The contest looks appealing.
I would like to have some clarification though, about those numbers for a standard orchestra. I saw them on the site: 3333 and 4331. Does this apply to the strings? What does it mean? [*-)]:
Thanks!

Well, thank you! I overlooked your earlier post.

@Another User said:

I certainly cannot hear the music in my head

I have a 'reverse' problem: I hear lots of things in my head but can't get t out fast enough (making me loose most of it). And to my dissapointment, I can't exactly pinpoint what notes I'm hearing, so when I do remember phrases, pieces or whatever, I waiste time (and consequently loose idea's) trying to figure out what notes it all were.

wellsdeckers:

As I see it, you describe two problems.

1. Remembering what you hear for some length of time.

2. Getting what you hear out of your head and into the world.

I also used to have this problem. All of my life I have heard massive amounts of music in my head 24 hours a day (since age 6) but I couldn't get it on to paper ( I am old so it was paper then). Always, it would be not quite right or sometimes not even close to right.

Consider this: When you speak with someone or read a book or article, it's fairly easy to remember the main ideas there because you understand what you saw or heard. If an average person sees an interesting building or a computer program or a football game s/he can only remember so much but well trained professionals can remember many details because they understand what they are seeing. It's the same with music.

This is the key and finding it changed my life! I was fortunate to get the opportunity for some very demanding musical training. It did not interfere with my creativity or confine my talents, it did not force me into directions I didn't want to go. It gave me freedom to express what was in my head because I began to understand it, to break it down and I eventually reached the point where I could just write down what I was hearing. Now, I can honestly say I'm almost never surprised when I hear the live version of what I have written. It is exactly what I heard in my head. The sound in my head is so clear that it's like a live band or orchestra is playing right in front of me. I can pick out the individual instruments, the notes and phrases, everything. This is one of the reasons it took me so long to get into computers and music. I didn't need to to hear what the music sounded like and the quality has only recently reached the level that it is becoming comparable to live music. It's not there yet but it's getting very good.

If you have the option of getting to a good school or a private teacher I strongly recommend that you take it. For people who can already hear music it is vitally important. At the very minimum you need the following:

1. Ear Training - This may be the most important thing of all for you. In my opinion you should make this the number 1 priority in your development. Not everyone is lucky enough to hear music in their heads. Because you can, you must train yourself to understand what you are hearing.

2. Orchestration/Arranging - Many people would put Harmony before this and they are probably correct but, for me, Orchestration and Ear Training are the true keys for people who really hear the music already.

3. Harmony and Advanced Harmony - The better you understand the components of music the easier it will be for you to remember and to translate what you are hearing.

4. Composition - This is the skill and technique of taking what you hear and crafting into a piece that realizes all the potential in your ideas.

There's much more, of course, and other people will have their own ideas but, IMO, these are the most essential basics for the issue you described.

Of course, I don't know anything about your life so I don't know what is possible for you, what styles of music you are into or what you believe. But I am speaking from my own experience. If you can get the proper training and commit yourself to it, I truly believe it will change your musical life. It will show you how to take the gift you have inside and and bring it out into the world. Good luck!

Sorry for such a long post but I felt very strongly about what you said.

Be well,

Poppa

Well Poppa, thanks for your suggestions.
I will definately start with 'ear training' (just before the summer I had a very short period where I did succeed a little bit in getting ideas notated as I was hearing them, until my work consumed me).
As a matter of fact, I'm strongly thinking about a 'carreer-change' since my a/v-editing work is taking too much of my painting and composing time, both of which are my true passions.
But making a living has #1 priority so its not gonna be a fast nor easy process.

But I'll start training my hearing... any exercises to be found on CD or something??

Thanks again for your suggestions. [H]

@weslldeckers said:

Well Poppa, thanks for your suggestions.
I will definately start with 'ear training' (just before the summer I had a very short period where I did succeed a little bit in getting ideas notated as I was hearing them, until my work consumed me).
As a matter of fact, I'm strongly thinking about a 'carreer-change' since my a/v-editing work is taking too much of my painting and composing time, both of which are my true passions.
But making a living has #1 priority so its not gonna be a fast nor easy process.

But I'll start training my hearing... any exercises to be found on CD or something??

Thanks again for your suggestions. [H]

weslldeckers:

There are actually quite a few Ear Training CD-DVD courses. Here are a few you can look into:

http://www.ars-nova.com/products.html

http://www.risingsoftware.com/auralia30/

http://www.uh.edu/~tkoozin/musicet/

http://www.perfectpitch.com/ (On this one you want the Relative Pitch course, which is excellent!)

The key is to do a bit every day. Even 15 - 30 minutes a day is enough to get your inner (and outer) ear going.

Hope this helps.

