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Go on, get it played!

makethingshappen

I don’t think many people would disagree that music exists to be heard, whether it’s a CD recording or a score on a performer’s stand. I’ll go further by adding that I don’t see the point of composing music if you don’t intend people to play it; music exists when it is realised in sound. The oft-heard tropes, by way of justification, are that students are just testing their ideas, or honing their skills, which removes the necessity of an actual performance. Even worse is the rationale that because the notation software is able to render some form of mock-up, then that’s all that is needed to develop. Wrong.

Of course, mock ups can be very handy, giving the composer a rough guide to where problems or errors may have occurred. However, these are modern tools and not a means to an end. Yes, electro-acoustic and many commercial areas of music, such as some media, TV and film music have compositions which exist completely within the computer sequencer and need not concern themselves with actual instruments; they can do literally as they wish, and therein lies the dichotomy. If you want to compose music (well) for actual instruments to play, there are many more factors to consider than the information from a text book or score program can supply you.

The fact is, there is no time for a composition student to hold back getting a composition for actual instruments tried out and played by a musician or ensemble (regardless of whether it is a study, exercise, project, assignment or otherwise). Never. The interaction between a student composer and literally any performer, ensemble, director, or even fellow composer, will always yield more useful information than sitting in your bedroom in front of a computer screen or book.

The ‘holy grail’ of experiences is getting someone to play something you have written. Students may well feel that they aren’t ready for this. Rubbish. The best and quickest way for you to learn and hone your craft is to get your music played. You will make mistakes and so what? Mistakes can be some of the best learning experiences! Getting music played needn’t be formal, it can be done anywhere, in kinder ‘safe’ environments perhaps, such as a rehearsal room, a private music room or even someone’s living room! Find a musician or musicians that you trust, or be bold and reach out to others nearby that you don’t know. Be humble and explain what you are doing. Musicians will almost always help other musicians if they can.

Give them something to play that you’ve written and see how that compares to how you imagined it. You will gain so much from the interaction between composer and performer: how the mechanics of instruments work; nuances and idiosyncrasies of playing them; considerations for writing at the correct level for the performer; how instruments interact and sound; what certain performers like and don’t like or find easy/difficult; even how your administration and presentation of score and parts can be developed for the benefit of the performer. Asides from broadening your understanding, you will develop working and potentially long-lasting relationships with performers you can collaborate with in the future. The possibilities are fantastic, for composers of all levels, not just students.

Listen to the technical advice you are given by performers and composers, don’t worry about aesthetic opinion, that is another matter entirely and one in which student composers get too bogged down by. Don’t worry about whether someone does or doesn’t like the style or general feel of something you’ve written, it’s none of your business what they think and you can’t ever please everyone! Twenty different performers will give an equal number of differing responses. The technical advice is what you are learning from, and this feedback is likely to be the same from any performer.

For the student composer, it is imperative that you seek out and find these opportunities to develop. This is what you are trying to achieve as a composer so why wait? Students who step outside their comfort zone and push forward learn much, much quicker than others. It has always amazed me that even in traditional ‘brick’ universities and conservatoires the undergraduate composition students (and even postgraduates at times) are reluctant to take advantage of performance opportunities and workshops. Whether this is through fear of failure, laziness or sheer arrogance I don’t really know. What I do know though, is that in not seeking out situations to test their compositions, they are putting themselves at a considerable disadvantage. Composition students should be champing at the bit to get pieces played. Please snap up every opportunity that comes your way!

Every composer, and it’s worth saying again….. EVERY composer throughout history has had to learn their craft through trial and performance. Many might have had the opportunities presented to them in college, or university, or conservatoire. Some, like Elgar, honed his arranging and composition skills in amateur ensembles, even one in a lunatic asylum! Many performed their own compositions, specialising in the instruments that they knew well, before branching out. Others, like Janáček, wrote and arranged through his experiences with amateur choirs, and Bruckner used opportunities in church music to develop whilst studying composition via correspondence. All continued to learn through performance even when deemed ‘professional’. Study. Experiment. Collaborate. Listen. You will develop.

So, as the title of the post states: ‘Go on, get it played!’

OCA students, and alumni, are all welcome to register for (via enquiries@oca-uk.com) and submit compositions to be workshopped at the music study day on Saturday 11th April at MAC Birmingham where we will be performing and discussing music for String Quartet and also Flute & Piano Duo. This is a ‘safe’ learning environment and a place to pick up a huge amount of understanding, not just from your own pieces, but from your fellow composers and musicians. You can find more information about the study day on the blog post HERE.


Posted by author: ChrisLawry

12 thoughts on “Go on, get it played!

  • Great blog. Hopefully students will take the advice on board. Music is a time and living art form, nothing static about it, and therefore it is only really music when it is being performed and not at any other time. We can only learn from hearing our music live, not on computers or in our heads.

  • I’m really looking forward to the study day. Please would someone confirm whether it is 11th March or 11th April? Thanks.

  • I think this is a terrific blog too and applies in all kinds of areas. I have done creative writing courses for several years, also study piano and am now trying out heaven help me interesting percusssion instruments.The number one requirement (took me a long time to work this one out) is more than “inspiration” it’s courage,the ability to find an opening and step into it.

  • Extremely valid points here and a knowledge of real instruments is crucial, for me though one of the problems with this article is that it sidelines commercial music – and for composers that want to earn a living from their trade, by definition this isn’t an option. Make it happen – absolutely. But in a practical scenario when a low budget film maker wants you to come up with an orchestral sound what are the options? On bigger budget projects, you may have to present a very convincing ‘mock up’ after all how many theatre, film and tv directors are going to scan through your score and say “Fabulous, love it, let’s book an orchestra and run with this!” If you’re earning a living from composing and disagree – please let me know.

