I wrote a few smaller pieces, and going in high school I learned about form and obliques, last year I wrote my first ~15 minute classical symphony. Then I read a lot of books, wrote a few more smaller pieces, listened to a lot of 19th century orchestral compositions and now I'm writing a quite succesful Overture so far. If only little me knew big me would write such amazing pieces one day haha..
Nobody else gave me even music references. I know they are so famous composers, but still, i didn't know them very well, and this is a beloved exhaustive reference, so thank you
I'm very intrigued to see the rest of this series. I just finished my first symphony (which can be found on my channel), and I could not agree more with starting with several smaller pieces. I attempted writing symphonies (and "completed" a few) 8 different times before I finally felt comfortable calling by recent piece my Symphony No. 1. Before this piece I had written almost 50 different pieces, only seven of which survived to be in my current portfolio. Great video!
Excellent introduction to a most welcome series on symphonic writing. A composer should be very familiar with any instrument he is writing music for especially before combing these instruments to make a coherent musical idea. Also, studying the symphonies of Prokofiev and Shostakovich is a wonderful introduction to the "modern" 20th century classical symphony especially in utilizing unusual instruments or combining them in unusual ways.
I'm currently starting out in composition, and I really wish to compose symphonies. At the moment, I already have ideas for a solely instrumental symphony, and a more massive choral symphony. But, I know that I am still too early in my journey. I have picked up the piano barely even a year ago, and I have made my first attempt at a composition just about 3 months ago. I currently have only 3 full compositions, my first composition being a 1 minute waltz which I was more or less ok with. The second a 30 second short canon for piano which I was also ok with, and my 3rd full composition also being a 3 minute canon for piano which was just more or less an expansion of my first canon. I had spent much more time on my 3rd canon, which is about a week compared to my first waltz being mostly composed in just one midnight, and my 2nd canon which I composed during class. I was not particularly satisfied with it since it just did not make sense in a lot of parts, my harmonies were shaky during modulations, I used dynamics way too liberaly, and my vision for the grace notes was interpreted differently when I wrote it on sheet music. I was quite disappointed with it even though I had spent more time on it, but nonetheless it did remind me that I am bound to meet endless frustrations and failures when composing. I am currently trying to write a 4 part canon for a string quartet, which is a bit daring since I had previously only written by 2 canons for 2 voices, and without transposing the other voices. It is more or less going decently for now, and I am trying to be more cautious with it now, especially since 4 part voice writing is much different compared to two part voicings. I have also found the rather obvious problem of having to be very attentive to the clef you're reading after having to deal with reading 4 lines and 3 clefs at a time. But nonetheless I have higher hopes for my 3rd canon, and even though I currently have little to no idea to how it sounds since I decided to train myself in writing my practice pieces in sheet music only before listening to them to train my skills in theory.
Given that you've mentioned 20th Century English composers, what are your thoughts on Joseph Holbrooke? I know he was substantially more popular when he was still alive, but I don't know if his gruadual decline in popularity is well justified
Ol Drake for very short, try Beethoven’s ode to joy. It has a simple melody and a nice time and key signature. For a slightly longer piece, try Bach’s Minuet from Anna Madgalena’s Notebook or the Can-Can. A medium length piece would be Für Elise by (again) Beethoven Some good long (and slightly challenging!) pieces are Turkish March by Mozart, Turkish March from the Ruins of Athens by Beethoven or any Shostakovich piece. Hope this helped!
His credibility was established when I saw his collection of Harry Potter books. He only sounded smarter from then. Very great info here.. Just what I needed, thank you!
Thanks I am a opera/choral/theatrical music fan due to postmodernist beliefs but I am being pressured into writing a symphony by my performers/arrangers after I played for them Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. I am postmodernist like John Cage so I am really a fish out of water here I don't know if you've finished the series yet. I've written ton's of smaller works for a few performers and they get performed but I do not know any of the symphonic scores, nor do I even like most symphony. I really value these performers though so I hope this video series will be of service. I'm thinking of adding a synthesizer as my "big idea" like in one of my favorite operas Akhnaten by Glass
If you don't know or don't like the symphony, them my suggestion would be to not write one. That's the formula for depression from the composer and the players. However, a symphony is not at odds with most post-modern composers. Cage is best when viewed in a theoretical light. Take his ideas as just a single tool in your compositional arsenal. That said, think of the symphony as a novel with intricate plots, numerous characters, and an interesting setting. If you think symphony=novel, then you're more on the right track. Adding a synthesizer is perfectly fine and you wouldn't be the first to do so in a symphony. Bottom line though, you need to be familiar with the symphonic repertoire if you want to write a symphony.
