the range of the instrument, what is and isn't comfortable to play, and have basic grasp of the structure and idioms of various genres, if one is to lump oneself in with the type of "composers" that can flexibly write music to fit different genres. Regardless of debating this, I really have to wonder why we have no more John Williams' or similar in our current generation. They used to be relatively commonplace when most filmmakers still had a strong grasp on the craft of filmmaking.
The closing scenes with ‘Restricted Entry’, referencing a desire by some to exclude those without the proper background and education, from access to opportunities of thought and action. The word ‘creative’ doesn’t require a rule book.
I'm an unreal decomposer. I've been multiplied by the imaginary number 'i', and I have a mulch pile. 🤪 What a musical composer? The composer is a person who comes up with a sequence of tones, and reliably conveys it to another person. Irving Berlin was musically illiterate, and he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs. If 1,500 songs isn't the output of a real composer, what is?
Writing down notes on a page is transcription, not composition. The Beatles didn't read music, virtually every artist that inspired their music (black American blues and jazz players) didn't read music either. All of them are composers.
I am siding about 51.9 percent with Botty. A lot of modern production music sounds similar. My real expertise comes from being old and listening and watching and subjected to a shitload of films and ads. It amazes me because I know there is an infinite amount of crayons, paints and tools available to a musician's arsenal of things, still it often sounds too familiar and tired I expect composers and serious listener's and commenter's to be critical and opinionated .
I know exactly what you mean, but it sounds like a lot of what you are hearing has been created to please a client. Could one argue that clients/directors/producers are only interested in hearing the same type of music that they know is tried and tested?
@@WillyJunior yeah that's true. to be a little more nuanced, i shouldn't have made it sound like an indictment of composers and their lack of ideas only. it's more the film and tv (and game to a lesser extent, but also games) industry ecosystem as a whole that facilitates this. i'm absolutely guilty of doing the same thing - pleasing a client. but look at youtube and you see most amateur composers trying to sound like everything else, too. it seems to go both ways.
Here's my differing view. :) First, I do agree that there is snobbery around, although that's true for every profession, and it usually comes from the fright that a new rival appeared. What I completely disagree with is the statement that we're all composers. That sounds very similar to Apple's and Adobe's awfully misleading marketing message about everyone being creative. That in two decades time successfully brought down the entire graphic design profession, and most of professional photography as well. Now, someone with visual ideas and zero studies at graphic design might not see the difference between an amateur's and a professional's work, but that doesn't mean they're interchangeable. The same goes for music. Playing an instrument or humming a tune for your own good, or your family and friends' entertainment is great. That does not make you a composer, just as cooking a nice meal does not make someone a chef. So your analogy with the drawing in the kitchen really doesn't work. Anyone with some talent and enough practice can develop skills, but education is not obsolete just because youtube exists. There are levels of any profession that must be studied in an organised way, otherwise it will take a lifetime to figure something out that is actually available at school. On music theory and reading music: yes, there are many musicians who get by without these, but they're either not composers, or they don't write for other people to play their music. It would be quite hard to instruct an orchestra without a score, and it would be quite hard to write a score without understanding music theory. I don't mean you must get a master's degree before you can call yourself a composer, but you need the basics, unless, like somebody mentioned in the comments, you're a genius like Vangelis was, who actually developed his own system, so he did not work without a working theory, he just made his own in a time where what he was doing was a pioneering act. But that's an exception, not the undoing of the rule. By the way, I do suspect that whoever wrote that comment was actually referring to AI.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on the craft. In my mind, while formal education adds valuable depth, composition at its core is about intentionally creating something meaningful, regardless of the medium, be it music, visual art, writing or code. While traditional training enriches the process it isn't essential. Consider Vangelis, (as you mentioned), whose genius flourished not despite but because of his unconventional approach. Many innovators across fields have developed groundbreaking work precisely because they weren't constrained by established rules. The principles of composition.. harmony, structure, balance... transcend individual disciplines. Whether crafting a symphony or writing elegant code, what matters most is the purposeful arrangement of elements and the connections they forge. I think there is room for both traditional and intuitive approaches. Ultimately, it's the impact of the work that counts imho.
americas so dusty.... :) so english....i guess it doesnt really matter what anyone else thinks a composer is, do you enjoy the process, do you stick with it when times are hard, when success doesnt come your way ? Is their a burning passion in your heart to do it, if it makes you happy, do it and your a composer. I wrestle with the question tbh, ive done it my whole life (40+ years of composing) I have ups and downs, i lose faith in myself and then have moments where i lose myself completely in it and rejoice in how beautiful a process it can be...one thing i know deep down in my soul is that ill never stop, no matter the definition. xx
Nice one……and relax lol. To me a composer is anyone that can translate a narrative (script) through the emotion of sound (music) and connect the two in harmony. The music should convey what you are seeing through the lens of the writer
At the moment, I create music, not by using notation but just buy what I make up in my head and record it using vst's and a DAW. When you hear the final recording, you hear music, therefore i'm a composer. When I die, I will be a decomposer!
Real composer = any living thing (i.e. non-artificial) that makes music, as you say, it has never heard before. It's not just humans who compose. Birdsong and Humpback whales are excellent examples of non-human musical composition. (imho) -Rob
I kinda get what botty is talking about. But remember Platoon? I had to find out what that music was. It was Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. Whoa! what a tune! But what if Sam B was a jobbing film and TV composer? Would we go ape sh!t over everything he did? Would we weep to the music of him doing a jam commercial?
I do wish there was another word for what we do, I never feel comfortable telling someone I'm a composer as it sounds overly grand. I just say I write music for film and T.V
A composer is someone who composes music, as an artist is someone who creates art - what that art looks or feels like, or how that art makes the object of the art feel is the same for as how a listener hears or listens to or feels about a composition, and that composition might not even contain music. There is no 'real' about it. Whistling a random tune is a composition. Being lucky enough to remember that tune, run home and record it quickly and turn it around into a piece of commercial music is a talent for sure but the composition always comes from within. We are all real composers. Ya boo snubs botty....
