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Just a minor comment... Wagner's music is (to begin with--although I'm not going further than that) tonal, Shoenberg's is atonal: there's *a huge* difference.

It was actually Shoenberg who tried to convince the world (and apparently succeeded) that Wagner was leaving tonality (with Tristan), breaking way to atonality. However, Tristan has little or nothing to do with atonality (atonality being lack of tonal center, and thus, lack of tonal tension): Tristan is full of tonal tension, phrases not quite getting to their destinations, etc.... It was Liszt, who begun to break the way, and consciously so.

snap_apple, i only said 'meaningless' to me or others other than composers themselves, which projects huge difference literally. of course, the music a composer wrote always mean something to him/her. but it doesn't mean it would mean anything to others. i wonder if such modern music would survive when only obscure 'language' they use in composition could be understood by themselves and themselves alone? who else actually wants to go through the trouble trying to understand such language or music, unless we have nothing else better to do, right? such effort may pose nothing more than anything else to music professors or musicology specialists, but for an average person why should we be bothered with that? if the music doesn't sound interesting or even pleasant musically when we first hear it, then why bother to hear it again and for what we need to do that? there's no point to most people who has heard some modern music like that. that's exactly what i actually meant about 'meaningless'.

i fully understand why composers want to be unique and show individuality, which any artists would try to do. Mozart, Beethoven and many others have done that in their time. but even then, they didn't just do it for sake of doing it, and they wanted their music to be heard and understood. i just wonder current age composers understand this simple fact? do they want to be understood or just to try being 'cute' writing stuff only satisfying themselves?

your right it does.

But it's like I said before, it's extremely common and normal for the average person to dislike the new music of their time. Yet the music does live on. Usually only a select few understand the music and enjoy it honestly but over time and over musics naturally evolving process people do come to accept and enjoy it.

Hopefully nobody writes something new or different just for the sake of being new or different. It will never work. Why? because it isn't honest, it's is an attempt, it is a fabricated way of trying to be individual. Nothing like that could ever come from the heart. In a situation where a composer sets out to do something new just to be different they are placing mind above soul and they are better off as inventors rather then musicians.

And of course their are composers who do this...a lot of them...it was actually a taught method from about the late 50's on up. And it is why much of the music from that period (modern) doesn't connect. And for that reson, I do agree with much of what you say, I'm in a way playing devils advocate. And mediocre musicians will also attempt to use their mind to invent to tricks rather then their heart.

But...it doesn't mean that all modern music is like that. Their are composers, the better ones of this generation, that really believe and live and breathe the music they are writing. It's honest and real...it may sound odd but it is more impacting. and that is how all art works.

I like to think of it like this. Their is no bad style. No style of music is bad or wrong or unmusical. Symphonic, Opera, Classical period, Baroque period, Rock and Roll, Serialist, Jazz, Musical theater, hip hop, country, minimilst...thier is no bad style of music. Their is only good or bad Opera, good or bad Serialist music, good or bad hip hop. You can't take one song from a genre and hold it true for all the other songs and song writers of that genre. Same holds true in contemporary music. Their are some brilliant and gifted composers of our generation who have a distinct and honest voice and something important to say. Their are also some who try and imitate or who give in to other writers philosophies and neglect their own or who feel lost in their time period and fail do to a lack of commitment to their own honest feelings. The question is which ones are great writers and which ones aren't. Time usually answers that question for us. But it's impossible to determine that answer in the here and now, we can just try and soak in everything that music has to offer us.

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, and would like to briefly draw your attention to my 2 original pieces (in the member recordings section) They are intended as the first two pieces in a larger set done in all minor keys. I'm exited about this idea of all minors, and my goal is to humbly offer the piano world a complete 12-key song set of original pieces in the shadow of Chopin's Etudes. I'm not attempting to "crash down pianistic barriers" which have already been shattered a hundred years ago. Nor am I attempting to introduce new techniques. I simply want to create a set of well-crafted, technically satisfying piano pieces which have not been heard.
I want the pianist as a serious composer to return to the fold and to be embraced by the classical community.
In the "Member recordings" section, I was expecting to find much more original compositions by forum members than I did. This forum is an international community of pianists, piano players, and piano lovers. What better a place to nurture new music?