Be Well,

Poppa

poppajol - i think your post is incredibly insightful. i'm not sure i agree verbatim, specifically in prioritization of orchestration and harmony, but that would be so inconsequential in what you've said it almost doesn’t bear mentioning except in just adding very little bit of dimension.

our experiences seem similar and what has brought me out of classical music is ironically what brought me into it. that is the blending of contemporary sound palettes with traditional instruments. for me the musical challenge is not identifying traditional structures, but new ones where the definition of music might be simply, "the ordering of audible events in time." everything seems a continuum to me with stockhausen and mozart contributing equal parts; heresy, I know. music no longer seems dissonant or consonant - just shaded in a way that transcends twelve notes yet still recognizing the need for tension and release.

to my knowledge nobody has done anything beyond scratching the surface when it comes to organizing what is sonically possible with synths and samplers and that translates to my mind as well because i don't (and don't want to) hear in just traditionally-orchestral structures. so being the product of what might be the deconstructionist era of music, i constantly find myself wondering how to put humpty dumpty back together again. i know i'm not alone and it would be interesting to hear how others wrestle with realizing the unquantifiable.

Martin:

I think you bring up some fascinating points. I know this thread is about the composition competition but I will take the position that we are discussing composition until a moderator tells us differently.

Regarding the ordering of Harmony vs Orchestration, in most cases it would be more appropriate in the opposite order from what I suggested. For wellsdeckers, my thought, which is entirely open to discussion, was that for his specific issue, it is most important that he really internalize all the sounds of the instruments, their various combinations and individual capabilities. I feel that this is something he should start on right away so that he can learn to understand what he is hearing in his head.

Regarding the rest of your post: I think you have identified the most challenging aspect of life for the modern composer. We have access to a virtually unlimited sonic pallete and the exploration of using that in a musical way is just beginning. Consonance, dissonance, scale, pitch, formal structure, etc. are all fluid concepts at present and nothing is sacred or heretical.

I love your definition of music as "the ordering of audible events in time." That is wonderful and, with your permission, I will certainly steal it and use it in the future.

Clearly, these ideas have been under intense scrutiny for many years now. I doubt that there are any clear "answers" nor should there be. That is the reason I use Mr. Persichetti's quote as my musical motto.

Thanks for you comments.

Be well,

Poppa

@PoppaJOL said:

For wellsdeckers, my thought, which is entirely open to discussion, was that for his specific issue, it is most important that he really internalize all the sounds of the instruments, their various combinations and individual capabilities. I feel that this is something he should start on right away so that he can learn to understand what he is hearing in his head.

uh hello, duh, i get it. this is very good advice. thanks. you can lift my music definition if i can lift your nothing sacred/heretical bit. very liberating. deal?

Martin:

Deal! [:D] Thanks.

Be Well,

Poppa

@PoppaJOL said:

[...] I know this thread is about the composition competition but I will take the position that we are discussing composition until a moderator tells us differently. [...]

This is an interesting topic and a fruitfull discussion - go on as long as the starter of this thread doesn't feel hitch-hiked [;)]

@Another User said:

... timpani, percussion, keyboard, harp and string

Does this mean ONE keyboard (i.e., orchestral piano or celesta -- or doubling on both, for example) and how MANY percussionists? The usual max 3 or so? How about marimba and/or xylophone? Is it acceptable to specify a mix of percussion elements that (say) 3 players could handle while switching around between gongs, cymbals, blocks, marimba, xylophone, Mahler hammer, etc.?

Looks like a very well-run competition -- especially the "blind" judging.

[:)] KevinKauai

Wes,

Martin and Poppa have given some great info, and worth much to anyone wanting to go forward.

I only add the importance of learning about each instrument. Range, sweet spots (Which string and finger position gives a more resonant tone etc.), limitations (Which register in the clarinets sounds best for which style), and tonal qualities, solo and mixed. (Clarinet solo, and clarinet with violas or 2nd violins etc.)

A broader point is mixing sections.

In a very general sense, W/W and strings mix better than Brass and Strings.

French horns and bassoons do well together, and these instruments often provide a 'blending' ability for a mix of W/W and Brass.

Listening to work with score in hand is a great way to understand more about blending instruments and sections. Beethoven's symphonies are great studies and give a lot of info in a concentrated session of listening.

Regards,

Alex.

hermitage59:

Very good points! It is vital to learn these many aspects of the instruments in terms of sounds you hear in your head! You don't just want it to be theoretical knowledge but rather you want it where you can make different combinations mentally and accurately determine how they will sound. The only way to do this is the way you described - to work on an in depth understanding of each instruments capabilities and varieties of sound and expression and to listen, listen, listen to them in various combinations. Doing this over and over with scores in hand, as you mentioned, is an inexpensive yet productive way to go about it.