With TV and Film, the majority of the time, the music and sound effects are there to support and enhance the visuals. Of course a good soundtrack stands on its own merits, but perhaps this is a comment on the blandness of the ideas and the visuals. Epic moment, quiet moment, tense moment, adventure theme, mystery theme, etc... It doesn't seem so hard to string together a few cues, and I can see AI doing this easily soon. Perhaps 'real composing' is the freedom to operate outside of someone else's story, and make your own.
Music exists as an experience, not as ink on a page. The essence of composition is the ability to create and shape that experience, and this happens in our mind and the airwaves, not on paper. Musical notation is simply a tool.. a means to capture and communicate ideas. It was invented for convenience, to allow ideas to travel and be shared, not as a prerequisite for creation. Many of the world’s most celebrated composers and musicians spanning cultures and centuries have never used traditional notation, relying instead on memory, improvisation, or oral transmission. Think of jazz legends like Charles Mingus, or self-taught creators in genres ranging from folk to electronic music. Their compositions have moved millions, proving that the medium of creation is irrelevant; the music itself is what matters. You wouldn’t expect a master chef to have authored recipe books to be considered "real." Their skill is in crafting dishes that delight, nourish, and inspire, and the same is true for music. Whether your compositions are written down, recorded, or simply performed, the act of creating something that moves others defines you as a composer. The most important proof is in your output. If you are creating music that expresses something unique, music that people connect with or that fulfills your creative purpose, then you are undeniably a composer. Nobody can take that away from you, not even a piece of paper. Take it easy man
And by the way, as a fellow Brit who has lived in LA and wandered those hills myself in contemplation of my own identity on more than one occasion. It is important to stay grounded while you are out there and don't pay too much attention to what others think. Hollywood is a funny place and there are a lot of people ready to inject hurtful comments over cocktails or over dinner. That says more about them than you. It is a cut-throat business out there and full of gatekeepers circling like vultures looking to take others down, especially "outsiders". But that kind of behaviour often comes from insecurity and jealousy. It says more about them than it does you. The key is not to let these kinds of people get us down, because that is what they want. Enjoy the hills. Wish I was there myself. Maybe go up to Santa Clarita and get out of town a bit. It's nice up there. Later dude!
I think you are right, we’re all composer. Perhaps some people who particularly enjoy being one push farther and make it official. To be able to express yourself as a composer and communicate with the world with that wonderful language, you need many skills. Those skills are tools, mediums, ways to say want you need. Music notation is just one tool. It may has been more important in a time where we didn’t have as many as today. But nowadays, thanks to technology and the democratization of music, music notation, if still useful, is far to being mandatory. And having a particular tool or skill will never make you a better composer! The only thing that matters at the end of the end is the music you compose, you message you convey, the result you achieve! As always great video, thank you Christian!
It's not about "real" composer, it's about "good" versus "bad", or "original" versus "copied" compositions. Anyone who creates music (sheet music or in a DAW) is a "real" composer. Whether what they composed is "good" or not is another question. I watch lots of TV shows. Sometimes the music adds a lot, sometimes it does not. Sometimes it sounds like "same old thing" and sometimes it sounds original (not often). IMHO just because it sounds like something else does not mean it does not work (copying is fine). Sorry but IMHO this is not an interesting topic. What would be interesting is a look at example of music that works and music that does not and why. And is it original or not? Subjective yes, but interesting.
I'd say you do know how to teach. You do it with every video. The trouble is that there are many who point out the obvious, but very few have any solutions. Look, the roof is on fire! Yes, and what are you going to about it? Get a fire extinguisher, or stand there and point, and state the obvious? Silly people make silly comments. To taken seriously, you should make a statement, and then qualify it. Real composers like who? Berlioz, Stravinsky, or even Chopin? John Williams, or Jamiroquai? Great video, but ignore the silly trolls. To compose (even badly) makes you a composer by definition. Even a bad composer is real by default. Perhaps he meant to say, "A Great Composer."
Thanks to Ai, there is only ONE definition for "real" and I refuse, personally at least, to go down ANY rabbit hole that needs to bandy about terms like "real" in any OTHER way... Notation and writing things down IS valuable in the same way as books & hard drives etc are valuable and the notion/ability to avoid being constricted by such things as notation & such is as important as it was when legends and stories were transmitted, either by choice or situation, by word-of-mouth. IF you managed to come up with something new or at least a variation on something else that hasn't been done before then you're a composer But just like carpenter or cook it's just a word and there are better things to worry about than what boils down to mere pedantics IF botty is real and IF they are talking about something other than Ai then the fact that they cannot communicate their ideas fully is another reason to ignore this subject, it seems to me! (Apologies to botty if they are an Ai or in other ways immortal as my waffle will not pertain to them!)
I´ll stick to Frank Zappa´s definition of a composer: composition is a process of organisation - as long as you can conceptualize what that organizational process is, you can be a composer. and don´t forget to put a frame around your work, so people now where the art stops and the real world begins. btw: please put on a hat when you are exposing your head to the Hollywood sunshine so intensively next time, dear Christian.
There is a saying in our language......Barking dogs don't stop the caravan. Keep walking Chris ,you are a great inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people . Lots of love and respects❤
Composing is creating. There is no black and white, it's a series of grey. Is there any composer of the quality of Bach? I compose. I'll never be Bach. Who cares. It's fun.
This argument of being a "real something" is a complete nonsense. Above all, it is an argument that has been implemented by certain "classes" who, perhaps not being naturally creative, have learned to be so by studying methods through a language of teaching, that others, who preceded them, have implemented long ago. In other words, it's almost the same as asking to someone who can't read if he/she is a real person, if he/she knows how to walk, if he/she knows how to breathe, eat, think, talk. I know how to read and write music but I rarely depend on it and I deeply despise all of those who try to elevate themselves based on their diploma straws. I have met some of these people and deep down they prove me to be merly incompetents in most cases. Who is really good, do not need to invoke such arguments. Don't waste time with stupidities that people say or you won't do anything else interesting in life anymore. Stay safe.