  • Whilst my previous comment is awaiting moderation, I thought I’d bring some considerations to Andy Glover’s proposition that “..it is only really music when it is being performed and not at any other time. We can only learn from hearing our music live, not on computers or in our heads.” Yes in some senses the first part is right, but be encouraged, most people would consider any Beethoven score to be music, whether performed or not and you should apply that to yourself. As to the 2nd part, this is wholly wrong, we can learn plenty from our music on a computer after all this is the 21st century. Also you can certainly learn from the music in your head. Let us try to embrace new technologies along with the old and not lose our heads!

    • Whilst taking Toby’s comments completely at their true value, when it comes to commercial music whether it be pop or film etc I do agree, the computer is vital, but when writing experimental music the computer is and can be very off putting, and in actuality harmful as certain sounds that will work wonderfully in reality are discordant and harsh on the computer, that is unless you are fortunate to own a copy of something like Vienna Sounds as your playback software of course. (dreaming again)
      I suppose I am of the old-garde when it comes to this type of thing. Music is only music when you can physically feel it thrumming through your body live, no matter the genre; until then it is just print ink on pieces of mushed up wood.

  • I hope you haven’t got the impression that I’ve sidelined commercial music Toby. In fact I earn most of my living from the commercial strands of writing music, nothing wrong with educational, concert, media and film strands at all, we all have to specialise in something, and in fact, it’s the most fascinating area of music for me, personally. Everyone’s different though. As I stated, yes, there are plenty of situations where music can exist purely in computerised or midi mocked up versions; lower budget films, TV work, etc. etc. where budget necessitates so. And, as you rightly mention, virtual orchestrated pieces are useful in film production, in fact, they are a day-to-day tool that bridges the work typically between composer and orchestrator before approval for live recording.
    Yes, embrace technology any way you can. But beware of the pitfalls, and I stand very firmly behind what I wrote, if you want to write for ACTUAL instruments you need to find ways of getting your music played in order to learn. Otherwise you will join, in commercial terms, the ranks of the composers who have a limit to what jobs they can take on. In the film and TV world, this limit manifests itself as a risk to the production team in cost. If the composer cannot work outside of the sequencer you will need more orchestrators and copyists to sort out the composer’s mess so that it can be played by actual performers.
    Take a look at the production credits of various films featuring different film composers, some composers will need many, many orchestrators in the music department team to help turn their music into something an orchestra can play, others (who are much more skilled composers) will be able to function with far fewer, or any, orchestrators as they have done much of the orchestration properly in the first place, or have written with the orchestra in mind, i.e. they have thought how they are going to get their sound in budget.
    Leaving alone getting instruments to function like their sampled counterparts, sheer numbers come into it sometimes. For instance, a composer might write a section of piece which sounds amazing for 16 french horns, but it’s just not feasible to get that sound out of the required players. Strings are another bugbear on virtual instruments, if you are using a sample of 18 violins playing and then divisi out that line to 2,3,4 or more notes, you are then using 36, 54, 72 violins plus, a great sound but ridiculously unrealistic in terms of fitting an actual working orchestra.
    Basically, what I’m trying to say is, you have to know the beast to tame the beast.
    Of course, if someone intends to only compose via sequencer etc for films, and is lucky enough to get a decent break, and is then happy for an orchestrator’s team to sort out what they’ve written to make it playable. Great. Each to his own. Personally though, that would bug me, but hey, it keeps orchestrators in a job! (This is a job I’d love to get into incidentally in the future).
    I definitely didn’t intend to stir things up, rather point out that, regardless of you intended genre of music that you are composing, you will learn far more skills and far quicker if you can write anything for anyone and get it played. I’d just love to see more students taking risks and stretching their wings a bit, rather than shying away. We all have to take a leap at some point.
    All the best.
    Chris

  • Very mature and pertinent replies Chris and Andy.
    For the record I’m all for real instruments and Chris is very right that working along with musicians hones those skills; take note that Benjamin Britten wrote unplayable music for the genius Julian Bream.
    Being aware of the benefits of virtual instruments, like Vienna Special Edition £265, the capabilities and the limitations applies very much to real instruments, raising awareness that earning money from music usually involves at some stage a recording which with live instruments hugely extends the longevity – are all tools in the armoury for the working composer.
    My plea is that as well as the traditional and foundational elements of composing, new technologies are disseminated and encouraged which in real terms mean softwares like FMOD and WWISE and how these can contribute to being a more effective and profitable music making machine. Let us not be disillusioned, composing is an art form, but also a skill, much like being a carpenter and carpenters now need to deal with real wood as well as synthetic material as well as cut with hand saw and power tool.

  • That’s a very good analogy regarding craft and synthetic materials. ‘Craft’ being the primary reason behind my comments regarding orchestration.
    Yes, technology moves at quite a pace, it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens in the near future. I have little experience of FMOD or middleware interfaces but even in the more established VST, virtual instrument and midi over LAN networked mock up set ups, great things have evolved in recent years. I suppose it very much depends on the intended genres of production but it certainly pays to keep up to date with developments in your chosen areas. If only I could keep up with the cost!

    • Ah yes the Seaboard, it looks quite something doesn’t it?
      This is quite a good example as well for attempting composing for a new instrument, interface or even an instrument unfamiliar to you. It’s all new and slightly different which requires closer inspection and some practical try outs, once again falling back to a composer interacting with performer (even if sometimes composer IS performer!). 🙂

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