Musical composition
Morning, composed by David Braid
David Braid is a composer who trained at The Royal College of Music, The Cracow Academy, and Oxford. He has had his work performed in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the US and Poland, and debuted at Wigmore Hall debut in 2008. He is currently preparing his first full-length CD of his chamber and vocal works, to be released by Toccata Classics later in 2009. For more on David, visit www.davidbraid.net
Most composers take to music at an early age. I loved the guitar and spent much of my teens playing in various rock/indie/post-punk bands. Classical training is important though, as is the discipline to put in a lot of practise each day - I was averaging nine hours at one point.
Aim to gain your Grade 8 in your chosen instrument, and then apply for places at specialised music education institutions such as The Royal College of Music, London. By the end of your first term, you’ll have been exposed to so much music that you’ll know whether composition is for you or not. For me the freedom of facing a blank page was and still is, so exciting - the most interesting book in the library is the one full of blank pages!
Originality is a big part of the composer’s challenge, but making things work properly and function as you imagine they can often be the most difficult thing.
To hone your composition skills further, it’s worth studying fugue and counterpoint to a high level. these things are, I believe, essential for a composer as they represent the horizontal (theme, melody, rhythm, harmonic motion and even form) and vertical aspects (chords, intervals, functional harmony, voicing, even orchestration to an extent and so on) of music in an abstract way - fugue is a process not a form, and as such can be applied - as a way of thinking - to one’s own work, regardless of style.
Equally important is an understanding of why certain compositions work, regardless of style or period. You need to learn to pinpoint elements such as pacing, timing, expectation on the part of the listener and so on.
The danger of studying at an institution too much is that you come to exist in a cultural bubble. The fear of appearing non-intellectual or populist can prevent composers from writing music that they actually want to hear themselves - this is a mistake!
It’s likely that positive responses to your compositions will be either from other composers or from non-musicians, though the ideal is of course both - composers look for very different things than general listeners.
If you are composing for the voice as well as instruments, take care to consider the range of the voice it’s intended for. If you want the lyrics to be clearly understood, save the high range for musical acrobatics on vowels where the clarity of the text won’t be affected.
Other, perhaps obvious, factors, include avoiding important, and distracting, instrumental entries at the same time as delicate vocal sounds such as soft consonants, giving plenty of time for the voice to ‘sound’ and swell and breathe.
The hardest thing is convincing people of your value so that they will at least just listen to your work in the first place and then hopefully follow it through with a performance or commission.
It is important to be under no illusions - there is a lot of ‘classical’ repertoire out there already, so there’s no real need (for example) for pianists to look for new work when they have 10,000 pieces to play already - the only reason musicians do anything off the beaten track is if they actually love and believe in your work.
