Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge I'm afraid.

I'm not one to 'toot my own horn' but I am a talented composer and pianist. I'm afraid that if I do poor my knowledge and feelings into compositions it won't even matter because the composer days are long gone. I feel like I'd be wasting my time. My soul was born in the 1800's. Why did I have to be born in this time. This saddens me greatly.

I think that kind of playing toots its' own horn.

rada

Ya ya.. still. My heart belongs back then. Not now with all of the stupid rock and roll and rap BS. Doesn't anyone else feel this way?

Follow your feelings. If you feel like you have compositions in you, then you should try to realize them.

The "composer days" may well be past for now, but, um, does that mean they can't make a comeback? I don't doubt that "classical" music will be within the popular sphere once more (Phillip Glass, for instance, still has concerts of his music being performed with new material coming out), but is this what music is about? Um...compose for the joy of composing, surely? If you write something *amazing* the state of the world will hardly keep it from outliving you...I mean, um, try not to get upset; keep calm and carry on
x

They're not.

Never let fear stop you from doing what you are meant to do. If you feel in your heart that you have feelings that need to be expressed, then don't let your fear of what others will think stop you. Composing is never a waste of time. Will everyone love the music you write? No, but that's the beauty of the world. We all like different things.

Follow your heart!
Julie

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that with the Internet, a composer can get their work heard and/or played around the world. In the old days, a person had little chance to have their works heard or even played. Even the very famous composers probably only had their works heard by a hundred thousand people during their lifetimes.

More good news is that back in the 1800s average life expectancy was maybe 40 years for most working people. So be glad for a longer life and the potential for wider audiences than most ever could dream of.

It may be interesting to read some history. You'll find that the musicians in the old days had to fight (or live with) trends too and had their own frustrations. An eye opener for me was "Music in the Western World - A History in Documents". It seems that in 2000 years or more there has been no period where musicians and composers weren't fighting against some restriction or some newfangled thing that didn't suit where they were at.

All this sort of soul-searching quickly evaporates once you get yourself into a situation where you're actually WRITING music (preferably to a deadline - with a performance as the goal). You'll be too busy to mope!

Rather contradictory assertion.


"My soul was born in the 1800's. Why did I have to be born in this time. This saddens me greatly"

What we have here is a failure of imagination. Lostaccato do you own an iPod? Obviously you own a computer, any other modern day conveniences? The composer days are gone?? There are more composers now than at any time in history. I will admit that anyone who composes in a historical style will have more challenges than those who adopt a more modern style, but not nearly the challenges faced by those who actually lived in the 19th century.

If life has taught me anything it's that we see what we look for. You see doom and gloom because that's what you're looking for. Try looking for opportunity and do the work necessary to take advantage of every little crack of it you find. Pour (not poor) your knowledge and feelings into music and go up against the best from music history past and present. You won't really know if you're any good until you do.

have you recorded any of your compositions/new pieces, id like to have a listen

Compose because you want to compose. Not because of anything or anyone else. The joy is in the process of doing it, not about anything that happens afterward.

step 1- compose. step 2- market your work. step 3- congratulate yourself on bringing the composer days back!!!

Don't be afraid to "JUMP IN THE WATER"
Put some stuff on you-tube to get some feed back.
I find friend relative comments aren't always honest.
Don't be afraid of negative feedback, learn from it.
Do you have anything we can listen to?


Dan

I think the thread title is the answer.

lol
And I agree with Studio Joe.