You guys keep posting neat music stuff you’ve done….
It’s made me want to compose something too.
I ordered some composition software for the laptop so I can write stuff during the days/nights when I’m stuck in bed and can hardly move. It will be good therapy for me, because it will remind me that even though my body is falling apart, my mind still (sort of) works.
I ordered the same software I’ve used previously for composing symphony stuff, but for some reason I’m in the mood to write a piano solo now.
Possibly piano plus cello.
Stay tuned.
(Ha! See what I did there? Music? Tuned?)
34 comments
Can I stay tuned a full step down?
Optimists can tune a full step up,
Pessimists can tune a full step down,
Realists stay right on pitch.
That’s awesome. I forgot to ask, by “piano solo” you really meant key-tar right?
How about a pessimist who never fit in anywhere? I can be a half step down…? maybe i’ll just be flat…
Alan: Key-tar…. LOL! If only Mozart could be alive today to see that.
bah: Try for a quarter-tone down, then you won’t even fit in with either one! Unless they saw this comment too and are aiming for the same thing.
🙂
You’ve ordered? as in *gulp* paid for it? let me guess, is it sibelius? you could have asked, saved some money. Yeah, i’m south american, so piracy is my first source of entertainment, lol.
That said yup, music is great therapy. Looking forward to what you came up with, and lol at that pun, thank god it’s not literal because i’m always slightly out of pitch.
ooh, send me some suggestions for good, free software. i actually thought about composing something the last few weeks, though I’ve never created anything before, so…what’s a good one a newbie? or something for one with limited knowledge of music? i used the play the violin when i was younger, was okay at it, was never good at piano though i like the wide range a piano has.
i think it would be cool to create some music.
It’s Finale. (Finale Printmusic, to be exact.)
Instead of getting the current version, I just got the 2011 version (which I already know how to use).
Cheaper that way, plus I won’t have the misery of learning new software.
It’ll be perfect for the laptop, since that still has Windows 7 anyway.
Apparently I have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era. 😉
My symphony director uses Sibelius, though, and he seems to like it.
I’ve always used Finale.
is it good for a novice? for someone with limited knowledge of music? something simple and easy peezy? or no
In order to use composition/notation software, you need to know the basic components of music:
Key signatures
Time signatures
Note designations in relation to clefs
Note values and their relation to time signatures
Instrumentation
Ranges of the instruments you’ll be using
Tonal quality of the instruments you’ll be mixing
Usage of dynamics, staff markings, barlines, ties, accents, triplet markings, etc.
Chord structure, chord progressions, harmonic analysis.
Transposition of instruments (example: clarinet is usually in Bb, oboe is in C, french horn is usually in F, trumpet in Bb, alto sax in Eb, trombone in C).
eh too complicated like i thought. i know the basics of music but damned if i know what a transposition is. i’ll just find an app called “music composition for dummies” where i can just mash some notes together >.<
Oh finale. I’m not too familiar with it, but it was the other name that i always heard mentioned by my old choir teacher. He swore by sibelius tho, which i used a few times to get some partiture scans into midi. Not really user friendly for me, but tbh, my knowledge reading and interpreting sheet music is pretty much forgotten (not that i ever really learned, lol).
I guess that to reply to bah’s question: if you want to write music the old fashioned way (notation), i’d say finale or sibelius. If you want a more interactive (maybe easier?) way, i remember a friend of mine used guitar pro (which let’s you write other instruments too), or maybe fruity loops could be a good option too (since it’s easier to work with, but it doesn’t use notation).
None of those are free but you can find them for free at the usual *cough cough torrent cough cough* places. If you struggle with that just let me know.
cool, thx. i am all for “music creation for dummies.” i never got too far with my music classes. mainly, i couldn’t afford anything other than the free crappy public education that let me have music for a whopping 3 whole hours a week, woo…
you could be a one woman show, you are bloody hilarious
I run a varying scale between semi-hilarious and depressingly tragic.
Variety is nice.
So is lemon cheesecake, which I really wish I had right now.
i’m all for strawberry shortcake…that is, if i could have strawberry shortcake. mm…
i like depressingly tragic music. happy songs just don’t suit me.
oh snap me too.. all I have is chocolate sauce which I have just been guzzling
Cordless, how long does it take you to compose something? Does one need to have a lot of experience with instruments? i know just a little piano and violin, not a whole lot, but have always thought it would be damn cool to create and play my own music 😛
It depends on the instrumentation.
If I’m writing something for the entire symphony, it can take me a month or so.
Longer for a really complicated piece with multiple movements.
Simpler things like duets would probably take less than a week.
The first draft can be done in just a couple hours.
That’s assuming I have an idea all ready to use.
Sometimes the hardest part is just waiting for a good musical idea.
As long as you know piano, you could certainly use the software to write a piano solo.
Writing for multiple instruments is trickier because you need to know the range of each instrument, how (or if) it transposes, and which tone qualities mix best.
meh, sounds complicated lol. maybe i’ll just get one of those apps once i get a better phone. i think there are apps that allow you to “create” music (not like on your level, but good enough for me). i want to use my laptop since it’s a bigger screen.
@bah: read a few posts above.
grah, this is my rant- if i am to be miserable and depressed, then i should at least be granted some kind of artistic talent that tends to run in really depressed or bipolar people. i am not artistic nor seem to have a talent in anything. i’m only “creative” compared to my peers, aka stiffs in the financial world (yeah it sounds boring and is even more boring in real life. and yes yes, it DOES make one want to jump out a window).
i am soooo jealous of you creative / artistic types on here!! i wish i could draw or create music, or even play some instruments well. heck, i would love to be able to sing. but alas, bah has no artistic or creative talent. bah is sad… -_-‘
I am sad that bah is sad.
FWIW, that has to be the most creative/artistic rant i’ve ever read on sp, lol.
maybe i should write a book on rants. or create a blog about rants… actually, i’m only half-kidding. i had thought of creating a group called “festivus” where people get together and air their grievances, like in that Seinfeld episode. i’m so tired of having to hide my depression. even in depression groups, i’m told to “smile”, “think positive”, be “grateful.” and this is a depression group! I’m tired of it!!
i want to rant and be cheered for it rather than be put down for being too negative. bah!
aww, thanks Mf. If I can’t be artistic, might as well try to rant creatively! lol
I remember the “Airing Of Grievances” post. 🙂
suicideproject.org/2016/01/airing-of-grievances/
Fun stuff.
I listed mine, and you said “Wow, you have very organized grievances!”
😛
yep, i think that was one of the very first comment of yours i read (i only started being on SP daily the past 2 months or so).
i’m like the “anger” guy in that Pixar’s movie, voiced by Louis Black. I LOVE that is he as angry (or maybe angrier?) than me! 😀
Lewis Black! Yes!!!
youtube.com/watch?v=VZh51bDuCmE
I love that he starts out all calm and collected, then the anger just builds up until POW THERE IT IS AND you just sort of blink a few times before you have to laugh. 🙂
also love George Carlin. He cursed like a sailor and he told things like it is.
i like that those 2 guys don’t try to fit in with everyone else. they express who they are, and they express their anger and their frustrations. they are real. they tell people who them to lighten up and stop complaining to go f*** themselves. I wish I was so brazen. But whenever I voice my angers and frustrations of how fucked up the world is, I’m told to shut up. And “think happy thoughts.” -_-‘
Cordless,,,,, you inspire me