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A request to amateur composers who visit this page

Topic started by Vijay (@ 212.137.205.127) on Thu Nov 16 16:58:22 EST 2000.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I'd like to request amateur composers who visit this page to tell me if they've uploaded any of their work onto the internet and if they have, please tell me where I can listen to it. Thank You.

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Some composers to check out (in no particular order): Jay, Srikanth, Ganesh, Eswar, Sridhar Seetharaman, Kumar, Rjay. Vishwesh Obla

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Eswar (@ 202.54.154.163) on: Sat Mar 6 08:07:15 EST 2004
  
  Anand,
  
  A composer can only be appreciated by the audience - the listener. He may be a bullock cart driver, or a "sophosticated" english man who drinks whisky and talks peppy english. The listener feels good, it is a good composition, if the listener feels it is bad, it is bad. There is no Beethoven/Bach/Mozart/Raja/Rehman there. There is simply good music and bad music in their ears. Someone listening to "The Mist" I wrote said that it reminds them of "flying through the clouds", someone said that it is a "fusion of some thillana with electronics", another one said "the synth sounds and south indian music mixture is good", and ofcourse someone said in a no polite way that it was "just cr*p" (pardon me for that word). Now, the point is, when I wrote that piece, I simply started off with absolute NOTHING. All I had was an idea, and I wrote it. Composers usually work that way, atleast to the extent I have heard and seen. They don't need an application, they don't plan out an elaborate mathematically powerful music like how usually Bach goes about making music. They simply write it. The "sophosticated" listener just tries to put meaning into it, which probably even Bach wouldn't have thought of. Is that the composers fault? or is it just the way those "sophosticated" folks "listen"?
  
  Eswar
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 68.88.194.208) on: Sat Mar 6 18:42:19 EST 2004
  
  Anand:
  
  "Absolute music", "Application" in mind -- -- You can't put something in quotes and get away with it :)
  
  A good speech cannot be a rambling and at the same time be a good speech. The speaker has to know his exact purpose of
  
  speech and idea he wants to articulate. A composer has to do the same with music.
  
  Please hold your theoritical analysis for a while and look at the big picture. Music is created\composed to evoke\express a
  
  specific feeling. If the composer does not know what he wants to evoke\express then he is not composer at all. No composer
  
  can\will create a music without no specific theme in mind. If he did then, he has to be a plain dry intellectual musician. I
  
  am yet to see any such musician make a long standing impact.
  
  Ofcourse, everyone tend to interpret the composition in different ways but only within the parameters established by the
  
  composers.
  
  >>Now, how do you distinguish between film music and music written without any "application" in mind? say, Beethovens Violin
  
  concerto or Thyagarajas krithis? I cant, unless you have listened to all and appreciated each for what they are.<<
  
  Well, I am not surprised you can't. In fact, most music directors in Tamil Film music industry can't. The basic difference
  
  is--Innovation in music\composition\song does not always mean innovation in film music\composition\song and vice a versa. A
  
  beautiful innovative song can be very bad for the situation and the film.
  
  
  Let's take the film "Jaws" and its theme music--the shark attack, dun-dun-dun theme. Everyone knows that they used the theme
  
  to foreshadow the shark's arrival and attack. Ofcourse, it's a great piece by itself but the filmmakers did much more than
  
  that. They choose not to play the shark attack theme, when the pranksters put a fake fin to scare people in the beach. By doing this, the filmmakers conditioned the audience to expect dun-dun-dun theme whenever the shark arrives. This is a great set-up because, just before the climax, the heroes think they have killed the shark. So, when the shark really attacks, the
  
  filmmakers again choose not to play the dun-dun-dun theme. So, the shark attack, put audience in the characters shoe and gave them a a total surprise. This produced the maximum desired effect and it also paved way to setup a great climax. This what film music is all about--heightening the drama and using the effective music to tell the story. And, in film music realm, it is not really about Reethigowlai raga
  
  or about inversion counterpoint at the twelfth.
  