I also think it is absolutely vital to hear live instruments, not recordings, at every possible opportunity in every context. It doesn't matter whether it's a great symphony or the local pub's Brass Quintet. You must hear live instruments until those sounds are permantly burned into your brain. Even the best recording ever made doesn't sound the same as a live instrument. The recording may actually sound better, and often does, but it is not the same as live. This will have an enormous affect on your compositions.

Be Well,

Poppa

The submission deadline for the 2006 Fauxharmonic Orchestral Composition Contest has been extended to March 18, 2006.

You can find out more about the contest and the judges here:
http://www.fauxharmonic.com/composition-contest/

The submission deadline for the 2006 Fauxharmonic Orchestral Composition Contest has been extended to March 18, 2006.

You can find out more about the contest and the judges here:
http://www.fauxharmonic.com/composition-contest/

@Another User said:

I certainly cannot hear the music in my head

I have a 'reverse' problem: I hear lots of things in my head but can't get t out fast enough (making me loose most of it). And to my dissapointment, I can't exactly pinpoint what notes I'm hearing, so when I do remember phrases, pieces or whatever, I waiste time (and consequently loose idea's) trying to figure out what notes it all were.

I'm the same. I pretty much hear full scores playing in my head, complete with lots of different nuances and instruments flying about in the background. I can't notate/write properly - although I try and notate everything when it's finished in Sibelius afterwards just for the practice - and I'm not all that clued up on orchestration (though I've started hitting the books).

But VSL allows me to sit down with the extensive library and determine whether it was an Oboe or clarinet I was hearing, whether it was a horn or trombone swell, what percussive instrument that was etc etc. And then when I do find the sound, I look up the instrument in my "Sibelius Instruments" program or encyclopedia just to make sure that the instrument CAN actually do what was in my head!

If it weren't for programs like VSL, I'd have to stick with rock songs and electronics. But even if I was capable of writing a score with nothing but pen and paper, VSL is the only way to (1) play it back and hear it to see if it does actually work or (2) show other people what it sounds like who can't play things in their head by reading scores, or (3) score low-budget productions that can't afford an orchestra.

@paulhenrysmith said:

The submission deadline for the 2006 Fauxharmonic Orchestral Composition Contest has been extended to March 18, 2006.

You can find out more about the contest and the judges here:
http://www.fauxharmonic.com/composition-contest/

Hi Paul,

It might be worth contacting the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters if you want to advertise these sort of competitions as well. They always advertise/send out bulletins to their membership (all composers) of competitions and events, regardless of restrictions (unless it's not open to UK residents!) Their website is www.britishacademy.com.

Thanks for the tip ... I'll contact them.

I'm utterly amazed at the range and quality of the 70+ submissions we've gotten so far. Orchestral composition is definitely alive and well ... and not just in film/TV/games. It's going to be great fun to perform the winning piece. (And maybe we'll perform some of the honorable mentions, as well).

Cheers!

- Paul

@PoppaJOL said:

wellsdeckers:

1. Ear Training - This may be the most important thing of all for you. In my opinion you should make this the number 1 priority in your development. Not everyone is lucky enough to hear music in their heads. Because you can, you must train yourself to understand what you are hearing.

2. Orchestration/Arranging - Many people would put Harmony before this and they are probably correct but, for me, Orchestration and Ear Training are the true keys for people who really hear the music already.

3. Harmony and Advanced Harmony - The better you understand the components of music the easier it will be for you to remember and to translate what you are hearing.

4. Composition - This is the skill and technique of taking what you hear and crafting into a piece that realizes all the potential in your ideas.
Poppa

That's truly excellent advice. I get so frustrated hearing music in my head and not being able to get it down that I always end up with my "best creations" staying in my head - the amount of work I've had to abandon after I've gone over the "ruining it" mark or times I've had to simplify things because I'm ending up with just "noise" in my head when I try and concentrate on it. But I never really thought about it in the way you've put it forward.

But yeah, I see what you mean. I suppose it's no different to when you have thoughts in your head and then you either 'notate' them by writing it down, or you speak them out loud, only as it's the language you're brought up on you don't need to think about or break down this process because it's become instinctive. Just like typing here at the keyboard. I think of what I want to say and I just type it without needing to sit down and work out each letter of each word I've just thought.

If you learn music properly as a language in the way you've suggested, I imagine it would be the same process. Your sentences become passages, words become bars, letters become notes. The grammar is the expression or the articulation.

I've started reading books on orchestration, and even though I'm not even half-way through the book, I'm already listening to sounds in my head and determining what instrument it either is or would work best being.

As for the ear training, is that literally just sitting at keyboard and hitting notes over and over again until eveytime you hear one you can recall it being an Fb etc?