I am a clarinetist, I am in my third year of clarinet studies; I have studied harmony and I did three years of complementary piano, but I am not a pianist.
I would like to attempt admission to the composition course, but I have some questions.
First of all, do you need to be able to play the piano very well, i.e., be a pianist or almost one, or is it enough to be at a medium-low level???
Then, how does one understand if they are gifted for composing???
That is to say, as soon as I started, I felt quite gifted for my instrument and for music—I don't mean to say I am a genius or anything..., but my fear is that I might enroll in the course and discover that I am incapable of composing. I have tried writing small themes, but I never went beyond that, partly because I know I don't have the knowledge to do so.
Furthermore, I would need to study melody harmonization because it is in the admission program. In reality, in my harmony course, I only did bass harmonization. Are these two things very different???
Can I do it on my own without the help of a teacher????
Thank you in advance for the answers I hope you will give me
Arnold
D
Dante
Member
Reply 2 by Dante
Posts
275
The "complementary" piano course for composers was called "Score Reading"; I am telling you this so you can research its contents. Let's just say that it doesn't require you to play like a pianist, but it does involve quite a bit of work.
Coming to the other questions...
Harmonizing a bass line or a melody are two different things that require different skills, even though they share knowledge of harmony in common.
Regarding the presence or absence of a teacher, you can benefit from the insights indicated in this topic:
Then, how does one understand if they are gifted at composing???
I mean, as soon as I started, I felt quite gifted with my instrument and for music; with this, I don't mean to say that I am a genius maybe..., but my fear is that I might enroll in the course and discover that I am incapable of composing. I have tried writing small themes, but I never went beyond that, partly because I know I don't have the knowledge to do so.
This question deserves a dedicated answer.
I don't have many answers, but in my opinion, there should be the desire to write ideas....to try to develop them and so on. The fact that you have noted down themes is a good sign; the idea is fundamental...the rest is technique and craft, which is learned.
Let's just say that my doubt was precisely this, namely how much the idea counts versus the technique taught during the course; it seems to me that both are important, but also that without ideas one goes nowhere.
Thank you,
Arnold
E
Eagle
Member
Reply 7 by Eagle
Posts
264
Arnold wrote:
I would like to attempt admission to the composition course but I have some questions.
What is the difference between melody harmonization and extemporaneous melody harmonization?????
From a theoretical point of view, there is no difference; from a practical point of view... if one harmonizes on paper, they have all the time they desire and can change their mind even 300 times; if one improvises (that is, harmonizes extemporaneously), they only have the moment in which the harmonization must and can arrive.
In short, when improvising, one cannot expand the time factor; music is an art that unfolds in time... moving from paper provides its advantages; when improvising, one must have a great deal of internalized work behind them.
It's a bit like writing a theme versus making a spoken speech... theoretically, little changes, but practically, writing certainly allows for greater control and elaboration.