We are all artists. Just the act of living is creation. We create thoughts constantly and express them in a multitude of ways. Even creating egg on toast is an act of creation, or composition.
real question... what are the chances... that really by chance, this person just happens to be watching stuff that by some miracle is all done by the same composer? my sister has this thing that by chance all her favorite movies happen to be hans zimmer scores ALL of them... and she's aware of it... so i wonder... cause no shade to this composer but everytime i dont like a score.... its ramin djawadi for some reason... im not saying he's bad!!! im just saying for some reason every time i dont like it, it happens to be him
Interesting. Personally I really click with Ramin Djawadi's music, but that still makes neither of us right or wrong... it just highlights that there are differing tastes. I wonder if "Botty" was complaining that he hasn't been encountering enough music that caters to his personal taste, be that wide or narrow in it's diversity.
@@Ephergie right!! that also doesnt make the music any more or less adequate for the picture it's on either.... could be that botty doesnt have a taste for film scores or just... cant tell the difference. i would love a list of composers he's actually actively listened to in order to come to this conclusion
Hahaha, fantastic video, the restricted entry sign was sublime. I would say about botty's comment that it sounded a lot like all the other useless ego driven comments you see on all channels.
When people say similar comments to me about 'what is a REAL composer', I always refer back to a similar video that CH did answering that question in a different way - it's about creating a spark! And however you choose to create that spark is entirely up to you. Gorgeous ranting as always Big Guy! ✊
Composing is creating original music. Whether that is liked by the listener is down to taste, emotional connection and potential snobery. What I loved more than anything on this video is that the message is anyone can compose but many believe they cant. That lack of belief is not helped when people try to elevate creators to a position of the unobtainable. Congratulations Christian in your quest to encourage people to compose without fear and discover the creator that is inside us all, but that will never happen if we dont give it a try. I wonder if botty has ever created music or is he/she just a replicator.
In my experience, that form of gatekeeping is usually from someone who is either stuck in academia or really can't hang on a very high profile reading gig. The very strong readers have been on gigs with musicians who can't read and learn to appreciate their different musical skills.
I would imagine that “Botty” assumed that his grades in music school would translate into commercial success, and when that failed he can’t get the taste of the sour grapes out of his mouth. Too many sour grapes can turn you into a troll. Poor “Botty”.
Well people call Hans Zimmer a fake composer who is on a legendry level. he created instruments for Dune and did majority of iconic music in modern era. Botty people will always complain because things doesn't work like how they imagined it to be. To them people take "shortcuts" and think its easy to do it with those shortcuts. because of that, In their head, people doesnt deserver the title they hold so highly in their mind.
The ones who struggle with theory and writing can’t stop making videos about it. One thing is not writing down, other thing is not being able to read the greatest composers. This helps the decadence of what we achieved in art. And fun fact: they still want to behave like „orchestral composers „ SOMEHOW.
An interesting perspective. So by this measure, does that mean that a dyslexic author who puts their tale to an audio medium instead of writing it down is in some way a lesser author than one who has fine penmanship, and has personally read the great works rather than listened to the audiobooks? Or is the dyslexic simply adapting to circumvent their physical limitations and thereby allowing others to follow suit? Furthermore, does one have to have read and analysed the great works to produce content of worth? I would submit that to do so will indeed enrich the creative pallet and broaden one's understanding immensely, regardless of the art form, but is in no way a prerequisite to creativity.
@@Ephergie to add on to that, “great works” are entirely subjective. To one person, the greatest composer of all time might be Bach. To someone else it might be John Williams, or Miles Davis, or Kurt Cobain, or Aphex Twin, or anyone, really
A composer is someone who decorates time with sound.
Beautifully put
A novel description and a lovely statement 🙂
Taste is the most important factor when making music. All the knowledge in the world won't replace taste.
That’s so true! Even skill level won’t replace taste.
One of my teachers at conservatory used "became a real composer" as a euphemism for dying, so there's that.
I was in my very late 40's when I stumbled across your launch film for the BBCSO library. I'd played piano by ear a little and the same with guitar when I was a lad. One of my own boys wanted to learn piano so I took a few lessons with him too (which didn't last) but it was your talks about composing that inspired me to write music rather than play it. I'd always thought the barrier was not knowing theory or being proficient with an instrument and, while they can indeed be helpful, they turned out to be far form essential. Learning those has begun to emerge naturally from just embracing the need to create. I was given a pencil and paper as a boy and that led to a career writing and drawing comics because it just allowed me to create and I've learned a huge amount over decades of doing it (almost 40 years as a full time pro) but the music technology we have now is like that pencil and all you've said before helped encourage me to access what was already there. Even if I don't share the music I write, it gives me enormous pleasure to make it and in the end, that's all that matters. So, thanks Christian; the kick up my creative arse has been a joy.
The Best lesson I got in composition was in school when our music teacher picked up a chair and threw it onto the ground in the middle of the classroom with an almighty crash. He said "if you can do that at the same time everytime, that is music."
Incredible how Vangelis never wrote down a single note nor could he read music, yet a few copyist did all that for him. Wow
SRV and Irving Berlin too
@@zenchiefengineer And don't forget Lionel Bart
I'm a classically trained musician/composer/orchestrator, but I've spent decades professionally straddling the classical/jazz/R&B/rock/folk worlds. With the large number of artists I've worked with over the years, it's pretty obvious to me that there are MANY ways to skin a cat, and assimilate a high degree of musical knowledge outside of traditional notation. The one big advantage I see with having a really good knowledge of theory and traditional notation is the ability to get things down, look at them, and quickly figure out what's actually going on so that you can really understand it (which also gives you the ability to document/catalog it, replicate it, or make something in a similar style, or mash one style up with another style). But, there are countless musical traditions in various cultures that organize and master an insane amount of complexity without traditional western musical theory and notation. One genre that consistently blows me away, that does not typically rely on traditional western study of theory and notation is black gospel music. For organists/keyboardists in that genre, it typically relies on one-on-one teaching and demonstration (and in this day and age, it's blossomed into a lot of fascinating UA-cam videos). Without traditional music school theory/notation training, some of these players have an absolutely astounding grasp of melody and harmony. They do things I can analyze and figure out, but I'm convinced it's stored and accessed in their brains a different way than it is in mine (even though I'm a pretty good improviser). Here's one example that I really like, and bookmarked some time ago. LOW production value, and crappy audio, but listen to what Leonard Razor is doing in this video. I'm sure he could teach 90%+ of high-end degreed composers something about melody and harmony that they didn't know.
