I was wondering if any of you ever get tired of playing music of the composers from centuries ago. Lately I have been thinking about people who spend their life trying to master the works other people wrote, and not writing any yourself. I think that if all these genius composers were reborn, they would be playing rock and roll gigs, writing broadway, new opera/symphonies... and not spending hours of day trying to be someone else. What are your thoughts?

i guess that if i would have been able to compose even 20% as good as those genius composers, i would put at least half of my time playing my own compositions. unfortunately, most people are just like me, so out of appreciation of those music genius, we would just play their music instead!

Nothing wrong with playing old music. But I see no point in writing old music. There's a lot of old music around already, and it's not much use trying to imitate Mozart since there's already a lot of (better) real Mozart out there. Better write new music.

Writing old music in a new way = good. Writing new music in an old way = bad. Writing new music = good and bad.

Why do I play music of the past? BECAUSE IT'S JUST PLAIN AWESOME! Show me a composer today with the genius of a Bach? or a Beethoven? The pieces I'm learning today at the age of 29 they wrote when they were kids. I'd rather play old music that makes me happy than some of the modern/avant garde **** I hear today. And remember, the music of the "old" composers was considered radical at the time. If you think about it, if these composers never broke loose from the conventional music writing at the time, we would still be singing Gregorian chants. Needless to say, you do have a great point. New music should be written and played but it must be original, and yet still have form and musical inventiveness, not just notes thrown on paper, which I hear a lot of today.
sorry if i'm a little harsh. I actually love modern music, but "good" modern music.

all of them did study, know of and were influenced by the great composers that came before them. Most all of them to some extent took the time to learn, play and perform their works. Liszt is a great example of somebody who spent many hours studying playing the music of composers who came before him, as well as composers of his era and composing himself. But thats Liszt, a piano virtuoso by nature, more realistically most composers were competent in at least one instrument and still put in hours learing old repertoire...because you learn a tremendous amount from the past.

Honestly it's not about trying to be someone else it's being yourself through somebody elses voice. We all feel the same emotions as human beings but some just write it down better...whether it's composing or writing a book, or a speech, or a script.

Some people communicate their emotions better through physical means...like dancing, acting, speaking, singing or even playing an instrument. Maybe these people can't write thier emotions down well so they rely on the above group to write it down and then they express them well through another method...performing arts. the above group may be able to write their ideas down well but not be able to perform them convincingly.

Then their are some who do both well, they can write their own ideas down and they can perform their own ideas...as well as other's ideas well. These people may experience similar joy doing both.

As a composer and a performer I have to say that both are equally fufilling in two completely different ways. On one hand composing allows me to take my own ideas I want to create and lay out the blue print for them. I take the idea stuck in my head, I organize it into a written code so that it no longer is only scatterd abstract thoughts private to myself but a comprehensible and readable script. Like writing a book or script in another language that only musicians can decifer.

Peforming is like giving birth to an idea. Following the instructions and making them real rather then abstract. That is very fufilling cause it's bringing life to something lifeless...notes on a page. Even better is as performers we get to decifer other peoples works, bring meaning to them and share it with others. Compositions are worthless without the performers to perform them and performers are worthless with out the compostions to bring life to.

So know your role, know your ownself...do you express yourself better by writing out your ideas, do you express yourself better by acting out ideas, do you do both really well...and then time manage according to your priorities.

I just find it difficult to write a melody as genious as in the Rach 2nd, the Prokofiev 2nd and many others as well.

snap_apple...

bravo...well said.