Musical Composition

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

This topic is exactly what it says on the tin. I taught myself to compose music over the past two years, and now I'd like to go ahead and have a chat with other people here on BZP with an interest in making original music.To get the ball rolling, what's your compositional style, if you could really be said to have one? I tend not to stick with any specific pattern for too long, but instead I try different combinations of ideas to see what works. In the grand scheme of things, I'm a fairly inexperienced composer with no formal training (though I get by with a little help from my more experienced friends), so experimentalism is really the only thing I could possibly get away with doing.On another note, what's your most ambitious compositional endeavor to date? Mine's a fairly timpani-heavy piece (unfinished, alas) that features several brass instruments, three string instruments, and a fairly healthy supply of non-timp percussion. It's my most ambitious project yet for two reasons - one, it's got the longest instrument list, and two, it's the longest piece I've written that isn't largely fluff and pointless repetition of the same phrases. I've kind of lost interest in writing that piece as of late, but it will come back to me when I figure out what I want to do with the flute-and-violin-based interlude.Well, I've held up my end of the bargain. Don't let this one go belly-up like the last time I tried to get you lot to talk about music!

[Legolover-361]

I've been composing music on the computer for almost two years now. I had been somewhat interested in trying to compose music for a while, so when the Bionicle: Next Generation project first started, I leapt at the opportunity. My first-ever composition was no masterpiece. My first really decent composition (in my opinion) didn't come till after I had been composing for a few months.Since then, though, I've composed a virtual ton of instrumental pieces. Some of my best works haven't been uploaded to the internet. Some good examples I have uploaded, though, are here (an orchestral / rock / hip-hop experiment), here, here, and here.My composition style of late is rather generic movie soundtrack-esque. I've used non-generic-sounding tunes, yes, but they tend to follow the same formula of a simple background tune or rhythm complimenting a main melody that then repeats at some point. I've tried to compose a soft piano or celesta tune recently, but right now it's just an up-down-up-down left hand part with the right hand playing kind-of-broken chords.My most ambitious compositional endeavor... I'd say my most ambitious composition is one where I purposely added off-key notes to add to the flair. It was inspired by a description I read of the soundtrack to Sherlok Holmes, and how Hans Zimmer had purposely looked for a broken piano to use in the orchestra. My composition turned out exactly the way I wanted it to sound: foreign and suspenseful, with two violins (one normal and one staccato), a cello, and a viola working together to add to the mood, and a guitar accentuating the piano melody. I want to extend the piece so I can include it on a digital album I plan to release on Bandcamp but haven't gotten anywhere with it, especially because I don't know how to continue.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Legolover-361

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Hmm. I suppose I may as well provide examples of my work, too.My very first composition will never be published, partly because I have since destroyed the file, mostly because it was a train-wreck and I only had the foggiest idea of what a key was back then.This is the oldest piece that I'm comfortable with sharing. It's been worked over quite a bit since its original version (the original sitar solo was very dull), but the core of the thing is still there.Meanwhile, this is only a few months newer than that one. Quite a bit shorter, but it didn't need to be reworked after the initial version - I basically hammered it out in a couple of days and called it done.Lately, my compositional efforts have tended more towards pieces like this one - collaborations with a specific friend of mine with some experience writing and playing rock music. These collaborations tend to be purely instrumental, and are usually started by one of us sending the other some short fragment of a song.EDIT: Also, I have to say, that orchestral/rock/hip hop experiment-thing you posted is really rather cool. All of them were fairly good, of course, but that was the one that caught my attention.

Edited January 25, 2012 by The Shadows Out of Time