Thanks for the concern i'm already depressed as I feel my music is declining so I need a change of some sort I will definitely watch your series. Thanks for rerplying.@@BretNewtonComposer
Hey Bret, really great introduction in this topic. But I`m not sure if you have to study a restricted field of composers or a single one exactly to be able to write a good symphony. I think the other points like orchestration,well educated in harmony, rhythm, form and (thats the most important thing in my opinion) able to write memorable themes are more important. Thats the point where the most composers struggeling. Looking really forward to see the rest of your series!
I'd like to suggest also becoming familiar with the symphonies of Salomon Jadassohn. They're all relatively short, around 20-25 minutes, but are perfectly crafted pieces of music that make use of both the orchestration techniques of Wagner and Berlioz, but also follow the classical sonata form-based structure and are perfectly proportioned and highly engaging to listen to. It would probably be easier to study them first before moving on to Brahms and Sibelius. Also: Mendelssohn deserves a mention. He was a master symphonist as well. + Schumann's symphonies got a place in the repertoire thanks to being musically superb, but they do have a somewhat problematic orchestration which is tricky for a conductor to get to work when rehearsing for a concert or recording. They can potentially sound muddy and unbalanced due to the relative force of each section that is involved if the original orchestration is followed, so often wood wind sections are expanded or alternatively conductors add their own dynamic annotations to the score here and there.
your speaking gives me anxiety lol but I feel you know wasting many years on a project too big. mine wasn't finished and kept me from making anything for years
Your voice is nearly identical to that of a friend of mine I once knew twenty+ years ago. It’s kind of a wild coincidence that you’d sound almost exactly like Paul Stella.
I recently finished the first draft of the first movement of my first symphony, and I'm proud of most of it but the development is lacking something. I will have to see if there is a video on this channel about composing a development.
I'm 13 and I'm writing a new kind of Romantic Orchestra and it's called "Attraversare" which means "(to) go across" it has 3 Major movements and 11 Minor movements (I didn't mean Key signature), here's my draft of how it looks like. (It may take to about 40 minutes - 60 minutes approx.) (For instrumentation, I'm trying to fit in modern instruments to it until now.) Attraversare I. (10 minutes approx.) Mvt. I. - (Molto) Allegro Mvt II. - (Meno) Andante Mvt. III. - Presto (maestoso)/ Prestissimo (repeated) Attraversare II. (Unidentified time approx.) Mvt. I. - Allegretto Mvt. II. - Vivace Mvt. III. - Presto/ Prestissimo Mvt. IV. - Andante Moderato Mvt. V - Allegro~Presto (Allegro to Presto) Attreversare III. (Finale) Unidentified time approx.) Mvt. I. Adagio~Andante Moderato (66~76 BPM) Mvt. II. Vivaccissimo Mvt. III. Presto (Finale)
@@Fabian102y7 I used Musescore too! Although I might to take a brake for it, cuz' a symphony is SOOOOOO long to make and I'm out of ideas, it's like 13-14 approx. minutes long and hard to make. Anyway, a symphony is composed of 4 movements, 1. Allegro, 2. Andante\Adagio, 3. Scherzo, Minuet (like a dance number), 4. Presto. Hope this helps!
I wish I had someone tell me that a long time ago! My first symphony was the first thing I started on once I got my DAW on my iPad with all the orchestral sounds, and it SUCKED! However, now I feel like I am a lot better, and am thinking of ideas for my fourth symphony.
In my opinion, a symphony should never enter a DAW until the final stages of playback (if even then). So much of the symphony is about the craft of notation.
While I understand that completely, it’s not as simple as that for me due to a visual impairment, thus making composing manually a LOT harder. I would like to be able to do that, though!