ua-cam.com/video/YwCxn2M89D4/v-deo.htmlsi=5rZPZUe8xTAvWtYX
you and i know why he can
Incredible performance! Thanks for the link
Ive been putting music to visuals for over 30 years of my life. So at this point, I feel Im more of a decomposer.
I completed my Crow Hill collection with a Ninja discount. Am I a real composer?
Enjoyed the rant, thanks for it, Christian.
A composer is someone who creates art with intention. 😎🎶✨️
After many years of playing an instrument, I finally opened my mind (just a little bit) to music theory. This enabled my heart to lead my hands on an incredible journey of discovery. I agree with your ideas about writing and composing music. I'm learning even more through recording my songs. It's not easy, but it is rewarding. I'm glad I found your channel and look forward to your future videos. Good work! Thank you for sharing. God bless.
I totally am with you on this. I used to just play with Garageband many years ago and some time later I decided to try doing Music. Yeah. With no formal education. I did quite a lot of tracks and only after it I decided that I WANT to know about what I'm doing. So I did one course on music theory, musical composition, read a book or two, watched a lot of videos. I know a little more but the more I learn the less I realize I know. And I became scared that I'm an impostor that people that know Music surely can pick it up. But then I decided it doesn't matter - I like it and it's not that I don't want to get better at it. And making more music is best way to make it better while learning some theory along the way. Cheers!
Love those views! Next video from the ocean please!
I disagree people are scared to disagree... (excuse the paradox here!). The internet is awash with it. What i find a problem to be, is that people don't thnk it's okay that someone else disagrees with them. (it's okay if you disagree with me here! haha) It is my opinion, that people have forgotten their opinions are not facts. And that opinions ARE open for discussion and disagreement without feeling bad or scared of the outcome. Can't we all just... get along? Nice video! :)
Excellent, Christian!
I think the core of Bottie’s comment, while kinda rude, actually raises a valid point. Now that everyone has easy access to recording music, it’s inevitable that much of the ensuing music is going to sound similar, especially when given the same tools to work with. I remember the first time I heard Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, it blew my mind how this particular group of blokes could, with the same basic instruments, produce something so foreign. Original music will always continue to be made from now to the end of time, but as the haystack gets bigger and bigger, the needles will be harder to find. You could give 10,000 people a 303 and a tape recorder and get likely very similar results, but you give one to a 16 year old Richard from Cornwall… there’s your needle.
Music preceded music theory.
It's a fact.
I always thought it was interesting that Henry Mancini would say that he wasn't a composer. He was a scorer.
Your words are music to my ears.😁🎶🎹🎶Play On
For me a true composer is someone that takes the time to write music that is unique (Like you said) without all the automatic software wizards (Including AI) that would create the music for you. Writing music takes time and requires effort. You need to understand what to avoid to write if you think it exists. A real composer is a person that is continuously learning something new, like a new instrument, music theory, learning new software, consistently listening and learning from others with research. This is a never ending process. I go to school for music to keep me up to date as a composer. But again, like you said "We are all composers". I feel we are all composers as long as we continue to be passionate with the love of continuously learning and writing music as much as possible.
To me, a composer is someone who writes music. Today, writing music can mean doing MIDI notes on the computer
At first I was surprised at how nice the weather looked today in Edinburg, being in Falkirk I was confused… then you pointed out the Hollywood sign 😂
Damn it CH. I’m going to have to watch this again. The background is too interesting that I got lost in what you were talking about 😂 It was like listening to Stephen Fry philosophise about Ancient Greece whilst sitting next to a lingerie clad Scarlett Johansson.
Someone who creates music in a tangible form is a composer. But I would argue that if it isn't in some sort of common written music notation there is a problem. I got the impression that you were saying that a point of composing is to share it with others in order to affect emotions. It so, then how does one share it and allow others to perform it if it isn't written down? Or do modern composers (film/tv/games) only want people to listen to it and not perform it? Being able to listen to music and re-perform it is not something everyone can learn to do. I can document many people I know who cannot, including myself, and I really want to and have tried hard to do so. Certainly someone who is deaf cannot. Based on my own experience teaching people to play the piano I have to say that anyone can learn to read music if they really want to. I'm sure some people have had bad teachers or were too easily distracted, or have some other excuse that allows them to convince themselves they just can't get it, but I don't buy it. Unless they have some sort of unique medical condition I would argue everyone can learn to read music. Even blind people can learn to read music. So the only practical way to share music so others can perform it is through music notation. It's not snobbery, its reality, if sharing our music with the widest audience is desired. I'm sure someone will find outlier exceptions to what I've said, but I will argue till I die that composers should write their music down in notation form. Recording formats change very frequently but (western) music notation has been very consistent for centuries. That being said, as long as one gets someone to transcribe a recording to notation, then more power to those who won't learn music notation but still compose. As to all TV/Film music sounding the same, I think the longer you are alive and a musician, the more things do start to sound the same. After about 55 years of being a musician, I find myself listening to and playing things that are night and day different, but I hear and see so much similarity in the underlying theory and compositional methods that it does start to sound the same to me. I'm even starting to recognize the underlying sample libraries that are being used. Plus too many composers try to copy the sound of other (more successful?) composers.