  So when you say, a film music piece is great, it means it worked along with visuals and helped tell the story. Any other "great" music piece which did not serve the visual or the story is plain bad film music.
  
  I hope you understand the difference and hope you won't belittle a any music for your "absolute" music :)
  
  
• From: Anand (@ 66.30.193.155) on: Sun Mar 7 01:12:23 EST 2004
  
  
  >>can\will create a music without no specific >>theme in mind. If he did then, he has to be a >>plain dry intellectual musician. I
  >>am yet to see any such musician make a long >>standing impact.
  
  well, you surely know one. The name is Beethoven. He used to laugh at people who cried when he played the piano. And, about long standing impact ... his influece lasted for about 200 years and is still going ...
  
  I am not belittling any form of music. The fact that you take it that way means that you havent understood what I wrote earlier.
  
  you can listen to music with objective analysis (which should includes the pleasure of hearing) in mind, or just purely for pleasure. What Easwar said is correct only for the latter case. if 1 million people listen to your work, they will come up with 1 million different 'feelings' and pictures. These do not provide any objective judgement about your work, but have been personalized by the listener. I agree that this is the reason why most people listen to music. We all relate to it in diferent ways and emotions and thats nothing bad. It is very human.
  
  But to say, for example, that classical music has more depth than film music (any major film composer would agree), is objective analysis. . This requires an "educated" and more importantly, attentive listener. remember that this is not to belittling film music or the composer. It is just the way these forms are.
  I stress once again, that music listening can be 'acquired'. The more your ear is trained to hear nuances, the more you hear and appreciate. Then you see differences in various forms.
  
  I am not saying that a person who does not have a broad knowledge is somehow inferior as a human.
  It is all upto the choice one makes.
  
  If someone tells me , why would I bother listening to a string quartet when I am perfectly happy with Punjabi folk music, I would say that he is absolutely right. But then what if a third person hasnt listened to music at all tells the punjabi music fan that tha he doesnt need to listen to punjabi music since he does other things in life. Where does thus end ?
  my only inference is, again, that the more you learn about an art form (music/painting/dance), the more you appreciate it.
  
  it is all about the choices you want to make!
  
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 68.88.74.83) on: Sun Mar 7 04:09:03 EST 2004
  
  >>my only inference is, again, that the more you learn about an art form (music/painting/dance), the more you appreciate it I have won "popular" dance competition in school and college. I've learnt a bit of Bharatnatyam from my sister. I've learned painting, color theory and have done oil painting and body painting. I have won photography contests. I am also a writer/editor/film director. I have done music videos and the short film "X" directed by me was shown in Asian film festival Dallas and South asian film festival(so far). Moreover, I am a avid (obessed) music listener and love every genre including WCM. I am very interested in WCM theories and I do have Beethoven collections with me. Lastly, the sad part, I am also a software architect :)
  
  Back to discussion.
  
  >>well, you surely know one. The name is Beethoven. He used to laugh at people who cried when he played the piano. And, about long standing impact ... his influece lasted for about 200 years and is still going ... >I am not belittling any form of music. The fact that you take it that way means that you havent understood what I wrote earlier.>But to say, for example, that classical music has more depth than film music (any major film composer would agree), is objective analysis. . This requires an "educated" and more importantly, attentive listener. remember that this is not to belittling film music or the composer. It is just the way these forms are.<<
  
  The depth that your talking about is irrelevant because music is primarliy received through one sense--ears. Film music(on screen) on the other hand is received through two sense-- eyes (primary) and ears(secondary). This is the fundamental difference in these two forms and the parameters to measure the depth in these forms are different.
  
  OK. If you agree, it is indeed two different forms of music (apples and oranges) then why do you have to compare them? I can *understand* if you compare classical music with classical music. Why do have to compare classical music with film music? I am yet to see you talking about theories that crossover from WCM form to the other. So, if belittling is not your intention then what is really your intention for the comparison? It would help the discussion.
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 68.88.74.83) on: Sun Mar 7 04:15:49 EST 2004
  
  I am so sorry, I had no idea why it came out like this. Let me try one more time....
  