Thing is that chances are that if I study Beethoven's symphonies, with the intent of writing my own symphony, I will have an end product that is basically Symphony no 5 and Symphony no 9 mashed together. That or I will use the Fate Motif in a major key.Thing is, Beethoven influences me a lot as a composer, both in that Beethoven is encouraging me to keep going as a composer and to embrace the composer's blockand in terms of me using themes and motifs from his works for my own works. I used the Ode to Joy theme in one of my 4 piano sonatas so far, 5 if you count my unfinished one from years ago. This fourth piano sonata I am challenging myself to finish by Mozart's birthday which is partly why I chose the Ode to Joy as my second theme because it fits in well with the birthday context of the sonata. But of course I couldn't just transpose the theme. So I made the left hand 16th note Alberti bass to make it sound more like Mozart, the composer I am dedicating this fourth piano sonata to.
As wise as it is to study Beethoven, it is equally wise to study more modern composers. Trying to repeat the works of Beethoven or Mozart means you are just repeating what they said and not saying anything new yourself.
@@BretNewtonComposer I have listened to works of more modern composers and I don't care for them. Well, except for Holst and a few others anyway. But most have their pieces so atonal and so full of dissonance that I am like "Why does anybody listen to this, much less a significant number of people listening to it? What is so beautiful about practically being in the key of C diminished?" If there were a Classical Period revival movement, I would be so into it. It is like Classical music has diverged from its beautiful ancestor to jazzy genres and some very ugly descendants with very few descendants actually being beautiful and mostly consonant like their ancestor. I don't want to follow that atonal and dissonant path that so many composers have followed. Nor do I know enough jazz theory to be successful at any kind of jazz as a composer. I would rather stick to Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach, than compose atonal and dissonant pieces.
@@caterscarrots3407 It might be useful to take a look into the life of Dmitri Shostakovich, remembering that innovation is a *privilege* in this day and age. ua-cam.com/video/MCxzMYVvHBg/v-deo.html
I'm two years into any type of writing for music. I composed a piece for solo classical guitar and a piece for a group of a piano, an organ, and a drum set. I'm moving into getting close to finishing my 1st Piano Sonata. It's length is going to be about 13 to 14 minutes, but it uses repeats and there is one movement that lasts about 9 minutes because it's super slow (marked at the start as Grave [36 BPM] and eventually bottoming in speed at 10 Eight Notes a minute)
I have been playing the piano for 1 year and 7 months currently, i have started composing classical melodies at the first 4 months and built my way up, moved to longer melodies then songs, piano sonata and here im creating symphonies, i have created 15 symphonies 13 sonatas 2 songs and like 20 melodies, but i use apps to write my symphonies and it doesnt work, i have studied symphonies on the internet, but when i try writing it, its becomes like some 2 year old bashing the piano, but when i play it on piano its great, what im trying find is what instruments to use how to make them blend together
At just under 2 years of musical training, you aren't ready to write your first symphony. That like someone saying "I've been reading for two years, I'm ready to write my first novel."
I don't agree that everyone has to build up to write a symphony. Maybe most people, but not everyone. Some people just have an ear that allows them to just do it right away. It's hard for people who are not in this siuation to imagine that this is the reality for some few lucky individuals.
I know of no situation where a composer starts out and writes a successful symphony before they have written other works. It's simply not a thing that happens. In order for a composer to be able to write a symphony, they need to have a command of harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, form, as well as other less tangible elements. The only way to build this is to work slowly from smaller steps. It's like a weight lifter trying to bench 500 pounds before they've even been able to lift the bar.
@@BretNewtonComposer I would agree, arguing that Johan de Meij was _really, really lucky_ in this regard. He had written and arranged a few pieces for various ensembles (including concert band) before he published his renowned Symphony No. 1. One of my long-term goals is to transcribe the entirety of C.M. Widor's "Fifth" Organ Symphony for concert band, as this might be a good way for me to develop orchestration skills. (I'm thankful that Widor had helpfully indicated registrations in his score, which will end up being useful in orchestration.) The first movement that I might actually get around to transcribing is the Allegro Cantabile (second movement) as that movement lends itself to an intimate instrumentation (with woodwinds). I'm waiting until I can get my hands on Dorico before I do anything really substantial though, and I do want to develop my own voice in terms of what you mentioned in your comment _on a smaller scale._
From experience, I can say this: Don't wait for better things before starting something. It's better to dabble around with scraps than to postpone until you have more efficient tools. Life is short, and there's always greener grass beckoning around the corner.