The orchestral sounds "we" crafted recently found their way into our latest documentary. With just a few keystrokes and the help of a rather versatile and innovative VST from a Hollywood Hill climbing company owner, we brought to life a composition that might never have existed otherwise. So that makes us a composer. It even sounds good. Call it unconventional, but we prefer to leave music theory and complex programming and recording to those who rely on it and make a living out of it. Moving airwaves doesn’t always require the complexity of traditional notation, education and the rest. Happy to see you made it back to the valley. We are all climbers, we are all composers. Let us know when you are in Washington DC. We have some hills to climb there as well. There is more to music making than Hollywood.
That bit about travel insurance 🤣!!! Thanks Christian, we enjoyed that walk with you, as much as we did listening to your commentary.
Excellent rant Christian! I have written and performed songs but don't consider myself a "real" singer songwriter. I have composed music and soundscapes but don't consider myself a "real" musician, composer, or sound designer. I create videos but wouldn't claim to be a film-maker. I write poetry but don't consider myself a "real" poet. If i was asked to describe my occupation it would be none of the above because i dont rely on these for my livelihood. By contrast i find people from other countries do not describe themselves by their paid occupation as we Brits do. Instead a plumber will insist he is a poet; a shop keeper may claim she is a writer, or a bank clerk may assert they are a painter or a musician. They see those aspects of themselves as more "real" than what they do to pay the rent. So maybe the question of when i will finally be able to regard myself as a "real" composer is based on cultural background as much as anything else?
Amazing commentary Christian, truly.
Your concept that 'computer instruments' are like stationery to sketch with is brilliant. Great concept. My only question is why is that not in your marketing material? (Forgive me if it is and I just missed it!😊)
You could have a tag line like 'just do it!' - maybe, 'just sketch it'!?😎👍🏻
Christian , I was hoping to walk on Arthur's Seat with you before I left Europe, and now I see you’re walking in the Hollywood Hills not far from where I live. Oh well, the weather’s much more friendly for an LA walk than an Edinburgh walk right now. Perhaps our paths will cross again on another trip.
As for being a composer, I agree that we’re all born creators. It’s not like composers have to be board certified. Sure, it helps to develop certain skills; but they are used in service of the creative nature we have rather than to create creativity.
F**k me!….It’s sunny in Edinburgh 😂😂
You can be on the sidelines complaining, in which case, you're part of the problem. Or you can be on the road traveling, in which case, you're part of the solution.
I began my musical journey at the age of five when I was introduced to the piano, though I initially resisted this path. Eventually, I played a grand upright piano from 1898, notable for its heavy mahogany backboard. My approach to music has primarily been through ear training, as I have dabbled with the piano over the years. Additionally, I was involved in choral singing from the age of three until the twelfth grade, where I developed the ability to sight-read for vocals. However, I struggle with reading music for piano or other instruments. While I can play the trumpet, I face challenges due to a physical reaction that affects my appearance while playing. My journey continued without digital audio workstations until 2010, as I learned to record synthesizers using a cassette stereo and later a four-track recorder, all without effects. My experience with synthesizers began with Radio Shack keyboards and progressed to professional models. I played in a band for eight years and pursued my own recordings, reaching out to various labels before the advent of the internet. I have utilized multiple email services, including AOL, MSN, Gmail, and Yahoo, but I do not conform to musical trends.
interesting you should mention the ballet notation - my late grandparents were great friends of ann & ivor guest who i believe were somewhat instrumental (!) in furthering the notation form that is used quite widely today. it's so bizarre to look at.
I think all composers have to go through a journey, and at the end of that journey, the best composers will absolutely know how each instrument they write for behaves, how to notate great sheet music, how to play many instruments, and a lot about music theory. As you move up the ladder, collaboration and performance by others is a reality, and you NEED to know that stuff to communicate with people at that level. You don't need to know it right away, and you don't have to be classically trained, but you can't avoid the elephant in the room forever and reach your full potential. Anyone can throw their hat into the composition arena, but you've got to learn what you're doing eventually.
"If you can't do, teach. If you can't teach, teach teachers to teach."
Hi Christian, I bought the Strings Bundle a few days ago and found that I cannot activate the Murmurations and Small Gestures using the serial keys provided in my account, I made a request in your support centre but haven't got any reply yet. Another problem is that I tried to use the Glass Strings in one of my project, although enjoying the sound through the working process, I found when I used key-switch to change the articulations, i.e. tremolo after a sustain note, it doesn't work sometimes when I playback the track, and the other case would be playback the track successfully, hearing the articulation change, but when I bounce the track to wav, the articulation didn't change correctly. At last I have to use multiple tracks, each track using one articulation, to solve this. Hope you can fix this in update versions.
over the last couple of years iv learnt how to build my own DIY synths and effect pedals ,most of what i make is probably just noise to most people,but for some reason i enjoy making and creating music with my broken electronics a lot more than using my sample libraries,i think a lot of people wouldn't consider it composing,but i feel its enough to make me feel like i am
At the beginning I swore you were on Crow Hill. But here it is, Hollywood.
Botty is welcome to write all the masterpieces he wants into the world.
Yes, those that complain can seldom perform themselves LOL!
J. Lennon of course was absolutely right being the visionary he was.
The latest new instrument I gave a go is called a DAW every time I look at the screen it starts filling up with sounds and automation and before long I am listening to something new, being able to place all my ideas quickly and easily in one place changed everything for me.
But to make it real I guess I would have to make money at it, when you get down to it that's the real sticking point for most composers.
Writing music took years for me to realize since I come from an un-musical family the odds against me were always higher it took modern technology to give me a last chance and it worked.
Oddly enough most of the stuff I write sounds like it is made for a movie or show and that would make sense since all the tunes have a story, maybe I need to start writing storyboards
I think this response to botty was right on point ..a great analysis of the mechanics of becoming or being some “thing “ and specifically in this case a composer. Also exposing the universal mechanics of that malignant creation ..invalidation. 👍
My best compositions were never recorded either in sound or on paper. I love the breadth of sound.