Ethan, welcome. You'll find most of the new compositions in this forum, while you'll find most recordings in that forum. Sift through...there are a number of recordings in this forum.

I'm currently working on a farewell song for the longtime minister of my church on the piano. Starts off soft and ends with a nice twinkling roll in the Treble, which will sound better on the 6-foot kawai at my church.

By the way, welcome Ethan.

-The T

I've just taken to the idea of "polymodality." I heard in a recent lecture that Bartók hated atonal music, but he himself realized the opportunity in being able to use all 12 tones - so he often wrote a piece in, for example, C Major, but he used both the phrygian and lydian modes of C major so that he could use all 12 tones. (phrygian + lydian is the only polymodal combination that gives all 12 tones)

So, I'm working on a piece called (what else?) "polymodality." I'm using both the phrygian and lydian modes so that I can use all 12 tones, and possibly still give some sense of "tonality" to the piece (hopefully).

Sounds like fun, PJ. I just wrote a little cadenza to Liszt's Hungarian No 2 because I can't stand the other one or two I hear people play. (They drive me insane...)

Care to listen?

It's rendered through "Finale". I have sheet music if you'd like to see it. I'll try to upload all that now. It's pretty short...only about 3-4 pages. And I put the "previous section" and the "end" in just so you get a sense of how it fits.

lol!!!

Symphony No.1 in B minor
Piano Concerto No.5 in Bb Major, II , III
Some preludes, some nocturnes.

Thats about it right now. I've been really busy lately so I am trying to minimize the number of works i have until im not soo busy!

Im writing a set of preludes. I think ill do 12 now, then another 12 in a decade or so. Then compare them. That'd be really interesting.

If your interested, I think about 6 of them are posted here;

members.sibeliusmusic.com/brucejefferies

I just finished this soundtrack for a song called "Captured In Eternity".
http://www.artistcollaboration.com/~johnny-boy/WMA-CAPTURED-INSTR.wma
Best, John

I love writing preludes...they're so much fun. You never know when you're going to write a little gem that stands on its own and says, nodding as vigorously as it can for a little guy, "I can play with the big boys!"

Here's my lastest one: Link to Thread

Currently I'm working on the massive project of rewriting and revamping all my early works. I haven't composed anything really new in the past few months, but nobody knows when the muse will strike next...

Nothing.

Actually, I continue to sketch music but I haven't been able to devote the time to polish them up.

Symphony No.1 in B minor
Piano Concerto No.5 in Bb Major, III
Set of 24 preludes (on prelude No.5)
Clarinet Sonata No.1 in Db Major, I, II, III

and I just finished a Nocturne in G minor (I think I'm gonna post that)

I've decided to work on my own prelude set. I'm on 7 of "X" (wrote the first, fifth and sixth in the last 24 hours...the fourth, I wrote a couple days ago...it's the link a few posts up).

Any chance I can get one of you other prelude writers to post some links to your preludes? I'd like to listen while I'm like-minded.

Ballade No. 2 in E-flat Major
Overture to 'Earl Grey'
String Quintet No. 1 in A minor
Scherzo in E-flat Minor

whoo!

I just posted my preludes so far, Derelux. Go take a look!

I am currently working on several projects

My main one is a theme and variations for string trio. It is a compositional exercise in 12 tone music assigned by my composition teacher. I plan on writing 18 variations, with 2 fugues, one double fugue, and an 'interrupted canon'. I currently have finished the theme and 6 variations (including the interrupted canon)

I am also working on a solo piano piece entitled "the room of sound"