You can download most of the symphonies in PDF form for free on www.IMSLP.org if the composer has been dead for longer than 50 years, their works become royalty free.
![How to Write Music for Orchestra [with the FREE BBC SO Discover]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EPYnmtylUVM/mqdefault.jpg)
Watching this so I can write 8 symphonies and then die in the middle of the 9th
KKKKKKK
@@_SHDOW_ Didn't work out for me
@@johannpetersen3637 POV jordan peterson if he was actually a nazi
@@frederickchopin3894😂
I’m so afraid of the “Curse of The Ninth” that I have to leave a gap between my 8th and 11th (Yes, I’m also afraid to write a 10th symphony)
I wrote a few smaller pieces, and going in high school I learned about form and obliques, last year I wrote my first ~15 minute classical symphony. Then I read a lot of books, wrote a few more smaller pieces, listened to a lot of 19th century orchestral compositions and now I'm writing a quite succesful Overture so far. If only little me knew big me would write such amazing pieces one day haha..
Interesting, I would subscribe your channel, may you give your SoundCloud?
That's great!
You may not have reached your goal , but it's impossible to not learn from two years of effort.
underrated comment right here
Thank for uploading this teaching videos 😍
I get it now! This video is wildly useful to me! I will be starting properly on my walk now, thanks
Nobody else gave me even music references. I know they are so famous composers, but still, i didn't know them very well, and this is a beloved exhaustive reference, so thank you
Thank you for this realistic lesson❤
I'm very intrigued to see the rest of this series. I just finished my first symphony (which can be found on my channel), and I could not agree more with starting with several smaller pieces. I attempted writing symphonies (and "completed" a few) 8 different times before I finally felt comfortable calling by recent piece my Symphony No. 1. Before this piece I had written almost 50 different pieces, only seven of which survived to be in my current portfolio. Great video!
I'm not fully sure where the course will go, but it will cover history, common practice, instrumentation, etc.
I'm only familiar with symphony of destruction, megadeth. So guess I have a long long road ahead of me. Gotta start somewhere.
Excellent introduction to a most welcome series on symphonic writing. A composer should be very familiar with any instrument he is writing music for especially before combing these instruments to make a coherent musical idea. Also, studying the symphonies of Prokofiev and Shostakovich is a wonderful introduction to the "modern" 20th century classical symphony especially in utilizing unusual instruments or combining them in unusual ways.
I'm currently starting out in composition, and I really wish to compose symphonies. At the moment, I already have ideas for a solely instrumental symphony, and a more massive choral symphony. But, I know that I am still too early in my journey. I have picked up the piano barely even a year ago, and I have made my first attempt at a composition just about 3 months ago. I currently have only 3 full compositions, my first composition being a 1 minute waltz which I was more or less ok with. The second a 30 second short canon for piano which I was also ok with, and my 3rd full composition also being a 3 minute canon for piano which was just more or less an expansion of my first canon. I had spent much more time on my 3rd canon, which is about a week compared to my first waltz being mostly composed in just one midnight, and my 2nd canon which I composed during class. I was not particularly satisfied with it since it just did not make sense in a lot of parts, my harmonies were shaky during modulations, I used dynamics way too liberaly, and my vision for the grace notes was interpreted differently when I wrote it on sheet music. I was quite disappointed with it even though I had spent more time on it, but nonetheless it did remind me that I am bound to meet endless frustrations and failures when composing. I am currently trying to write a 4 part canon for a string quartet, which is a bit daring since I had previously only written by 2 canons for 2 voices, and without transposing the other voices. It is more or less going decently for now, and I am trying to be more cautious with it now, especially since 4 part voice writing is much different compared to two part voicings. I have also found the rather obvious problem of having to be very attentive to the clef you're reading after having to deal with reading 4 lines and 3 clefs at a time. But nonetheless I have higher hopes for my 3rd canon, and even though I currently have little to no idea to how it sounds since I decided to train myself in writing my practice pieces in sheet music only before listening to them to train my skills in theory.
