Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

I don't really think that age is the determining factor. The issue is
more likely to be how accustomed a composer has been to writing music
the old way, and how easy he or she finds it to change.

A composer writing a symphony or concerto without the use of notation
software is sort of like an author writing a novel without the use of
word processing software. It can be done, but for most of us, it's a
lot less efficient.

But people who have been doing something one way sometimes find it
difficult to change to a different way because they've developed habits
of work that have become deeply engrained. A well known author once
said that he found it easier to write using pencil and paper than using
a typewriter. Undoubtedly, there are composers who feel much the same
way about composing music.

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

TTH
Rexsy.com
(free music download & all)

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

TTH
Rexsy.com
(free music download & all)

boombox wrote:

MusicxCosmos wrote:

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

Thre is a continuum, ranging from those who do it the old-fashioned
way, writing for acoustic instruments with pencil and paper, to those
who use sequencing programs for notation, to those who use electronic
instruments, and on to those who incorporate digital audio into their
work.  I’d say most composers over 60 are in the first category, most
under 30 in the last.  That’s not to say the young ones can’t write
the old way, but that they are much more likely to write directly into
a sequencing program, use virtual instruments to hear the result, be
able to incorporate concrete or synthetic samples via digital audio,
load the sample files into an ipod and take it to the concert, gig or
session.  Most of them self-publish and some still even write
concerti.

I don't really think that age is the determining factor.  The issue is
more likely to be how accustomed a composer has been to writing music
the old way, and how easy he or she finds it to change.

A composer writing a symphony or concerto without the use of notation
software is sort of like an author writing a novel without the use of
word processing software.  It can be done, but for most of us, it's a
lot less efficient.

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

TTH
Rexsy.com
(free music download & all)

MusicxCosmos wrote:

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?


Thre is a continuum, ranging from those who do it the old-fashioned
way, writing for acoustic instruments with pencil and paper, to those
who use sequencing programs for notation, to those who use electronic
instruments, and on to those who incorporate digital audio into their
work. I’d say most composers over 60 are in the first category, most
under 30 in the last. That’s not to say the young ones can’t write
the old way, but that they are much more likely to write directly into
a sequencing program, use virtual instruments to hear the result, be
able to incorporate concrete or synthetic samples via digital audio,
load the sample files into an ipod and take it to the concert, gig or
session. Most of them self-publish and some still even write
concerti.

Actually, composers have been using electronics (musique concrete)
from the late 40's, and a number of composers use an electronic grid
'under' a conventional orchestra to create unimagined before
sonorities and colors.

The best work of this kind on a large scale and
pretty accessible is the masterpiece L'amour de loin by Kaija
Saariaho. She has an entire electric orchestra under the large
conventional orchestra and the results are devastating and thrilling.
There is a great DVD available, this is as lush and soaring as
anything with marvelous vocal opportunities (Finley and Upshaw are
more than equal, the last in a sort of Liebestod is incredible).

I was a student at Cal Arts when both Dika Newlin and Mort Subotnick
were there and working (she was in residence for a few weeks at a
time). He had done Touch and was finishing Sidewinder, she had been
playing with electronics a lot. I thought they were both amazing. She
was much ahead of her time in her understanding of what we now call
sampling and electronic enhancement could do. She was also an amazing
mind.

"Peter T. Daniels" <gramma... at (no spam) verizon.net> wrote in message
news:493d219a-3cb0-41a3-8061-

 Certainly
the amanuensis should use the most "efficient" tools available when
transcribing the work for submission, but the creator is probably not
the person doing the transcribing.'

Ahh, "manual laborer" or someone who writes things down "manually" or by
hand, and in this context, the "person who notates".

"grammatim"

Grammer Time?

as in Hammer Time?

:-)

On Jun 2, 8:06�am, MusicxCosmos <Tuan.Thanh... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings!

Now that we're in the 21st century with all the advances in
technology, including advanced sound design, etc.
I'm just wondering, are today's composers in the classical music realm
really taking advantages of modern electronics instruments to compose
their symphonies, concertos, etc.?

TTH
Rexsy.com
(free music download & all)

Technology has certainly made composing easier as far as documentation
goes, which enables the composer to concentrate on creativity. An
application like Finale along with improved plugins for the sounds of
instruments allows the composer not only to get the notes on paper
easier, but to hear a synthesized rendition of the piece. Although ...
the great composers could hear it in their heads, Beethoven being the
most amazing example. So the present day situation is for composing
like it is for everything else -- technology takes the work out of
work.

On Jun 2, 5:36 pm, albert <Albert.Innaur... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:

Actually, composers have been using electronics (musique concrete)
from the late 40's, and a number of composers use an electronic grid
'under' a conventional orchestra to create unimagined before
sonorities and colors.

Which has nothing to do with OP's statement about notation software
vs. pencil and paper.

'under' a conventional orchestra to create unimagined before
sonorities and colors.