Can you do a video addressing the extreme lack of PRO royalties from TV/film streamers like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Paramount, etc? Because once terrestrial broadcast television is completely dead in the next 10ish years, I think the entire music library/sync industry will completely collapse. I rarely hear anyone ever talk about this, let alone discuss solutions.
Mike Oldfield showed us anyone can be a composer. You play piano pretty well as far as I'm concerned and you're a damned good composer too. I'm a composer and I have to learn how to play the piano.
I'm not an _anything,_ I just like making music of all types for myself. I like to improve what I do, and get better at the overall process. Does that count?
I don't want to put too many parameters on the term "composer" (although simply buying VSTs when you know precisely nothing about the idioms of orchestral instruments certainly doesn't make you one), but I do think the term gets interchanged with "producer" a bit too often. I would think that whatever one "composes" one should understand. If you want to write for violin, you should have a basic understanding of the range of the instrument, what is and isn't comfortable to play, and have basic grasp of the structure and idioms of various genres, if one is to lump oneself in with the type of "composers" that can flexibly write music to fit different genres.
Regardless of debating this, I really have to wonder why we have no more John Williams' or similar in our current generation. They used to be relatively commonplace when most filmmakers still had a strong grasp on the craft of filmmaking.
The closing scenes with ‘Restricted Entry’, referencing a desire by some to exclude those without the proper background and education, from access to opportunities of thought and action. The word ‘creative’ doesn’t require a rule book.
I'm an unreal decomposer. I've been multiplied by the imaginary number 'i', and I have a mulch pile. 🤪 What a musical composer? The composer is a person who comes up with a sequence of tones, and reliably conveys it to another person. Irving Berlin was musically illiterate, and he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs. If 1,500 songs isn't the output of a real composer, what is?
Our civilisation has advanced, but some descriptions haven't.
Writing down notes on a page is transcription, not composition.
The Beatles didn't read music, virtually every artist that inspired their music (black American blues and jazz players) didn't read music either. All of them are composers.
I am siding about 51.9 percent with Botty. A lot of modern production music sounds similar.
My real expertise comes from being old and listening and watching and subjected to a shitload of films and ads.
It amazes me because I know there is an infinite amount of crayons, paints and tools available to a musician's arsenal of things, still it often sounds too familiar and tired
I expect composers and serious listener's and commenter's to be critical and opinionated .
hard agree. as far as i'm concerned a.i drones have already existed for decades, but it's humans making the same music over and over and over and over
I know exactly what you mean, but it sounds like a lot of what you are hearing has been created to please a client. Could one argue that clients/directors/producers are only interested in hearing the same type of music that they know is tried and tested?
@@WillyJunior yeah that's true. to be a little more nuanced, i shouldn't have made it sound like an indictment of composers and their lack of ideas only. it's more the film and tv (and game to a lesser extent, but also games) industry ecosystem as a whole that facilitates this. i'm absolutely guilty of doing the same thing - pleasing a client.
but look at youtube and you see most amateur composers trying to sound like everything else, too. it seems to go both ways.
@@veenhond Got it!
Here's my differing view. :) First, I do agree that there is snobbery around, although that's true for every profession, and it usually comes from the fright that a new rival appeared. What I completely disagree with is the statement that we're all composers. That sounds very similar to Apple's and Adobe's awfully misleading marketing message about everyone being creative. That in two decades time successfully brought down the entire graphic design profession, and most of professional photography as well. Now, someone with visual ideas and zero studies at graphic design might not see the difference between an amateur's and a professional's work, but that doesn't mean they're interchangeable. The same goes for music. Playing an instrument or humming a tune for your own good, or your family and friends' entertainment is great. That does not make you a composer, just as cooking a nice meal does not make someone a chef. So your analogy with the drawing in the kitchen really doesn't work.
Anyone with some talent and enough practice can develop skills, but education is not obsolete just because youtube exists. There are levels of any profession that must be studied in an organised way, otherwise it will take a lifetime to figure something out that is actually available at school.
On music theory and reading music: yes, there are many musicians who get by without these, but they're either not composers, or they don't write for other people to play their music. It would be quite hard to instruct an orchestra without a score, and it would be quite hard to write a score without understanding music theory. I don't mean you must get a master's degree before you can call yourself a composer, but you need the basics, unless, like somebody mentioned in the comments, you're a genius like Vangelis was, who actually developed his own system, so he did not work without a working theory, he just made his own in a time where what he was doing was a pioneering act. But that's an exception, not the undoing of the rule.
By the way, I do suspect that whoever wrote that comment was actually referring to AI.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on the craft.
In my mind, while formal education adds valuable depth, composition at its core is about intentionally creating something meaningful, regardless of the medium, be it music, visual art, writing or code.
While traditional training enriches the process it isn't essential.
Consider Vangelis, (as you mentioned), whose genius flourished not despite but because of his unconventional approach.
Many innovators across fields have developed groundbreaking work precisely because they weren't constrained by established rules.
The principles of composition.. harmony, structure, balance... transcend individual disciplines.
Whether crafting a symphony or writing elegant code, what matters most is the purposeful arrangement of elements and the connections they forge.
I think there is room for both traditional and intuitive approaches.
Ultimately, it's the impact of the work that counts imho.
americas so dusty.... :) so english....i guess it doesnt really matter what anyone else thinks a composer is, do you enjoy the process, do you stick with it when times are hard, when success doesnt come your way ? Is their a burning passion in your heart to do it, if it makes you happy, do it and your a composer. I wrestle with the question tbh, ive done it my whole life (40+ years of composing) I have ups and downs, i lose faith in myself and then have moments where i lose myself completely in it and rejoice in how beautiful a process it can be...one thing i know deep down in my soul is that ill never stop, no matter the definition. xx
Nice one……and relax lol. To me a composer is anyone that can translate a narrative (script) through the emotion of sound (music) and connect the two in harmony. The music should convey what you are seeing through the lens of the writer
At the moment, I create music, not by using notation but just buy what I make up in my head and record it using vst's and a DAW. When you hear the final recording, you hear music, therefore i'm a composer. When I die, I will be a decomposer!