Given that you've mentioned 20th Century English composers, what are your thoughts on Joseph Holbrooke? I know he was substantially more popular when he was still alive, but I don't know if his gruadual decline in popularity is well justified
Do you have any recommendations of short/simpler pieces to study for composing shorter pieces?
Ol Drake for very short, try Beethoven’s ode to joy. It has a simple melody and a nice time and key signature.
For a slightly longer piece, try Bach’s Minuet from Anna Madgalena’s Notebook or the Can-Can.
A medium length piece would be Für Elise by (again) Beethoven
Some good long (and slightly challenging!) pieces are Turkish March by Mozart, Turkish March from the Ruins of Athens by Beethoven or any Shostakovich piece.
Hope this helped!
@@siddhoot bruh, these are such mainstream pieces (not that they're bad).
@@composaboi I'd call them classic not mainstream 😂
@@mikkelsv4804 and the long ones aren’t that long either lol. Probably never listened to mahler
THank you! Cheers from Jakarta, Indoneisa!
His credibility was established when I saw his collection of Harry Potter books. He only sounded smarter from then.
Very great info here.. Just what I needed, thank you!
Yeah it makes sense to write a ton of solo stuff first
Thanks I am a opera/choral/theatrical music fan due to postmodernist beliefs but I am being pressured into writing a symphony by my performers/arrangers after I played for them Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. I am postmodernist like John Cage so I am really a fish out of water here I don't know if you've finished the series yet. I've written ton's of smaller works for a few performers and they get performed but I do not know any of the symphonic scores, nor do I even like most symphony. I really value these performers though so I hope this video series will be of service. I'm thinking of adding a synthesizer as my "big idea" like in one of my favorite operas Akhnaten by Glass
If you don't know or don't like the symphony, them my suggestion would be to not write one. That's the formula for depression from the composer and the players. However, a symphony is not at odds with most post-modern composers. Cage is best when viewed in a theoretical light. Take his ideas as just a single tool in your compositional arsenal.
That said, think of the symphony as a novel with intricate plots, numerous characters, and an interesting setting. If you think symphony=novel, then you're more on the right track.
Adding a synthesizer is perfectly fine and you wouldn't be the first to do so in a symphony.
Bottom line though, you need to be familiar with the symphonic repertoire if you want to write a symphony.
Thanks for the concern i'm already depressed as I feel my music is declining so I need a change of some sort I will definitely watch your series. Thanks for rerplying.@@BretNewtonComposer
Hey Bret, really great introduction in this topic. But I`m not sure if you have to study a restricted field of composers or a single one exactly to be able to write a good symphony. I think the other points like orchestration,well educated in harmony, rhythm, form and (thats the most important thing in my opinion) able to write memorable themes are more important. Thats the point where the most composers struggeling. Looking really forward to see the rest of your series!
Who did the greats listen too to know how to write symphonies?
I'd like to suggest also becoming familiar with the symphonies of Salomon Jadassohn. They're all relatively short, around 20-25 minutes, but are perfectly crafted pieces of music that make use of both the orchestration techniques of Wagner and Berlioz, but also follow the classical sonata form-based structure and are perfectly proportioned and highly engaging to listen to. It would probably be easier to study them first before moving on to Brahms and Sibelius. Also: Mendelssohn deserves a mention. He was a master symphonist as well.
+ Schumann's symphonies got a place in the repertoire thanks to being musically superb, but they do have a somewhat problematic orchestration which is tricky for a conductor to get to work when rehearsing for a concert or recording. They can potentially sound muddy and unbalanced due to the relative force of each section that is involved if the original orchestration is followed, so often wood wind sections are expanded or alternatively conductors add their own dynamic annotations to the score here and there.
your speaking gives me anxiety
lol but I feel you know wasting many years on a project too big. mine wasn't finished and kept me from making anything for years
His suit jacket remaining buttoned when he's sitting is what gives me anxiety.
Your voice is nearly identical to that of a friend of mine I once knew twenty+ years ago. It’s kind of a wild coincidence that you’d sound almost exactly like Paul Stella.
thanks a lot!
You didn’t mention Schubert in your list of recommended symphonic listening. A grave error.
I'm composing a piano concerto for my first peice and it does take a lot of time
Did you not listen to anything he said at the beginning?
What do you mean by knowing/studying the symphonies you mentioned?
