Hi.
How can an education in music help in composition and live performing?
Also, always faced the problem of unability to write down music that I would like to record once.
Thanks.
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no
but i think understanding the very basics of scales and chords is pretty important
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Gosford, Australia
there are people who go to university for several years to study how to compose music and they end up writing awful 12-tone wank so y'know i guess it's all about what you think is good.
i'd say it's definitely necessary to write "clever" music, but then there's got to be people who'd disagree with that too haha
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I think this sort of thing is talked about here from time-to-time. I think that some music education is very helpful to writing decent sounding music. Music theory exists because there are certain "patterns" in music so to speak that generally sounds good in certain ways. Such as chords, scales, arpeggios, etc.
Then there is knowing about pitch, tone, dynamics, etc. Knowing about all these things is useful in making a song the way you want it to sound.
Understanding sheet music and notations (can) make it easier to write and also transpose songs for different instruments.
If you're having trouble writing down music that you want to play is sort of tricky. It wold probably be best if you could use music software to enter in notes and have it play back to you.
People who have zero music education can still produce music of course. If using a program like LSDj you could just play around with the note and stuff until you get something you like or think sounds good. It might take longer, and be more frustrating, but it's possible.
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Finland
Nope. you need your gut, a pair of functioning ears and motivation.
It helps, of course, to know the technical stuff behind it all, but I really don't think it's necessary in the sense that you can't write anything worthwhile if you don't have an education. Also one progresses a lot of that (the technical stuff) gets picked up along the way, even if it is subconscious.
Last edited by my.Explosion (Mar 12, 2015 9:06 pm)
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California
Music education can definitely help but you don't need to go to "school" to get it. There's lots of online resources to learn the basics, and careful listening + lots of trial and error can get you the rest. That's how I do it anyways
Victory Road wrote:
there are people who go to university for several years to study how to compose music and they end up writing awful 12-tone wank so y'know i guess it's all about what you think is good.
^ also this
Last edited by VCMG (Mar 12, 2015 9:42 pm)
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Nottingham, UK
If you're motivated, willing to suck for a while and able to be self critical without being defeatist you can do anything you want without formal education in that subject.
A teacher can get you on the ladder more quickly, but you still have to climb it yourself.
Last edited by ForaBrokenEarth (Mar 12, 2015 10:09 pm)
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Michigan
Victory Road wrote:
i'd say it's definitely necessary to write "clever" music
However people would not understand what is being done because lack of lyrics. Being a musician, I highly believe that music fundamentals (such as theory and composition) are extremely necessary. Understand roots, major and minor thirds, triads, inversions, ect. helps with writing music and straying away from the same rhythm and time signature. David Firth made a joke of this on this Fat-Pie website under the animation called Music. Sad thing is, he one-hundred percent knew what was going to happen.
http://www.fat-pie.com/musicguess.htm
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind listening to the verse-chorus-verse stuff of today. I grew up in the '90s, so bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots have a place in my heart. Hell, Nirvana was as simple as they could come (until In Utero). However, I enjoy Chopin and Satie over anything else. It is music like Tchaikovsky that makes me think. Even Nobuo and his scores for Final Fantasy is what made me want to be a musician; what made me write music; what made me by a gameboy and get involved with chiptunes, and his music is art when looking at the conductors score!
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Detroit
I kind of look at it like a foreign language. While you can usually find a way to get your point across, if you know the ins and outs of said language you'll much better equipped to fully articulate and express yourself. So, no, you don't need theory to write/perform, and at the end of the day if your happy with how your material sounds more power to you. But, there are definitely aspects that require an understanding of things you might not put together on your own, or rather you can save yourself a bunch of time because someone's already figured those things out for you, you just need to learn how to apply it.
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Seattle, WA
Good music is purely relative, so no.
I know a lot of very smart theory students who can't write for shit, it's all about getting practice in and becoming comfortable with your sense of what sounds good and how to make things sound good. Music theory is 100% necessary, in the sense that if you're making something that sounds good you're probably following most of the rules, but with enough practice you sort of work out the general gist of it on your own. Being taught is helpful, and probably a lot easier than trying to trial and error your way to making good music but if you can't stand that kind of class there's no harm in just diving in and making it up as you go along.
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bitwise wrote:
Also, always faced the problem of unability to write down music that I would like to record once.
Don't know musical notation? Get a recorder, any recorder, your phone or whatever. Press record and sing, hum, tap out rhythms. You'll have at least a sketch of your idea that's better than no record at all.
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Yes. How else would you music correctly?
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Huntsville, AL
I have a BS in music and I tell everyone this. Learn everything up to secondary dominants, which in college curriculum is most likely just Music Theory 1, a single semester. After that it gets into the weird stuff that you'll never use as mentioned above. Developing your ear though will be ongoing,
Learning the basics wouldn't hurt: Rhythms up to 16th notes, pitch notation, major/minor keys/scales, intervals, constructing chords, inversions, roman numeral analysis, counterpoint, basic structure/forms (songwriting form would probably be more beneficial)...yeah, I mean that'll get you far. It sounds like a lot, but it's not that bad, you just have to be disciplined...it does take some time to internalize, especially notation. I recommend using a piano to visualize and put notation into practice.
One problem that I had and others who took theory had too, is after realizing that most songs are composed with the same chord structures, you may get stuck feeling uncreative for a while...because you'll be doing the same thing, but trying not to at the same time if that makes sense.
Last thing to remember is, theory came after music was made. Notation is just a way to instruct others how to play the music. However, knowledge is power. Don't let it hang over your head, just knock it out. MusicTheory.net is good stuff (learn everything on the lessons page except neapolitan chords...not necessary)
Last edited by 1-Down (Mar 13, 2015 6:32 am)
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Seattle, WA
1-Down wrote:
I have a BS in music and I tell everyone this.
I just BS'd my way through music theory.
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Huntsville, AL
Dire Hit wrote:
1-Down wrote:I have a BS in music and I tell everyone this.
I just BS'd my way through music theory.
lol, how?
"Name this note."
"G-sharp."
"That's a D-sharp..."
"Yeah, D-sharp, that's what I said..."
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brooklyn
definitely not necessary in any way, but it can be helpful. as long as you don't take it too seriously.
I just finished my bachelors of music (in music tech) and I would absolutely say that it has improved my composition abilities (and ears and production and analysis and lots of other things). I even learned to appreciate/understand "12-tone wank" and that's kind of nice too I guess.
It's also very easy to get way too sucked into academia and completely lose any ability to be creative and actually enjoy music. my best professors were definitely those who weren't quite so concerned with writing perfect counterpoint for everything ever all the time.
do whatever works for you.
DEFINITELY NOT NECESSARY
BUT IT CAN BE NICE