~ dun dun dun dun-ta dun dun-ta dun
Real composer = any living thing (i.e. non-artificial) that makes music, as you say, it has never heard before. It's not just humans who compose. Birdsong and Humpback whales are excellent examples of non-human musical composition. (imho) -Rob
I kinda get what botty is talking about. But remember Platoon? I had to find out what that music was. It was Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. Whoa! what a tune! But what if Sam B was a jobbing film and TV composer? Would we go ape sh!t over everything he did? Would we weep to the music of him doing a jam commercial?
I do wish there was another word for what we do, I never feel comfortable telling someone I'm a composer as it sounds overly grand.
I just say I write music for film and T.V
I'm more worried about you getting 'Ant Rash' . :)
So if you’re dyslexic, does that mean you can’t write a book or a novel?
A composer is someone who composes music, as an artist is someone who creates art - what that art looks or feels like, or how that art makes the object of the art feel is the same for as how a listener hears or listens to or feels about a composition, and that composition might not even contain music. There is no 'real' about it. Whistling a random tune is a composition. Being lucky enough to remember that tune, run home and record it quickly and turn it around into a piece of commercial music is a talent for sure but the composition always comes from within. We are all real composers. Ya boo snubs botty....
With TV and Film, the majority of the time, the music and sound effects are there to support and enhance the visuals. Of course a good soundtrack stands on its own merits, but perhaps this is a comment on the blandness of the ideas and the visuals. Epic moment, quiet moment, tense moment, adventure theme, mystery theme, etc... It doesn't seem so hard to string together a few cues, and I can see AI doing this easily soon. Perhaps 'real composing' is the freedom to operate outside of someone else's story, and make your own.
Music exists as an experience, not as ink on a page.
The essence of composition is the ability to create and shape that experience, and this happens in our mind and the airwaves, not on paper.
Musical notation is simply a tool.. a means to capture and communicate ideas.
It was invented for convenience, to allow ideas to travel and be shared, not as a prerequisite for creation.
Many of the world’s most celebrated composers and musicians spanning cultures and centuries have never used traditional notation, relying instead on memory, improvisation, or oral transmission.
Think of jazz legends like Charles Mingus, or self-taught creators in genres ranging from folk to electronic music.
Their compositions have moved millions, proving that the medium of creation is irrelevant; the music itself is what matters.
You wouldn’t expect a master chef to have authored recipe books to be considered "real."
Their skill is in crafting dishes that delight, nourish, and inspire, and the same is true for music.
Whether your compositions are written down, recorded, or simply performed, the act of creating something that moves others defines you as a composer.
The most important proof is in your output.
If you are creating music that expresses something unique, music that people connect with or that fulfills your creative purpose, then you are undeniably a composer.
Nobody can take that away from you, not even a piece of paper.
Take it easy man
And by the way, as a fellow Brit who has lived in LA and wandered those hills myself in contemplation of my own identity on more than one occasion.
It is important to stay grounded while you are out there and don't pay too much attention to what others think.
Hollywood is a funny place and there are a lot of people ready to inject hurtful comments over cocktails or over dinner.
That says more about them than you. It is a cut-throat business out there and full of gatekeepers circling like vultures looking to take others down, especially "outsiders".
But that kind of behaviour often comes from insecurity and jealousy. It says more about them than it does you.
The key is not to let these kinds of people get us down, because that is what they want.
Enjoy the hills. Wish I was there myself.
Maybe go up to Santa Clarita and get out of town a bit. It's nice up there.
Later dude!
Let's shake the tree in the left field a little and gather the fruit of thought surrounding Maestro John Cage. Is silence truly golden?
I think you are right, we’re all composer. Perhaps some people who particularly enjoy being one push farther and make it official. To be able to express yourself as a composer and communicate with the world with that wonderful language, you need many skills. Those skills are tools, mediums, ways to say want you need. Music notation is just one tool. It may has been more important in a time where we didn’t have as many as today. But nowadays, thanks to technology and the democratization of music, music notation, if still useful, is far to being mandatory. And having a particular tool or skill will never make you a better composer!
The only thing that matters at the end of the end is the music you compose, you message you convey, the result you achieve!
As always great video, thank you Christian!
How much theory and practice do you want before you make a track. The metronome 's clickng and I'm only getting older .
It's not about "real" composer, it's about "good" versus "bad", or "original" versus "copied" compositions.
Anyone who creates music (sheet music or in a DAW) is a "real" composer. Whether what they composed is "good" or not is another question. I watch lots of TV shows. Sometimes the music adds a lot, sometimes it does not. Sometimes it sounds like "same old thing" and sometimes it sounds original (not often). IMHO just because it sounds like something else does not mean it does not work (copying is fine).
Sorry but IMHO this is not an interesting topic. What would be interesting is a look at example of music that works and music that does not and why. And is it original or not? Subjective yes, but interesting.
composing is selective improvisation. - Stravinsky
Stravinsky worked in an opposite way
I'd say you do know how to teach. You do it with every video.
The trouble is that there are many who point out the obvious, but very few have any solutions. Look, the roof is on fire! Yes, and what are you going to about it? Get a fire extinguisher, or stand there and point, and state the obvious?
Silly people make silly comments. To taken seriously, you should make a statement, and then qualify it. Real composers like who? Berlioz, Stravinsky, or even Chopin? John Williams, or Jamiroquai?
Great video, but ignore the silly trolls. To compose (even badly) makes you a composer by definition. Even a bad composer is real by default. Perhaps he meant to say, "A Great Composer."
Damn 19 seconds ago and "No Views", I've never been this early
Thanks to Ai, there is only ONE definition for "real" and I refuse, personally at least, to go down ANY rabbit hole that needs to bandy about terms like "real" in any OTHER way...
Notation and writing things down IS valuable in the same way as books & hard drives etc are valuable and the notion/ability to avoid being constricted by such things as notation & such is as important as it was when legends and stories were transmitted, either by choice or situation, by word-of-mouth.