I recently finished the first draft of the first movement of my first symphony, and I'm proud of most of it but the development is lacking something. I will have to see if there is a video on this channel about composing a development.
I'm 13 and I'm writing a new kind of Romantic Orchestra and it's called "Attraversare" which means "(to) go across" it has 3 Major movements and 11 Minor movements (I didn't mean Key signature), here's my draft of how it looks like. (It may take to about 40 minutes - 60 minutes approx.) (For instrumentation, I'm trying to fit in modern instruments to it until now.)
Attraversare I. (10 minutes approx.)
Mvt. I. - (Molto) Allegro
Mvt II. - (Meno) Andante
Mvt. III. - Presto (maestoso)/ Prestissimo (repeated)
Attraversare II. (Unidentified time approx.)
Mvt. I. - Allegretto
Mvt. II. - Vivace
Mvt. III. - Presto/ Prestissimo
Mvt. IV. - Andante Moderato
Mvt. V - Allegro~Presto (Allegro to Presto)
Attreversare III. (Finale) Unidentified time approx.)
Mvt. I. Adagio~Andante Moderato (66~76 BPM)
Mvt. II. Vivaccissimo
Mvt. III. Presto (Finale)
Wow sounds interesting!
@@Fabian102y7 I used Musescore too! Although I might to take a brake for it, cuz' a symphony is SOOOOOO long to make and I'm out of ideas, it's like 13-14 approx. minutes long and hard to make. Anyway, a symphony is composed of 4 movements, 1. Allegro, 2. Andante\Adagio, 3. Scherzo, Minuet (like a dance number), 4. Presto. Hope this helps!
Gustav Holst is my favourite composer.
that's a short liszt, I'm sure if you go bach and think verdi hard, you'll find a few haydn that you could handle adding to your favorite composers
also, damn autocorrect - I said handel
Kyle Judkins I love you for this comment 😂
I'm guessing thats probably because you played the bass clarinet solo in first suite in e flat lmao
@@wildravez9963 Nope, the only time I've ever played this piece in a band class I was playing the alto clarinet.
I wish I had someone tell me that a long time ago! My first symphony was the first thing I started on once I got my DAW on my iPad with all the orchestral sounds, and it SUCKED! However, now I feel like I am a lot better, and am thinking of ideas for my fourth symphony.
In my opinion, a symphony should never enter a DAW until the final stages of playback (if even then). So much of the symphony is about the craft of notation.
While I understand that completely, it’s not as simple as that for me due to a visual impairment, thus making composing manually a LOT harder. I would like to be able to do that, though!
Ah, that would make it more difficult, though not impossible. Have you looked into the composition process of Joaquin Rodrigo who was totally blind?
No.
I just checked out his process, and it’s pretty interesting!
Thing is that chances are that if I study Beethoven's symphonies, with the intent of writing my own symphony, I will have an end product that is basically Symphony no 5 and Symphony no 9 mashed together. That or I will use the Fate Motif in a major key.Thing is, Beethoven influences me a lot as a composer, both in that Beethoven is encouraging me to keep going as a composer and to embrace the composer's blockand in terms of me using themes and motifs from his works for my own works. I used the Ode to Joy theme in one of my 4 piano sonatas so far, 5 if you count my unfinished one from years ago. This fourth piano sonata I am challenging myself to finish by Mozart's birthday which is partly why I chose the Ode to Joy as my second theme because it fits in well with the birthday context of the sonata. But of course I couldn't just transpose the theme. So I made the left hand 16th note Alberti bass to make it sound more like Mozart, the composer I am dedicating this fourth piano sonata to.
As wise as it is to study Beethoven, it is equally wise to study more modern composers. Trying to repeat the works of Beethoven or Mozart means you are just repeating what they said and not saying anything new yourself.
@@BretNewtonComposer I have listened to works of more modern composers and I don't care for them. Well, except for Holst and a few others anyway. But most have their pieces so atonal and so full of dissonance that I am like "Why does anybody listen to this, much less a significant number of people listening to it? What is so beautiful about practically being in the key of C diminished?" If there were a Classical Period revival movement, I would be so into it. It is like Classical music has diverged from its beautiful ancestor to jazzy genres and some very ugly descendants with very few descendants actually being beautiful and mostly consonant like their ancestor. I don't want to follow that atonal and dissonant path that so many composers have followed. Nor do I know enough jazz theory to be successful at any kind of jazz as a composer. I would rather stick to Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach, than compose atonal and dissonant pieces.
