authfriend wrote: > --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> authfriend wrote: >> >>> --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: >>> >>> >>>> sparaig wrote: >>>> >>>> >>> <snip> >>> >>> >>>>> Mozart heard the entire orchestration, AND the melody, "all at >>>>> once," then wrote it down. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> My guess is you're not a musician then, at least not a >>>> > classically > >>>> trained one. :) >>>> >>>> >>> Huh?? What does the fact that Mozart heard everything >>> in his head and then wrote it down have to do with whether >>> Lawson is a musician? >>> > > >> Because if Lawson were a trained musician he would know >> that (ideally) most composers hear the whole orchestration >> in their head and then are able to write it down. >> Profession arrangers do this all the time. It >> is not unique. >> > > That's a bit different than what I understand > was the case with Mozart. I'm not sure how any > composer could write any music down without first > hearing it in his/her head, any more than a writer > writes without first hearing the words in his/her > head. But that doesn't mean the composer or writer > doesn't struggle to bring the music or words to > mind in the first place, or to refine and revise > them, before or after or during the writing-down > process. (Whether it's orchestration or the main > musical themes is irrelevant.) > > Just like writers have different ways of writing so do musicians have different ways of composing. Some will just mess around on their instrument of choice and until an idea emerges. One of the coolest things to be able to do is to be able without an instrument just write to a score hearing what you do in your head. That is usually easier for musicians who don't play fixed pitch instruments (the real term escapes me at the moment) such as violin or trombone because they have to use their ears more and have developed a good sense of relative pitch if not perfect pitch. > Mozart, in contrast, said he heard entire symphonies > from start to finish and simply wrote down what he > heard. > Well, I'm not sure of that. Let's not turn him into a demigod. That might well be music historian's hyperbole. He probably worked through symphonies in his head. Some may have come more easily then others. > Writers too will occasionally say they had the sense > that they were simply taking dictation when they wrote > a particular piece of material, but usually not a > complete work unless it's fairly short. > > But a fully orchestrated symphonic composition is > inherently considerably more complex than a string > of words. > > Well except that harmonies and orchestration often fall into formulas making not so complex. It just appears so to the layman. >> It is the great quality of Mozart's compositions that >> set him apart not any techniques he used. >> > > I suspect he's not the only composer to hear fully > realized works in his/her head. But Mozart heard > masterpieces. > Yes, indeed. What makes them masterpieces? That's the question you should be asking.
BTW, if you get a chance listen to Randy Newman's commentary on Pleasantville. He gives a tremendous insight to the world of film composition and what it was like growing up hanging out with his uncles and kaffeeklatsches with some of the great film composers and their insight into the compositions of Beethoven, etc. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