IF you managed to come up with something new or at least a variation on something else that hasn't been done before then you're a composer
But just like carpenter or cook it's just a word and there are better things to worry about than what boils down to mere pedantics
IF botty is real and IF they are talking about something other than Ai then the fact that they cannot communicate their ideas fully is another reason to ignore this subject, it seems to me!
(Apologies to botty if they are an Ai or in other ways immortal as my waffle will not pertain to them!)
My sister next to me was making fun of how out of breathe you were 😅
Hollywood Hills 💩 you can keep them. Give me Arthur’s Seat any day.
not with those glasses, you aren't
👍
I´ll stick to Frank Zappa´s definition of a composer: composition is a process of organisation - as long as you can conceptualize what that organizational process is, you can be a composer. and don´t forget to put a frame around your work, so people now where the art stops and the real world begins. btw: please put on a hat when you are exposing your head to the Hollywood sunshine so intensively next time, dear Christian.
There is a saying in our language......Barking dogs don't stop the caravan. Keep walking Chris ,you are a great inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people . Lots of love and respects❤
Oh and I play by ear and cannot read music
More importantly, are you even real? Cause with AI these days you know... :P
Composing is creating.
There is no black and white, it's a series of grey.
Is there any composer of the quality of Bach?
I compose. I'll never be Bach. Who cares. It's fun.
Christian, you’re feeding the trolls again.
This argument of being a "real something" is a complete nonsense. Above all, it is an argument that has been implemented by certain "classes" who, perhaps not being naturally creative, have learned to be so by studying methods through a language of teaching, that others, who preceded them, have implemented long ago.
In other words, it's almost the same as asking to someone who can't read if he/she is a real person, if he/she knows how to walk, if he/she knows how to breathe, eat, think, talk.
I know how to read and write music but I rarely depend on it and I deeply despise all of those who try to elevate themselves based on their diploma straws. I have met some of these people and deep down they prove me to be merly incompetents in most cases. Who is really good, do not need to invoke such arguments. Don't waste time with stupidities that people say or you won't do anything else interesting in life anymore. Stay safe.
We are all artists. Just the act of living is creation. We create thoughts constantly and express them in a multitude of ways. Even creating egg on toast is an act of creation, or composition.
Am i real ?
If you want to be …I suspect it is up to you to decide that ..
real question... what are the chances... that really by chance, this person just happens to be watching stuff that by some miracle is all done by the same composer?
my sister has this thing that by chance all her favorite movies happen to be hans zimmer scores ALL of them... and she's aware of it... so i wonder... cause no shade to this composer but everytime i dont like a score.... its ramin djawadi for some reason... im not saying he's bad!!! im just saying for some reason every time i dont like it, it happens to be him
Interesting. Personally I really click with Ramin Djawadi's music, but that still makes neither of us right or wrong... it just highlights that there are differing tastes. I wonder if "Botty" was complaining that he hasn't been encountering enough music that caters to his personal taste, be that wide or narrow in it's diversity.
@@Ephergie right!! that also doesnt make the music any more or less adequate for the picture it's on either.... could be that botty doesnt have a taste for film scores or just... cant tell the difference. i would love a list of composers he's actually actively listened to in order to come to this conclusion
Thank you for not discouraging us from composing!
Hahaha, fantastic video, the restricted entry sign was sublime. I would say about botty's comment that it sounded a lot like all the other useless ego driven comments you see on all channels.
When people say similar comments to me about 'what is a REAL composer', I always refer back to a similar video that CH did answering that question in a different way - it's about creating a spark! And however you choose to create that spark is entirely up to you. Gorgeous ranting as always Big Guy! ✊
Composing is creating original music. Whether that is liked by the listener is down to taste, emotional connection and potential snobery.
What I loved more than anything on this video is that the message is anyone can compose but many believe they cant. That lack of belief is not helped when people try to elevate creators to a position of the unobtainable.
Congratulations Christian in your quest to encourage people to compose without fear and discover the creator that is inside us all, but that will never happen if we dont give it a try. I wonder if botty has ever created music or is he/she just a replicator.
In my experience, that form of gatekeeping is usually from someone who is either stuck in academia or really can't hang on a very high profile reading gig. The very strong readers have been on gigs with musicians who can't read and learn to appreciate their different musical skills.
Awesome 'rant' Christian!
I would imagine that “Botty” assumed that his grades in music school would translate into commercial success, and when that failed he can’t get the taste of the sour grapes out of his mouth. Too many sour grapes can turn you into a troll. Poor “Botty”.
If all music sounds the same to Botty, the cause is not necessarily the music. It could also be due to his ears.
Well people call Hans Zimmer a fake composer who is on a legendry level. he created instruments for Dune and did majority of iconic music in modern era. Botty people will always complain because things doesn't work like how they imagined it to be. To them people take "shortcuts" and think its easy to do it with those shortcuts. because of that, In their head, people doesnt deserver the title they hold so highly in their mind.
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The ones who struggle with theory and writing can’t stop making videos about it. One thing is not writing down, other thing is not being able to read the greatest composers. This helps the decadence of what we achieved in art. And fun fact: they still want to behave like „orchestral composers „ SOMEHOW.
You don’t need to have a PhD in literature to write an essay
An interesting perspective. So by this measure, does that mean that a dyslexic author who puts their tale to an audio medium instead of writing it down is in some way a lesser author than one who has fine penmanship, and has personally read the great works rather than listened to the audiobooks? Or is the dyslexic simply adapting to circumvent their physical limitations and thereby allowing others to follow suit?
Furthermore, does one have to have read and analysed the great works to produce content of worth? I would submit that to do so will indeed enrich the creative pallet and broaden one's understanding immensely, regardless of the art form, but is in no way a prerequisite to creativity.
@@Ephergie to add on to that, “great works” are entirely subjective. To one person, the greatest composer of all time might be Bach. To someone else it might be John Williams, or Miles Davis, or Kurt Cobain, or Aphex Twin, or anyone, really