@@caterscarrots3407 It might be useful to take a look into the life of Dmitri Shostakovich, remembering that innovation is a *privilege* in this day and age. ua-cam.com/video/MCxzMYVvHBg/v-deo.html
as someone who mainly arranges and transcribes, this could help me.
I'm two years into any type of writing for music. I composed a piece for solo classical guitar and a piece for a group of a piano, an organ, and a drum set. I'm moving into getting close to finishing my 1st Piano Sonata. It's length is going to be about 13 to 14 minutes, but it uses repeats and there is one movement that lasts about 9 minutes because it's super slow (marked at the start as Grave [36 BPM] and eventually bottoming in speed at 10 Eight Notes a minute)
Can we hear you classical guitar piece?
Yo, 5BPM is a bit wack. I’ll be excited to hear it though!
*Work on short pieces, chamber pieces, and/or, solo pieces first*
I am going to digest this advice very heavily.
just sayin, shosty symphs are the BEST in my oppinion
I have been playing the piano for 1 year and 7 months currently, i have started composing classical melodies at the first 4 months and built my way up, moved to longer melodies then songs, piano sonata and here im creating symphonies, i have created 15 symphonies 13 sonatas 2 songs and like 20 melodies, but i use apps to write my symphonies and it doesnt work, i have studied symphonies on the internet, but when i try writing it, its becomes like some 2 year old bashing the piano, but when i play it on piano its great, what im trying find is what instruments to use how to make them blend together
At just under 2 years of musical training, you aren't ready to write your first symphony. That like someone saying "I've been reading for two years, I'm ready to write my first novel."
Great video- have you ever improvised a symphony ?
What about John Williams
He wrote a piano sonata in 1951.
Watching this so I can finally make a symphony of 2020
Good luck
Samuel barber, Shostakovich
(describes all the composers whose symphonies you need to know) There's literally a symphony of them.
I don't agree that everyone has to build up to write a symphony. Maybe most people, but not everyone. Some people just have an ear that allows them to just do it right away. It's hard for people who are not in this siuation to imagine that this is the reality for some few lucky individuals.
I know of no situation where a composer starts out and writes a successful symphony before they have written other works. It's simply not a thing that happens. In order for a composer to be able to write a symphony, they need to have a command of harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, form, as well as other less tangible elements. The only way to build this is to work slowly from smaller steps. It's like a weight lifter trying to bench 500 pounds before they've even been able to lift the bar.
@@BretNewtonComposer I would agree, arguing that Johan de Meij was _really, really lucky_ in this regard. He had written and arranged a few pieces for various ensembles (including concert band) before he published his renowned Symphony No. 1.
One of my long-term goals is to transcribe the entirety of C.M. Widor's "Fifth" Organ Symphony for concert band, as this might be a good way for me to develop orchestration skills. (I'm thankful that Widor had helpfully indicated registrations in his score, which will end up being useful in orchestration.) The first movement that I might actually get around to transcribing is the Allegro Cantabile (second movement) as that movement lends itself to an intimate instrumentation (with woodwinds). I'm waiting until I can get my hands on Dorico before I do anything really substantial though, and I do want to develop my own voice in terms of what you mentioned in your comment _on a smaller scale._
From experience, I can say this: Don't wait for better things before starting something. It's better to dabble around with scraps than to postpone until you have more efficient tools. Life is short, and there's always greener grass beckoning around the corner.
Oops...I wrote my first symphony aged 13...it's bad. Nos. 2-5 are also pretty bad.
6 and 7 should really be 1 and 2.
You have strong resemblance of Bill Gates in the way you speak and act. Cool :)
Ou seja...nasca de novo
I don't have money to buy all these books man 😭 im like 13 years old .... I can try to listen to them on UA-cam but I'm only a 13 year old composer :(
You can download most of the symphonies in PDF form for free on www.IMSLP.org if the composer has been dead for longer than 50 years, their works become royalty free.
Just don’t listen to his advice and compose away. You’ll only learn how to compose if you compose.
Oh no.... I HATE Beethoven symphonies !