  >my only inference is, again, that the more you learn about an art form (music/painting/dance), the more you appreciate itwell, you surely know one. The name is Beethoven. He used to laugh at people who cried when he played the piano. And, about long standing impact ... his influece lasted for about 200 years and is still going ...I am not belittling any form of music. The fact that you take it that way means that you havent understood what I wrote earlier.But to say, for example, that classical music has more depth than film music (any major film composer would agree), is objective analysis. . This requires an "educated" and more importantly, attentive listener. remember that this is not to belittling film music or the composer. It is just the way these forms are.<
  
  The depth that your talking about is irrelevant because music is primarliy received through one sense--ears. Film music(on screen) on the other hand is received through two sense-- eyes (primary) and ears(secondary). This is the fundamental difference in these two forms and the parameters to measure the depth in these forms are different.
  
  OK. If you agree, it is indeed two different forms of music (apples and oranges) then why do you have to compare them? I can *understand* if you compare classical music with classical music. Why do have to compare classical music with film music? I am yet to see you talking about theories that crossover from WCM form to the other. So, if belittling is not your intention then what is really your intention for the comparison? It would help the discussion.
  
  
• From: senthilv.com (@ 68.88.74.83) on: Sun Mar 7 04:31:41 EST 2004
  
  I say the third time, I get lucky. Let's see...
  
  Anand -> My only inference is, again, that the more you learn about an art form (music/painting/dance) the more you appreciate it
  
  First, thanks for trying to "educate" me, FYI, I am into all kinds of art forms. To set a platform straight for further discussion, I have to brag a little abt me (Pardon me folks).
  
  I have won "popular" dance competition in school and college. I've learnt a bit of Bharatnatyam from my sister. I've learned painting, color theory and have done oil painting and body painting. I have won photography contests. I am also a writer/editor/film director. I have done music videos and the short film "X" directed by me was shown in Asian film festival Dallas and South asian film festival(so far). Moreover, I am a avid (obessed) music listener and love every genre including WCM. I am very interested in WCM theories and I do have Beethoven collections with me. Lastly, the sad part, I am also a software architect :)
  
  Back to discussion.
  
  Anand -> well, you surely know one. The name is Beethoven. He used to laugh at people who cried when he played the piano. And, about long standing impact ... his influece lasted for about 200 years and is still going ...
  
  Beethoven is not a theoritical\mathematical musician and you picked the wrong example. I am not saying this, but the biography of Beethoven from two different links (sources) say it. His symphonies are infact inspired and directly related to his life struggles and situation he was in. Please check these links.
  
  http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven.html
  http://ndnd.essortment.com/beethovenbiogra_rxef.htm
  
  Anand -> I am not belittling any form of music. The fact that you take it that way means that you havent understood what I wrote earlier.
  
  Ok. Did I misunderstand??? Because you followed up a qualitative judement in the following paragraph.
  
  Anand -> But to say, for example, that classical music has more depth than film music (any major film composer would agree), is objective analysis. . This requires an "educated" and more importantly, attentive listener. remember that this is not to belittling film music or the composer. It is just the way these forms are.
  
  The depth that your talking about is irrelevant because music is primarliy received through one sense--ears. Film music(onscreen) on the other hand is received through two sense-- eyes (primary) and ears(secondary). This is the fundamental difference in these two forms and the parameters to measure the depth in these forms are different.
  
  OK. you agree, it is indeed two different forms of music (apples and oranges) then why do you have to compare them? I can *understand* if you compare classical music with classical music. Why do have to compare classical music with film music? I am yet to see you talking about theories that crossover from WCM form to the other. So, if belittling is not your intention then what is really your intention for the comparison? It would help the discussion.
  
  

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